Tenants Emergency Relief Act

Tenants Emergency Relief Act - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make grants for rental relief assistance to local governments in any Federal Home Loan Bank district for which the mortgage delinquency rate exceeds a specified percentage for three consecutive months. Provides for the termination and reinstitution of such grants on the basis of such rate.

Directs the Secretary to allocate grant funds among the regional offices of the Department of Housing and Urban Development as if such grants were local housing assistance allocated in accordance with the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974. Requires the Secretary to consider the need, administrative capacity, and repayment assurances of the local governments applying for such grants and to process grant applications as expeditiously as possible.

Includes as conditions for assistance eligibility the requirements that: (1) a tenant's rental payment is not more than the median rental paid for similar units in the area; (2) the tenant has lost income as a result of a loss of employment or occupational returns and is unable to correct a rental delinquency or resume full rental payments; and (3) the local government has determined that the tenant would be evicted without such assistance and that there is a reasonable prospect that the tenant will be able to resume full rental payments within 18 months.

Declares that rental assistance shall be provided in the form of emergency rental relief payments from local governments to landlords on behalf of tenants. Limits the duration of such payments to 18 months and the amount of such payments to the amount necessary to supplement the amount the tenant is capable of contributing so that the tenant's total monthly housing expense does not exceed 38 percent of his or her monthly net effective income. Sets forth reporting and review requirements for monitoring the incomes of assisted tenants. Provides for the repayment of such assistance as prescribed by the Secretary and the collection of such repayments by the Secretary.

Allows a tenant to be assisted under this Act more than once, except that payments may not be provided for a tenant for more than an aggregate of 36 months.

Establishes the Tenants Emergency Relief Fund to finance this Act. Authorizes appropriations.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) report to Congress on the current rate of rental payment delinquencies and evictions, voluntary forebearance by landlords, and actions under this Act to alleviate hardships resulting from delinquencies and evictions; and (2) determine and report to Congress on whether an economic indicator other than the mortgage delinquency series would be a more effective indicator to use to carry out this Act.