Housing Homeless Veterans Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5135 To give priority in allocation of rental assistance vouchers under the Veterans Affairs Supported Housing program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to areas having the largest populations of homeless veterans, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 18, 2019 Ms. BARRAGA´N introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To give priority in allocation of rental assistance vouchers under the Veterans Affairs Supported Housing program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to areas having the largest populations of homeless vet- erans, 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 ‘‘Housing Homeless 4 Veterans Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5135.IH H5135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5135 IH SEC. 2. ALLOCATION OF HUD–VASH VOUCHERS. 1 (a) AMENDMENT TO VASH PROGRAM.—Paragraph 2 (19) of section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 3 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(19)) is amended by adding at 4 the end the following new subparagraphs: 5 ‘‘(D) ALLOCATION CRITERIA.—Notwith- 6 standing any other provision of law (including 7 paragraph (6) under the heading ‘Public and 8 Indian Housing—Tenant-Based Rental Assist- 9 ance’ in title II of division K of Public Law 10 115–31), in making amounts for assistance 11 under this paragraph available among public 12 housing agencies in each fiscal year, the Sec- 13 retary shall give priority to public housing 14 agencies that— 15 ‘‘(i) serve areas having the highest 16 numbers of homeless veterans; and 17 ‘‘(ii) have fully utilized their available 18 funds under this paragraph for the pre- 19 ceding fiscal year and have a demonstrated 20 need for incremental assistance under this 21 paragraph. 22 ‘‘(E) REALLOCATION OF UNUSED VOUCH- 23 ERS FOR VASH ASSISTANCE.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5135.IH H5135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5135 IH ‘‘(i) RECAPTURE AND REALLOCA- 1 TION.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 2 sion of law, the Secretary shall— 3 ‘‘(I) recapture from any public 4 housing agency described in clause (ii) 5 any amounts of assistance provided 6 under this paragraph to the agency 7 that are not— 8 ‘‘(aa) under lease after 24 9 months; 10 ‘‘(bb) committed under an 11 agreement to enter into a hous- 12 ing assistance payments contract; 13 or 14 ‘‘(cc) committed, under a 15 commitment of award letter that 16 has been approved by the board 17 of governors or other similar gov- 18 erning body of the public housing 19 agency, for project-based voucher 20 assistance for a project; and 21 ‘‘(II) reallocate any recaptured 22 amounts to public housing authorities 23 that have leased their entire allocation 24 of assistance under this paragraph. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5135.IH H5135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5135 IH ‘‘(ii) AGENCIES SUBJECT TO RECAP- 1 TURE.—An agency described in this clause 2 is an agency whose jurisdiction is located 3 within an area within which the homeless 4 population has decreased, according to the 5 point-in-time information of the Secretary 6 for the two most recent reporting periods 7 for such information.’’. 8 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub- 9 section (a) shall apply to amounts made available— 10 (1) by paragraph (6) under the heading ‘‘Public 11 and Indian Housing—Tenant-Based Rental Assist- 12 ance’’ in title II of division K of Public Law 115– 13 31, to the extent such amounts remain unobligated 14 as of the date of the enactment of this Act; and 15 (2) by any other provision of law enacted after 16 the date of the enactment of this Act. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:27 Nov 27, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5135.IH H5135 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS