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

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3211 To establish the Task Force on the Impact of the Affordable Housing Crisis, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 11, 2019 Mr. PETERS (for himself, Ms. HERRERA BEUTLER, and Mr. KHANNA) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Finan- cial Services 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 SEC. 2. PURPOSE OF TASK FORCE. 6 The purpose of this Act is to establish the Task Force 7 on the Impact of the Affordable Housing Crisis, which 8 shall— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3211.IH H3211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3211 IH (1) evaluate and quantify the impact that a 1 lack of affordable housing has on other areas of life 2 and life outcomes; 3 (2) evaluate and quantify the costs incurred by 4 other Federal, State, and local programs due to a 5 lack of affordable housing; and 6 (3) make recommendations to Congress on how 7 to use affordable housing to improve the effective- 8 ness of other Federal programs and improve life out- 9 comes. 10 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 11 In this Act: 12 (1) AFFORDABLE HOUSING.— 13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘affordable 14 housing’’ means— 15 (i) housing for which the household is 16 required to pay not more than 30 percent 17 of the household income for gross housing 18 costs, including utilities, where such in- 19 come is less than or equal to the area me- 20 dian income for the municipality in which 21 the housing is located, as determined by 22 the Secretary; and 23 (ii) housing— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3211.IH H3211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3211 IH (I) for which the household pays 1 more than 30 percent of the house- 2 hold income for gross housing costs, 3 including utilities, where such income 4 is less than or equal to the area me- 5 dian income for the municipality in 6 which the housing is located, as deter- 7 mined by the Secretary; and 8 (II) that is assisted or considered 9 affordable by the Department of 10 Housing and Urban Development, in- 11 cluding— 12 (aa) public housing; 13 (bb) housing assisted under 14 section 8(o) of such Act (42 15 U.S.C. 1437f(o)); 16 (cc) housing receiving the 17 low-income housing credit under 18 section 42 of the Internal Rev- 19 enue Code; and 20 (dd) housing assisted under 21 other Federal or local housing 22 programs serving households with 23 incomes at or below 80 percent of 24 the area median income or pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3211.IH H3211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3211 IH viding services or amenities that 1 will primarily be used by low-in- 2 come housing. 3 (B) APPLICATION.—The definition in sub- 4 paragraph (A) shall apply to Federal, State, 5 and local affordable housing programs. 6 (2) LOW-INCOME HOUSING; PUBLIC HOUSING.— 7 The terms ‘‘low-income housing’’ and ‘‘public hous- 8 ing’’ have the meanings given those terms in section 9 3(b) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 10 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 11 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 12 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 13 (4) TASK FORCE.—The term ‘‘Task Force’’ 14 means the Task Force on the Impact of the Afford- 15 able Housing Crisis established under section 4(a). 16 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF TASK FORCE. 17 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a bipar- 18 tisan task force to be known as the Task Force on the 19 Impact of the Affordable Housing Crisis. 20 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 21 (1) COMPOSITION.—The Task Force shall be 22 composed of 18 members, of whom— 23 (A) 1 member shall be appointed by the 24 Majority Leader of the Senate and the Speaker 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3211.IH H3211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3211 IH of the House of Representatives, who shall 1 serve as co-chair of the Task Force; 2 (B) 1 member shall be appointed by the 3 Minority Leader of the Senate and the Minority 4 Leader of the House of Representatives, who 5 shall serve as co-chair of the Task Force; 6 (C) 4 members shall be appointed by the 7 Majority Leader of the Senate; 8 (D) 4 members shall be appointed by the 9 Minority Leader of the Senate; 10 (E) 4 members shall be appointed by the 11 Speaker of the House of Representatives; and 12 (F) 4 members shall be appointed by the 13 Minority Leader of the House of Representa- 14 tives. 15 (2) CRITERIA.—Each member of the Task 16 Force shall be an academic researcher, an expert in 17 a field or policy area related to the purpose of the 18 Task Force, or an individual who has experience 19 with government programs related to the purpose of 20 the Task Force. 21 (3) ADDITIONAL STAFF.—The co-chairs of the 22 Task Force may appoint and fix the pay of addi- 23 tional staff to the Task Force. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3211.IH H3211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 3211 IH (4) DETAILEES.—Any Federal Government em- 1 ployee may be detailed to the Task Force without re- 2 imbursement from the Task Force, and the detailee 3 shall retain the rights, status, and privileges of his 4 or her regular employment without interruption. 5 (5) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.—Members of 6 the Task Force may be allowed travel expenses, in- 7 cluding per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates au- 8 thorized for employees of agencies under subchapter 9 I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while 10 away from their homes or regular places of business 11 in the performance of services for the Task Force. 12 (c) TIMING OF APPOINTMENTS.—Appointments to 13 the Task Force shall be made not later than 180 days 14 after the date of enactment of this Act. 15 (d) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; VACANCIES.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—A member of the Task 17 Force shall be appointed for the life of the Task 18 Force. 19 (2) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy in the Task 20 Force— 21 (A) shall not affect the powers of the Task 22 Force; and 23 (B) shall be filled in the same manner as 24 the original appointment. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3211.IH H3211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 3211 IH (e) INITIAL MEETING.—The Task Force shall meet 1 not later than 30 days after the date on which a majority 2 of the members of the Task Force have been appointed. 3 (f) MEETINGS.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Task Force shall meet 5 at the call of the co-chairs of the Task Force. 6 (2) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of 7 the Task Force shall constitute a quorum, but a 8 lesser number of members may hold hearings. 9 SEC. 5. DUTIES OF THE TASK FORCE. 10 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Task Force shall utilize avail- 11 able survey and statistical data related to the purpose of 12 the Task Force to complete a comprehensive report to— 13 (1) evaluate and quantify the impact that a 14 lack of affordable housing has on other areas of life 15 and life outcomes for individuals living in the United 16 States, including— 17 (A) education; 18 (B) employment; 19 (C) income level; 20 (D) health; 21 (E) nutrition; 22 (F) access to transportation; 23 (G) the poverty level of the neighborhood 24 in which individuals live; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3211.IH H3211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 3211 IH (H) regional economic growth; 1 (I) neighborhood and rural community sta- 2 bility and revitalization; and 3 (J) other areas of life and life outcomes re- 4 lated to the purpose of the Task Force nec- 5 essary to complete a comprehensive report; 6 (2) evaluate and quantify the costs incurred by 7 other Federal, State, and local programs due to a 8 lack of affordable housing; and 9 (3) make recommendations to Congress on how 10 to use affordable housing to improve the effective- 11 ness of other Federal programs and improve life out- 12 comes for individuals living in the United States. 13 (b) PUBLIC COMMENT.—The Task Force shall pub- 14 lish in the Federal Register a notice for a public comment 15 period of 90 days on the purpose and activities of the Task 16 Force. 17 (c) REPORT.—Not later than the date on which the 18 Task Force terminates, the Task Force shall submit to 19 the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 20 and the Committee on Finance of the Senate and the 21 Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on 22 Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and 23 make publicly available a final report that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3211.IH H3211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 3211 IH (1) contains the information, evaluations, and 1 recommendations described in subsection (a); and 2 (2) is signed by each member of the Task 3 Force. 4 SEC. 6. POWERS OF TASK FORCE. 5 (a) HEARINGS.—The Task Force may hold such 6 hearings, take such testimony, and receive such evidence 7 as the Task Force considers advisable to carry out this 8 Act. 9 (b) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Task Force may secure 11 directly from any Federal department or agency 12 such information as the Task Force considers nec- 13 essary to carry out this Act. 14 (2) FURNISHING INFORMATION.—On request of 15 the co-chairs of the Task Force, the head of a Fed- 16 eral department or agency described in paragraph 17 (1) shall furnish the information to the Task Force. 18 (c) POSTAL SERVICES.—The Task Force may use the 19 United States mails in the same manner and under the 20 same conditions as other Federal departments and agen- 21 cies. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3211.IH H3211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 3211 IH 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 such sums as may be necessary 6 to be appropriated to carry out this Act for fiscal years 7 2020 through 2023. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:28 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3211.IH H3211 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS