Family Stability and Opportunity Vouchers Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1991 To authorize a new type of housing choice voucher to help achieve the goals of ending homelessness among families with children, increasing housing opportunities, and improving life outcomes of poor children. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 9, 2021 Mr. VAN HOLLEN (for himself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Hous- ing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To authorize a new type of housing choice voucher to help achieve the goals of ending homelessness among families with children, increasing housing opportunities, and im- proving life outcomes of poor children. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Family Stability and 4 Opportunity Vouchers Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. FAMILY STABILITY AND OPPORTUNITY VOUCHERS. 6 Section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 7 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)), as amended by section 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1991.IS S1991 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1991 IS 101(b)(2)(B) of division Q of the Consolidated Appropria- 1 tions Act, 2021 (Public Law 116–260), is amended by 2 adding at the end the following: 3 ‘‘(22) FAMILY STABILITY AND OPPORTUNITY 4 VOUCHERS.— 5 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 6 ‘‘(i) The term ‘area of concentrated 7 poverty’ means a census tract in which the 8 poverty rate is not less than 30 percent, as 9 most recently determined by the Bureau of 10 the Census. 11 ‘‘(ii) The term ‘at risk of homeless- 12 ness’ has the meaning given the term in 13 section 401 of the McKinney-Vento Home- 14 less Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360). 15 ‘‘(iii) The term ‘eligible family’ means 16 a family that— 17 ‘‘(I) includes a pregnant woman 18 or a child under the age of 6; 19 ‘‘(II) meets all applicable eligi- 20 bility requirements under this sub- 21 section; and 22 ‘‘(III) is— 23 ‘‘(aa) homeless; 24 ‘‘(bb) unstably housed; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1991.IS S1991 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1991 IS ‘‘(cc) living in an area of 1 concentrated poverty; or 2 ‘‘(dd) at risk of displace- 3 ment from— 4 ‘‘(AA) an opportunity 5 area for children; or 6 ‘‘(BB) an area rapidly 7 transitioning to become an 8 opportunity area for chil- 9 dren. 10 ‘‘(iv) The term ‘high-performing 11 school’ shall have the meaning given the 12 term by the Secretary, using the best avail- 13 able evidence. 14 ‘‘(v) The term ‘homeless’ has the 15 meaning given the term in section 103 of 16 the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance 17 Act (42 U.S.C. 11302). 18 ‘‘(vi) The term ‘opportunity area for 19 children’ shall have the meaning given the 20 term by the Secretary, using the best avail- 21 able evidence. 22 ‘‘(vii) The term ‘unstably housed’, 23 with respect to a family, means a family 24 who— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1991.IS S1991 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1991 IS ‘‘(I) is at risk of homelessness; 1 ‘‘(II) has moved not less than 2 twice during the 12-month period end- 3 ing on the date on which a public 4 housing agency selects the family 5 from a waiting list to receive assist- 6 ance under this paragraph; 7 ‘‘(III) is living in a unit not ac- 8 cessible to a disabled family member; 9 ‘‘(IV) is fleeing, or attempting to 10 flee, domestic violence, dating vio- 11 lence, sexual assault, or stalking; or 12 ‘‘(V) is living in housing condi- 13 tions that are dangerous or life- 14 threatening. 15 ‘‘(B) COMPETITIVE AWARD.— 16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In each fiscal year 17 for which amounts are authorized to be ap- 18 propriated under subparagraph (F), the 19 Secretary shall provide assistance to public 20 housing agencies on a competitive basis to 21 be used for— 22 ‘‘(I) incremental vouchers for eli- 23 gible families; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1991.IS S1991 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1991 IS ‘‘(II) additional fees for the cost 1 to the public housing agencies of pro- 2 viding mobility-related services to eli- 3 gible families. 4 ‘‘(ii) SELECTION.—For the second fis- 5 cal year in which the Secretary provides 6 assistance under this paragraph, and each 7 fiscal year thereafter, in selecting public 8 housing agencies to receive assistance 9 under this paragraph, the Secretary 10 shall— 11 ‘‘(I) consider the performance of 12 public housing agencies in imple- 13 menting this paragraph; and 14 ‘‘(II) give preference to public 15 housing agencies that partner with or- 16 ganizations that provide home visiting 17 services, such as the services author- 18 ized under section 511 of the Social 19 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 711) or lo- 20 cally funded initiatives, if those serv- 21 ices are available in the service area of 22 the public housing agency. 23 ‘‘(C) SERVICES REQUIRED TO BE OFFERED 24 TO FAMILIES RECEIVING VOUCHERS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1991.IS S1991 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1991 IS ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A public housing 1 agency that receives assistance under this 2 paragraph— 3 ‘‘(I) shall offer, to each eligible 4 family that the agency selects to re- 5 ceive a voucher, mobility-related serv- 6 ices to help the family move to an op- 7 portunity area for children with access 8 to— 9 ‘‘(aa) a high-performing 10 school; or 11 ‘‘(bb) high-quality childcare 12 and early education; 13 ‘‘(II) may not require an eligible 14 family to participate in the mobility- 15 related services described in subclause 16 (I) as a condition of receipt of a 17 voucher; and 18 ‘‘(III) shall adopt mobility-related 19 policies, to be specified by the Sec- 20 retary. 21 ‘‘(ii) MINIMUM ASSORTMENT OF SERV- 22 ICES AND POLICIES.—The Secretary shall 23 establish a minimum assortment of types 24 of mobility-related services that a public 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1991.IS S1991 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1991 IS housing agency shall offer, and mobility-re- 1 lated policies that a public housing agency 2 shall adopt, under clause (i) based on 3 promising practices and evidence of the ef- 4 fectiveness of the services and policies. 5 ‘‘(iii) SPECIFIC SERVICES.—The types 6 of mobility-related services required to be 7 offered under clause (i)— 8 ‘‘(I) shall include a customized 9 approach to enable a successful tran- 10 sition to opportunity areas for chil- 11 dren; and 12 ‘‘(II) may include counseling and 13 continued supportive services for fami- 14 lies. 15 ‘‘(iv) OPPORTUNITY AREAS FOR CHIL- 16 DREN; HIGH-PERFORMING SCHOOLS; HIGH- 17 QUALITY CHILD CARE AND EARLY EDU- 18 CATION.—The Secretary shall establish cri- 19 teria for areas, schools, and child care and 20 early education to qualify as opportunity 21 areas for children, high-performing schools, 22 and high-quality child care and early edu- 23 cation, respectively. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1991.IS S1991 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1991 IS ‘‘(v) MANNER OF PROVIDING SERV- 1 ICES.—A public housing agency may pro- 2 vide mobility-related services as required 3 under clause (i) directly or through a local 4 partnership or contract. 5 ‘‘(D) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.— 6 ‘‘(i) TURNOVER.—Upon turnover of a 7 voucher issued by a public housing agency 8 using assistance received under this para- 9 graph, the public housing agency shall 10 issue the voucher to another eligible family 11 under this paragraph. 12 ‘‘(ii) RECAPTURE AND REALLOCATION 13 BY SECRETARY.—If a public housing agen- 14 cy that receives assistance to be used for 15 vouchers under this paragraph determines 16 that it no longer has an identified need for 17 the assistance, the public housing agency 18 shall notify the Secretary, who may recap- 19 ture the assistance and reallocate the as- 20 sistance in accordance with this paragraph. 21 ‘‘(iii) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.— 22 Notwithstanding any other provision of 23 law, with respect to a voucher authorized 24 under this paragraph— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1991.IS S1991 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1991 IS ‘‘(I) the Secretary may not waive 1 any provision of this paragraph or 2 subsection (r); and 3 ‘‘(II) subsection (b) of section 16 4 shall apply, except as provided under 5 subsection (d) of that section. 6 ‘‘(E) IMPLEMENTATION.— 7 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—Not later than 8 180 days after the date of enactment of 9 this paragraph, the Secretary shall publish 10 a notice for public comment in the Federal 11 Register that includes any definitions or 12 other specifications required or authorized 13 under this paragraph. 14 ‘‘(ii) ALLOCATION OF FUNDING.— 15 ‘‘(I) INITIAL YEAR.—For the 16 first fiscal year for which amounts are 17 appropriated to be provided to public 18 housing agencies for incremental 19 vouchers under this paragraph, the 20 Secretary shall allocate the amounts 21 to public housing agencies not later 22 than 2 years after the date on which 23 the amounts are appropriated. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1991.IS S1991 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1991 IS ‘‘(II) SUBSEQUENT YEARS.—For 1 any fiscal year after the fiscal year de- 2 scribed in subclause (I), the Secretary 3 shall allocate amounts to public hous- 4 ing agencies for incremental vouchers 5 under this paragraph not later than 6 180 days after the date on which the 7 amounts are appropriated. 8 ‘‘(F) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA- 9 TIONS.—There are authorized to be appro- 10 priated to the Secretary for each of fiscal years 11 2022 through 2026 such sums as may be nec- 12 essary to provide assistance to public housing 13 agencies under this paragraph to be used for— 14 ‘‘(i) not more than 100,000 incre- 15 mental vouchers each fiscal year, as de- 16 scribed in subparagraph (B)(i)(I); 17 ‘‘(ii) fees for the cost of administering 18 the incremental vouchers described in sub- 19 paragraph (B)(i)(I); and 20 ‘‘(iii) additional fees for mobility-re- 21 lated services, as described in subpara- 22 graph (B)(i)(II).’’. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:48 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1991.IS S1991 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS