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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 6436
January Session, 2021
AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE OPEN CHOICE VOUC HERS PILOT
PROGRAM.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (Effective from passage) (a) Not later than June 15, 2022, the 1
Commissioner of Housing, in consultation with the Commissioner of 2
Education and housing, civil rights and education advocates, shall 3
establish the Open Choice Voucher pilot program. Such pilot program 4
shall designate twenty additional rental assistance program certificates 5
under section 8-345 of the general statutes over a period of two years for 6
use by families who (1) qualify as low income under the rental assistance 7
program, (2) have participated for at least one year in the interdistrict 8
public school attendance program, established under section 10-266aa 9
of the general statutes, in the Hartford region, and (3) would like to 10
move to the town where their child participating in the interdistrict 11
public school attendance program attends school. 12
(b) The Commissioner of Housing shall develop procedures for 13
landlord recruitment, family recruitment, housing search assistance and 14
counseling for such pilot program. The commissioner shall make ten 15
rental assistance certificates available during the school year 16
commencing in 2022 and ten additional rental assistance certificates 17
during the school year commencing in 2023 for such pilot program. All 18
participants in the pilot program shall have access to the residence 19 Substitute Bill No. 6436
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mobility counseling program established under section 8-348 of the 20
general statutes. 21
(c) The Commissioner of Housing shall submit an interim report and 22
final report concerning such pilot program, in accordance with the 23
provisions of section 11-4a of the general statutes, to the joint standing 24
committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters 25
relating to housing and education. The commissioner shall submit the 26
interim report on or before August 31, 2022, and a final report on or 27
before August 31, 2023. Each report shall include, but need not be 28
limited to: (1) A summary of program implementation, including efforts 29
to inform and educate families about the program, recruit landlords and 30
provide search assistance and counseling, and (2) assessment of 31
program utilization rates, waiting list numbers, and the racial, ethnic 32
and household composition and income demographics of the program 33
participants and those on the waiting list. The final report shall include 34
an assessment of program performance during the pilot period based 35
on available data, including, but not limited to, data concerning both the 36
implementation of the program by the Department of Housing and the 37
use of the program, and any recommendations the commissioner may 38
have regarding future implementation or an extension of the pilot 39
program. 40
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Subsec. (a), the first sentence was rewritten for clarity.
HSG Joint Favorable Subst. -LCO