Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 291 To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to carry out a housing choice voucher mobility demonstration to encourage fami- lies receiving the voucher assistance to move to lower-poverty areas and expand access to opportunity areas. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 31, 2019 Mr. YOUNG (for himself, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. RUBIO, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. BLUNT, and Ms. HASSAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop- ment to carry out a housing choice voucher mobility demonstration to encourage families receiving the vouch- er assistance to move to lower-poverty areas and expand access to opportunity areas. 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 ‘‘Housing Choice Vouch- 4 er Mobility Demonstration Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:02 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S291.IS S291 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 291 IS SEC. 2. HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER MOBILITY DEM- 1 ONSTRATION. 2 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 3 (1) FAMILIES; PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCY.—The 4 terms ‘‘families’’ and ‘‘public housing agency’’ have 5 the meanings given those terms in section 3(b) of 6 the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 7 1437a(b)). 8 (2) HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER ASSISTANCE.— 9 The term ‘‘housing choice voucher assistance’’ 10 means voucher assistance provided under section 11 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 12 U.S.C. 1437f(o)). 13 (3) PLAN.—The term ‘‘Plan’’ means a Regional 14 Housing Mobility Plan submitted under subsection 15 (d). 16 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 17 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 18 (b) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may carry out a mo- 19 bility demonstration program to enable public housing 20 agencies to administer housing choice voucher assistance 21 in a manner designed to encourage families receiving that 22 assistance to move to lower-poverty areas and expand ac- 23 cess to opportunity areas. 24 (c) SELECTION OF PHAS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:02 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S291.IS S291 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 291 IS (1) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary shall es- 1 tablish requirements for public housing agencies to 2 participate in the demonstration program under this 3 section, which shall provide that the following public 4 housing agencies may participate: 5 (A) Public housing agencies that to- 6 gether— 7 (i) serve areas with high concentra- 8 tions of families receiving housing choice 9 voucher assistance in poor, low-opportunity 10 neighborhoods; and 11 (ii) have an adequate number of mod- 12 erately priced rental units in higher-oppor- 13 tunity areas. 14 (B) Planned consortia or partial consortia 15 of public housing agencies that— 16 (i) include not less than 1 public 17 housing agency with a high-performing 18 Family Self-Sufficiency program carried 19 out under section 23 of the United States 20 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437u); 21 and 22 (ii) will enable participating families 23 to continue in the Family Self-Sufficiency 24 program if the family relocates to the ju- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:02 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S291.IS S291 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 291 IS risdiction served by any other public hous- 1 ing agency of the consortium. 2 (C) Planned consortia or partial consortia 3 of public housing agencies that— 4 (i) serve jurisdictions within a single 5 region; 6 (ii) include not less than 1 small pub- 7 lic housing agency; and 8 (iii) will consolidate mobility-focused 9 operations. 10 (D) Such other public housing agencies as 11 the Secretary considers appropriate. 12 (2) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall 13 establish competitive selection criteria for public 14 housing agencies eligible under paragraph (1) to 15 participate in the demonstration program under this 16 section. 17 (3) RANDOM SELECTION OF FAMILIES.—The 18 Secretary may require public housing agencies par- 19 ticipating in the demonstration program under this 20 section to use a randomized selection process to se- 21 lect among the families eligible to receive assistance 22 under the demonstration program. 23 (d) REGIONAL HOUSING MOBILITY PLAN.—The Sec- 24 retary shall require each public housing agency applying 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:02 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S291.IS S291 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 291 IS to participate in the demonstration program under this 1 section to submit a Regional Housing Mobility Plan, which 2 shall— 3 (1) identify the public housing agencies that 4 will participate under the Plan and the number of 5 vouchers each participating public housing agency 6 will make available out of their existing programs in 7 connection with the demonstration program; 8 (2) identify any community-based organizations, 9 nonprofit organizations, businesses, and other enti- 10 ties that will participate under the Plan and describe 11 the commitments for the participation made by each 12 such entity; 13 (3) identify any waivers or alternative require- 14 ments requested for the execution of the Plan; 15 (4) identify any specific actions that the public 16 housing agencies and other entities will undertake to 17 accomplish the goals of the demonstration program, 18 which shall include a comprehensive approach to en- 19 able a successful transition to opportunity areas and 20 may include counseling and continued support for 21 families; 22 (5) specify the criteria that the public housing 23 agencies would use to identify opportunity areas 24 under the Plan; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:02 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S291.IS S291 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 291 IS (6) provide for the establishment of priority and 1 preferences for families receiving assistance under 2 the demonstration program, including a preference 3 for families with young children, as such term is de- 4 fined by the Secretary, based on regional housing 5 needs and priorities; and 6 (7) comply with any other requirements estab- 7 lished by the Secretary. 8 (e) FUNDING FOR MOBILITY-RELATED SERVICES.— 9 (1) USE OF ADMINISTRATIVE FEES.—Each 10 public housing agency participating in the dem- 11 onstration program under this section may use ad- 12 ministrative fees under section 8(q) of the United 13 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(q)), 14 any administrative fee reserves of the public housing 15 agency, and funding from private entities to provide 16 mobility-related services in connection with the dem- 17 onstration program, including services such as coun- 18 seling, portability coordination, landlord outreach, 19 security deposits, and administrative activities asso- 20 ciated with establishing and operating regional mo- 21 bility programs. 22 (2) USE OF HOUSING ASSISTANCE FUNDS.— 23 Each public housing agency participating in the 24 demonstration program under this section may use 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:02 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S291.IS S291 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 291 IS housing assistance payment contract funds under 1 section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 2 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) for security deposits if 3 necessary to enable families to lease units with hous- 4 ing choice voucher assistance in designated oppor- 5 tunity areas. 6 (f) WAIVERS; ALTERNATIVE REQUIREMENTS.— 7 (1) WAIVERS.—To allow for public housing 8 agencies to implement and administer the Plan of 9 the public housing agency under the demonstration 10 program under this section, the Secretary may waive 11 or specify alternative requirements for the following 12 provisions of the United States Housing Act of 1937 13 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.): 14 (A) Paragraphs (7)(A) and (13)(E)(i) of 15 section 8(o) (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) (relating to 16 the term of a lease and mobility requirements). 17 (B) Section 8(o)(13)(C)(i) (42 U.S.C. 18 1437f(o)(13)(C)(i)) (relating to the public hous- 19 ing agency plan). 20 (C) Section 8(r)(2) (42 U.S.C. 21 1437f(r)(2)) (relating to the responsibility of a 22 public housing agency to administer portable 23 assistance). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:02 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S291.IS S291 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 291 IS (2) ALTERNATIVE REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec- 1 retary shall provide additional authority for public 2 housing agencies in a selected region to form a con- 3 sortium that has a single housing assistance pay- 4 ment contract, or to enter into a partial consortium 5 to operate all or portions of the Plan, including pub- 6 lic housing agencies participating in the Moving To 7 Work demonstration program established under sec- 8 tion 204 of the Departments of Veterans Affairs and 9 Housing and Urban Development, and Independent 10 Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996 (Public Law 11 104–134; 110 Stat. 1321–281). 12 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Any waiver or alter- 13 native requirements pursuant to this subsection shall 14 not take effect before the date that is 10 days after 15 the date on which the date on which the Secretary 16 publishes a notice of the waiver or alternative re- 17 quirement in the Federal Register. 18 (g) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary may imple- 19 ment the demonstration program under this section, in- 20 cluding the terms, procedures, requirements, and condi- 21 tions of the demonstration, by notice. 22 (h) EVALUATION.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 years after 24 the implementation of the regional housing mobility 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:02 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S291.IS S291 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 291 IS programs by public housing agencies participating in 1 the demonstration program under this section, the 2 Secretary shall submit to Congress and publish in 3 the Federal Register a report evaluating the effec- 4 tiveness of the strategies pursued under the dem- 5 onstration program, subject to the availability of 6 funding to conduct the evaluation. 7 (2) DISSEMINATION OF FINDINGS.—The Sec- 8 retary shall— 9 (A) through internet websites and other 10 means, disseminate interim findings relating to 11 the demonstration program under this section 12 as they become available; and 13 (B) if promising strategies are identified 14 through the findings described in subparagraph 15 (A), notify Congress of the amount of funds 16 that would be required to expand the testing of 17 these strategies in additional types of public 18 housing agencies and housing markets. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:02 Feb 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S291.IS S291 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS