Task Force on the Impact of the Affordable Housing Crisis Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1772 To establish the Task Force on the Impact of the Affordable Housing Crisis, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 11, 2019 Mr. YOUNG (for himself, Mr. KING, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. KAINE, Mr. JONES, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. COONS, Mr. KENNEDY, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. HASSAN, Ms. WARREN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. COL- LINS, and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To establish the Task Force on the Impact of the Affordable Housing Crisis, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Task Force on the 4 Impact of the Affordable Housing Crisis Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1772.IS S1772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1772 IS SEC. 2. PURPOSE OF TASK FORCE. 1 The purpose of this Act is to establish the Task Force 2 on the Impact of the Affordable Housing Crisis, which 3 shall— 4 (1) evaluate and quantify the impact that a 5 lack of affordable housing has on other areas of life 6 and life outcomes; 7 (2) evaluate and quantify the costs incurred by 8 other Federal, State, and local programs due to a 9 lack of affordable housing; and 10 (3) make recommendations to Congress on how 11 to use affordable housing to improve the effective- 12 ness of other Federal programs and improve life out- 13 comes. 14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 15 In this Act: 16 (1) AFFORDABLE HOUSING.— 17 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘affordable 18 housing’’ means— 19 (i) housing for which the household is 20 required to pay not more than 30 percent 21 of the household income for gross housing 22 costs, including utilities, where such in- 23 come is less than or equal to the area me- 24 dian income for the municipality in which 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1772.IS S1772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1772 IS the housing is located, as determined by 1 the Secretary; and 2 (ii) housing— 3 (I) for which the household pays 4 more than 30 percent of the house- 5 hold income for gross housing costs, 6 including utilities, where such income 7 is less than or equal to the area me- 8 dian income for the municipality in 9 which the housing is located, as deter- 10 mined by the Secretary; and 11 (II) that is assisted or considered 12 affordable by the Department of 13 Housing and Urban Development, in- 14 cluding— 15 (aa) public housing; 16 (bb) housing assisted under 17 section 8(o) of such Act (42 18 U.S.C. 1437f(o)); 19 (cc) housing receiving the 20 low-income housing credit under 21 section 42 of the Internal Rev- 22 enue Code; and 23 (dd) housing assisted under 24 other Federal or local housing 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1772.IS S1772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1772 IS programs serving households with 1 incomes at or below 80 percent of 2 the area median income or pro- 3 viding services or amenities that 4 will primarily be used by low-in- 5 come housing. 6 (B) APPLICATION.—The definition in sub- 7 paragraph (A) shall apply to Federal, State, 8 and local affordable housing programs. 9 (2) LOW-INCOME HOUSING; PUBLIC HOUSING.— 10 The terms ‘‘low-income housing’’ and ‘‘public hous- 11 ing’’ have the meanings given those terms in section 12 3(b) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 13 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 14 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 15 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 16 (4) TASK FORCE.—The term ‘‘Task Force’’ 17 means the Task Force on the Impact of the Afford- 18 able Housing Crisis established under section 4(a). 19 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF TASK FORCE. 20 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a bipar- 21 tisan task force to be known as the Task Force on the 22 Impact of the Affordable Housing Crisis. 23 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1772.IS S1772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1772 IS (1) COMPOSITION.—The Task Force shall be 1 composed of 18 members, of whom— 2 (A) 1 member shall be appointed by the 3 Majority Leader of the Senate and the Speaker 4 of the House of Representatives, who shall 5 serve as co-chair of the Task Force; 6 (B) 1 member shall be appointed by the 7 Minority Leader of the Senate and the Minority 8 Leader of the House of Representatives, who 9 shall serve as co-chair of the Task Force; 10 (C) 4 members shall be appointed by the 11 Majority Leader of the Senate; 12 (D) 4 members shall be appointed by the 13 Minority Leader of the Senate; 14 (E) 4 members shall be appointed by the 15 Speaker of the House of Representatives; and 16 (F) 4 members shall be appointed by the 17 Minority Leader of the House of Representa- 18 tives. 19 (2) CRITERIA.—Each member of the Task 20 Force shall be an academic researcher, an expert in 21 a field or policy area related to the purpose of the 22 Task Force, or an individual who has experience 23 with government programs related to the purpose of 24 the Task Force. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1772.IS S1772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1772 IS (3) ADDITIONAL STAFF.—The co-chairs of the 1 Task Force may appoint and fix the pay of addi- 2 tional staff to the Task Force. 3 (4) DETAILEES.—Any Federal Government em- 4 ployee may be detailed to the Task Force without re- 5 imbursement from the Task Force, and the detailee 6 shall retain the rights, status, and privileges of his 7 or her regular employment without interruption. 8 (5) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.—Members of 9 the Task Force may be allowed travel expenses, in- 10 cluding per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates au- 11 thorized for employees of agencies under subchapter 12 I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while 13 away from their homes or regular places of business 14 in the performance of services for the Task Force. 15 (c) TIMING OF APPOINTMENTS.—Appointments to 16 the Task Force shall be made not later than 180 days 17 after the date of enactment of this Act. 18 (d) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; VACANCIES.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—A member of the Task 20 Force shall be appointed for the life of the Task 21 Force. 22 (2) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy in the Task 23 Force— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1772.IS S1772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 1772 IS (A) shall not affect the powers of the Task 1 Force; and 2 (B) shall be filled in the same manner as 3 the original appointment. 4 (e) INITIAL MEETING.—The Task Force shall meet 5 not later than 30 days after the date on which a majority 6 of the members of the Task Force have been appointed. 7 (f) MEETINGS.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Task Force shall meet 9 at the call of the co-chairs of the Task Force. 10 (2) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of 11 the Task Force shall constitute a quorum, but a 12 lesser number of members may hold hearings. 13 SEC. 5. DUTIES OF THE TASK FORCE. 14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Task Force shall utilize avail- 15 able survey and statistical data related to the purpose of 16 the Task Force to complete a comprehensive report to— 17 (1) evaluate and quantify the impact that a 18 lack of affordable housing has on other areas of life 19 and life outcomes for individuals living in the United 20 States, including— 21 (A) education; 22 (B) employment; 23 (C) income level; 24 (D) health; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1772.IS S1772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 1772 IS (E) nutrition; 1 (F) access to transportation; 2 (G) the poverty level of the neighborhood 3 in which individuals live; 4 (H) regional economic growth; 5 (I) neighborhood and rural community sta- 6 bility and revitalization; and 7 (J) other areas of life and life outcomes re- 8 lated to the purpose of the Task Force nec- 9 essary to complete a comprehensive report; 10 (2) evaluate and quantify the costs incurred by 11 other Federal, State, and local programs due to a 12 lack of affordable housing; and 13 (3) make recommendations to Congress on how 14 to use affordable housing to improve the effective- 15 ness of other Federal programs and improve life out- 16 comes for individuals living in the United States. 17 (b) PUBLIC COMMENT.—The Task Force shall pub- 18 lish in the Federal Register a notice for a public comment 19 period of 90 days on the purpose and activities of the Task 20 Force. 21 (c) REPORT.—Not later than the date on which the 22 Task Force terminates, the Task Force shall submit to 23 the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 24 and the Committee on Finance of the Senate and the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1772.IS S1772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 1772 IS Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on 1 Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and 2 make publicly available a final report that— 3 (1) contains the information, evaluations, and 4 recommendations described in subsection (a); and 5 (2) is signed by each member of the Task 6 Force. 7 SEC. 6. POWERS OF TASK FORCE. 8 (a) HEARINGS.—The Task Force may hold such 9 hearings, take such testimony, and receive such evidence 10 as the Task Force considers advisable to carry out this 11 Act. 12 (b) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Task Force may secure 14 directly from any Federal department or agency 15 such information as the Task Force considers nec- 16 essary to carry out this Act. 17 (2) FURNISHING INFORMATION.—On request of 18 the co-chairs of the Task Force, the head of a Fed- 19 eral department or agency described in paragraph 20 (1) shall furnish the information to the Task Force. 21 (c) POSTAL SERVICES.—The Task Force may use the 22 United States mails in the same manner and under the 23 same conditions as other Federal departments and agen- 24 cies. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1772.IS S1772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 1772 IS SEC. 7. TERMINATION OF TASK FORCE. 1 The Task Force shall terminate not later than 2 2 years after the date on which all members of the Task 3 Force are appointed under section 4. 4 SEC. 8. FUNDING. 5 There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 6 as may be necessary to carry out this Act for fiscal years 7 2020 through 2023. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 Jun 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1772.IS S1772 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS