Rural Housing Accessibility Act

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3573 To require certain public housing agencies to absorb port-in housing choice vouchers, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 22, 2023 Mr. FEENSTRA (for himself, Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS, Mr. NUNN of Iowa, and Mrs. HINSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To require certain public housing agencies to absorb port- in housing choice vouchers, 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 ‘‘Rural Housing Accessi- 4 bility Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3573.IH H3573 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3573 IH SEC. 2. REQUIRING CERTAIN PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCIES 1 TO ABSORB PORT-IN VOUCHERS AND LIM- 2 ITING BILLING INITIAL PUBLIC HOUSING 3 AGENCIES BEYOND 12 MONTHS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8(o) of the United States 5 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) is amended 6 by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(22) PORTABILITY OF VOUCHERS.— 8 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph— 9 ‘‘(i) the term ‘covered public housing 10 agency’ means a public housing agency 11 that, in a given fiscal year, utilizes less 12 than 95 percent of the budget authority 13 available to the public housing agency; 14 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘initial public housing 15 agency’ has the meaning given the term 16 ‘initial PHA’ in section 982.4 of title 24, 17 Code of Federal Regulations, or any suc- 18 cessor regulation; and 19 ‘‘(iii) the term ‘portable family’ means 20 a family holding a voucher under this sub- 21 section that seeks to rent a dwelling unit 22 outside of the jurisdiction of the initial 23 public housing agency. 24 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—A covered public 25 housing agency that has jurisdiction over the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3573.IH H3573 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3573 IH area in which a portable family is seeking to 1 use the voucher received from an initial public 2 housing agency— 3 ‘‘(i) shall notify the initial public 4 housing agency whether the covered public 5 housing agency will— 6 ‘‘(I) absorb the voucher by using 7 funds of the covered public housing 8 agency; or 9 ‘‘(II) bill the initial public hous- 10 ing agency for a period of not more 11 than 12 months; 12 ‘‘(ii) shall make assistance payments 13 to the portable family under an annual 14 contributions contract entered into between 15 the covered public housing agency and the 16 Secretary; and 17 ‘‘(iii) may not bill the initial public 18 housing agency for the assistance pay- 19 ments described in clause (ii) for a period 20 of more than 12 months beginning on the 21 effective date of the initial billing.’’. 22 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Effective on Decem- 23 ber 29, 2024, paragraph (22) of section 8(o) of the United 24 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)), as 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3573.IH H3573 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3573 IH added by section 601(a)(2)(B) of division AA of the Con- 1 solidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (Public Law 117– 2 328), is redesignated as paragraph (23). 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Jun 10, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3573.IH H3573 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB