Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB890 Compare Versions

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11 II
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION S. 890
55 To increase the number of landlords participating in the Housing Choice
66 Voucher program.
77 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
88 MARCH6, 2025
99 Mr. C
1010 OONS(for himself, Ms. SMITH, Mr. WARNOCK, Mr. MORAN, Mr. CURTIS,
1111 and Mr. H
1212 EINRICH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice
1313 and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
1414 A BILL
1515 To increase the number of landlords participating in the
1616 Housing Choice Voucher program.
1717 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
1818 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
1919 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2020 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Choice in Affordable 4
2121 Housing Act of 2025’’. 5
2222 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
2323 In this Act— 7
2424 (1) the term ‘‘Housing Choice Voucher pro-8
2525 gram’’ means the tenant-based assistance program 9
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2929 under section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act 1
3030 of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)); 2
3131 (2) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 3
3232 of Housing and Urban Development; and 4
3333 (3) the term ‘‘Tribal Housing and Urban Devel-5
3434 opment-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing pro-6
3535 gram’’ means the demonstration program estab-7
3636 lished under paragraph (5) under the heading ‘‘
3737 TEN-8
3838 ANT-BASED RENTAL ASSISTANCE ’’ under the heading 9
3939 ‘‘P
4040 UBLIC ANDINDIANHOUSING’’ in title II of divi-10
4141 sion K of the Consolidated and Further Continuing 11
4242 Appropriations Act, 2015 (Public Law 113–235; 12
4343 128 Stat. 2732) (commonly known as ‘‘Tribal 13
4444 HUD–VASH’’). 14
4545 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 15
4646 Congress finds the following: 16
4747 (1) The Housing Choice Voucher program is 17
4848 the Federal Government’s largest program helping 18
4949 low-income families, the elderly, and persons with 19
5050 disabilities to afford decent, safe, and sanitary hous-20
5151 ing in the private market. 21
5252 (2) The Housing Choice Voucher program is 22
5353 proven to have positive impacts on voucher holders, 23
5454 including increased housing stability, reduced home-24
5555 lessness, and children lifted out of poverty. 25
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5959 (3) As a public-private partnership, the Hous-1
6060 ing Choice Voucher program relies on the willingness 2
6161 of private landlords to accept vouchers. 3
6262 (4) Landlord participation is declining in the 4
6363 Housing Choice Voucher program, with an average 5
6464 of 10,000 housing providers leaving the program 6
6565 each year between 2010 and 2016. 7
6666 (5) Landlord participation is especially lacking 8
6767 in ‘‘high-opportunity neighborhoods’’ that have low 9
6868 poverty rates and good access to quality schools, 10
6969 jobs, and public transportation. 11
7070 (6) The Secretary has conducted and continues 12
7171 to conduct research on landlord participation in the 13
7272 Housing Choice Voucher program. 14
7373 (7) The Moving to Work demonstration pro-15
7474 gram of the Department of Housing and Urban De-16
7575 velopment has given participating public housing 17
7676 agencies the ability to test innovative strategies to 18
7777 incentivize landlords to accept vouchers. 19
7878 (8) Indian Tribes and tribally designated hous-20
7979 ing entities, which do not participate in the Housing 21
8080 Choice Voucher program, benefit from the Tribal 22
8181 Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs 23
8282 Supportive Housing program, which provides rental 24
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8686 assistance to Native American veterans who are ex-1
8787 periencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness. 2
8888 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 3
8989 It is the sense of Congress that the Housing Choice 4
9090 Voucher program should be improved to increase the num-5
9191 ber of landlords, particularly landlords with units in high- 6
9292 opportunity neighborhoods, who accept vouchers in order 7
9393 to expand housing choice and opportunity, and further fair 8
9494 housing. 9
9595 SEC. 5. INCENTIVIZING LANDLORD PARTICIPATION IN 10
9696 HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER PROGRAM. 11
9797 (a) O
9898 NE-TIMEINCENTIVEPAYMENTS.—Section 8(o) 12
9999 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 13
100100 1437f(o)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 14
101101 ‘‘(23) O
102102 NE-TIME INCENTIVE PAYMENTS .— 15
103103 ‘‘(A) D
104104 EFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 16
105105 term ‘eligible unit’ means a dwelling unit 17
106106 that— 18
107107 ‘‘(i) is located in a census tract with 19
108108 a poverty rate of less than 20 percent; and 20
109109 ‘‘(ii) has not previously been subject 21
110110 to a housing assistance payment contract 22
111111 under this subsection. 23
112112 ‘‘(B) I
113113 NCENTIVE PAYMENT AUTHORITY .— 24
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117117 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—To incentivize 1
118118 landlords who own dwelling units in low- 2
119119 poverty areas to enter into housing assist-3
120120 ance payment contracts under this sub-4
121121 section, the Secretary shall provide assist-5
122122 ance under this paragraph to public hous-6
123123 ing agencies to be used to offer a one-time 7
124124 payment directly to the owner of an eligi-8
125125 ble unit entering into a housing assistance 9
126126 payment contract with the public housing 10
127127 agency for the eligible unit. 11
128128 ‘‘(ii) A
129129 MOUNT.—The amount of an in-12
130130 centive payment made to an eligible owner 13
131131 under clause (i) may not exceed 200 per-14
132132 cent of the monthly housing assistance 15
133133 payment made to the eligible owner for the 16
134134 eligible unit. 17
135135 ‘‘(iii) C
136136 ONDITIONS PERMITTED .—Sub-18
137137 ject to paragraph (7), a public housing 19
138138 agency may require the owner of an eligi-20
139139 ble unit, as a condition of receiving an in-21
140140 centive payment under clause (i), to com-22
141141 mit to lease the eligible unit to tenants as-23
142142 sisted under this subsection for more than 24
143143 1 year. 25
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147147 ‘‘(iv) LIMIT.—The owner of an eligible 1
148148 unit may not receive more than 1 incentive 2
149149 payment under clause (i), regardless of— 3
150150 ‘‘(I) the number of eligible units 4
151151 owned by the owner; or 5
152152 ‘‘(II) the number of public hous-6
153153 ing agencies with which the owner has 7
154154 entered into housing assistance pay-8
155155 ment contracts.’’. 9
156156 (b) S
157157 ECURITYDEPOSITPAYMENTS.—Section 8(o) of 10
158158 the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 11
159159 1437f(o)), as amended by subsection (a), is amended by 12
160160 adding at the end the following: 13
161161 ‘‘(24) S
162162 ECURITY DEPOSIT PAYMENTS .— 14
163163 ‘‘(A) S
164164 ECURITY DEPOSIT PAYMENT AU -15
165165 THORITY.—The Secretary shall provide assist-16
166166 ance to public housing agencies to be used to 17
167167 pay the owner of a dwelling unit assisted under 18
168168 this subsection for a security deposit, or a sub-19
169169 stantial portion thereof, on behalf of the tenant 20
170170 of the dwelling unit in accordance with subpara-21
171171 graph (B). 22
172172 ‘‘(B) M
173173 INIMUM PHA REQUIREMENTS .—A 23
174174 public housing agency that receives assistance 24
175175 from the Secretary under subparagraph (A) 25
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179179 shall administer the assistance in accordance 1
180180 with the following conditions: 2
181181 ‘‘(i) The public housing agency shall 3
182182 pay the owners of dwelling units assisted 4
183183 under this subsection for a security de-5
184184 posit, or a substantial portion thereof, in 6
185185 an amount determined by the public hous-7
186186 ing agency, on behalf of the tenants of the 8
187187 dwelling units. 9
188188 ‘‘(ii) In making payments to owners of 10
189189 dwelling units under clause (i), the public 11
190190 housing agency shall give priority to own-12
191191 ers of dwelling units occupied by extremely 13
192192 low-income families. 14
193193 ‘‘(iii) The owner of a dwelling unit 15
194194 may deduct amounts from a security de-16
195195 posit payment received under clause (i) to 17
196196 cover damages beyond normal wear and 18
197197 tear caused by the tenant of the dwelling 19
198198 unit, any member of the tenant’s house-20
199199 hold, or any guest or other person under 21
200200 the tenant’s control. 22
201201 ‘‘(iv) The public housing agency shall 23
202202 conduct a damage claims process where-24
203203 by— 25
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207207 ‘‘(I) in order to deduct amounts 1
208208 from a security deposit payment re-2
209209 ceived under clause (i), the owner of 3
210210 a covered dwelling unit must submit a 4
211211 claim to the public housing agency 5
212212 with an itemized list of damages and 6
213213 evidence and request reimbursement; 7
214214 and 8
215215 ‘‘(II) the tenant of a covered 9
216216 dwelling unit may refute a claim sub-10
217217 mitted under subclause (I). 11
218218 ‘‘(v) The public housing agency 12
219219 shall— 13
220220 ‘‘(I) establish an amount of re-14
221221 pair costs for which a tenant will be 15
222222 responsible; and 16
223223 ‘‘(II) notify a tenant, upon the 17
224224 tenant entering into a lease for a 18
225225 dwelling unit assisted under this sub-19
226226 section, of the amount described in 20
227227 subclause (I). 21
228228 ‘‘(vi) The public housing agency may 22
229229 determine what action to take if a tenant 23
230230 demonstrates an inability to pay the 24
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234234 amount of repair costs for which the ten-1
235235 ant is responsible under clause (v). 2
236236 ‘‘(vii) At the end of a tenant’s occu-3
237237 pancy of a dwelling unit assisted under 4
238238 this subsection, the landlord shall return to 5
239239 the public housing agency any unused 6
240240 amount of a security deposit payment re-7
241241 ceived under clause (i). 8
242242 ‘‘(C) R
243243 ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .—Nothing 9
244244 in subparagraph (B) shall be construed to pro-10
245245 hibit a public housing agency from establishing 11
246246 additional conditions for the administration of 12
247247 assistance received under subparagraph (A) in 13
248248 accordance with applicable State and local 14
249249 laws.’’. 15
250250 (c) L
251251 ANDLORDLIAISONBONUSPAYMENTS.—Section 16
252252 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 17
253253 1437f(o)), as amended by subsection (b), is amended by 18
254254 adding at the end the following: 19
255255 ‘‘(25) L
256256 ANDLORD LIAISON BONUS PAYMENTS .— 20
257257 ‘‘(A) I
258258 N GENERAL.—Each year, the Sec-21
259259 retary shall award 1 bonus payment to each 22
260260 public housing agency that employs, contracts 23
261261 with a service partner that employs, or dem-24
262262 onstrates an intent to employ or contract with 25
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266266 a service partner that employs, not less than 1 1
267267 dedicated landlord liaison whose duties include, 2
268268 with respect to the tenant-based assistance pro-3
269269 gram under subsection (o)— 4
270270 ‘‘(i) conducting landlord outreach, re-5
271271 cruitment, and retention; 6
272272 ‘‘(ii) educating and training landlords 7
273273 regarding the program; and 8
274274 ‘‘(iii) operating a phone hotline, online 9
275275 portal, monitored email address, or other 10
276276 mechanism designated by the Secretary for 11
277277 landlord questions and concerns regarding 12
278278 the program. 13
279279 ‘‘(B) D
280280 EMONSTRATING COMPLIANCE .—The 14
281281 Secretary shall determine how a public housing 15
282282 agency may demonstrate that it offers or in-16
283283 tends to offer a landlord liaison service for pur-17
284284 poses of subparagraph (A). 18
285285 ‘‘(C) A
286286 MOUNT.—The Secretary shall estab-19
287287 lish an amount for the landlord liaison bonus 20
288288 payment authorized under subparagraph (A) 21
289289 that— 22
290290 ‘‘(i) may vary by region; 23
291291 ‘‘(ii) does not exceed the 150 percent 24
292292 of the average cost of employing, or con-25
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296296 tracting with a service partner that em-1
297297 ploys, such a landlord liaison, based on 2
298298 local market conditions; and 3
299299 ‘‘(iii) is sufficient to incentivize public 4
300300 housing agencies to employ, or contact 5
301301 with a service partner that employs, such 6
302302 a landlord liaison.’’. 7
303303 (d) H
304304 OUSINGPARTNERSHIPFUND.—Section 8 of the 8
305305 United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) is 9
306306 amended by adding at the end the following: 10
307307 ‘‘(ee) H
308308 ERSCHELLASHKOWITZHOUSINGPARTNER-11
309309 SHIPFUND.— 12
310310 ‘‘(1) E
311311 STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es-13
312312 tablish a fund, to be known as the ‘Herschel 14
313313 Lashkowitz Housing Partnership Fund’, for the pur-15
314314 pose of incentivizing landlords to participate in the 16
315315 tenant-based assistance program under subsection 17
316316 (o) in accordance with paragraph (2) of this sub-18
317317 section. 19
318318 ‘‘(2) A
319319 UTHORIZED USES.—The Secretary shall 20
320320 use amounts from the Housing Partnership Fund 21
321321 for— 22
322322 ‘‘(A) incentive payments under subsection 23
323323 (o)(23); 24
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327327 ‘‘(B) security deposit payments under sub-1
328328 section (o)(24); 2
329329 ‘‘(C) landlord liaison bonus payments 3
330330 under subsection (o)(25); and 4
331331 ‘‘(D) other uses, as determined by a public 5
332332 housing agency and approved by the Secretary, 6
333333 designed primarily— 7
334334 ‘‘(i) to recruit owners of dwelling 8
335335 units, particularly dwelling units in census 9
336336 tracts with a poverty rate of less than 20 10
337337 percent, to enter into housing assistance 11
338338 payment contracts under subsection (o); 12
339339 and 13
340340 ‘‘(ii) to ensure that owners that enter 14
341341 into housing assistance payment contracts 15
342342 as described in clause (i) of this subpara-16
343343 graph continue to lease their dwelling units 17
344344 to tenants assisted under subsection (o). 18
345345 ‘‘(3) R
346346 EPORTS.—The Secretary shall require a 19
347347 public housing agency that receives assistance from 20
348348 the Herschel Lashkowitz Housing Partnership Fund 21
349349 to submit an annual report to the Secretary on the 22
350350 use of the assistance. 23
351351 ‘‘(4) A
352352 UTHORIZATION OF ADDITIONAL APPRO -24
353353 PRIATIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 25
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357357 for deposit in the Herschel Lashkowitz Housing 1
358358 Partnership Fund $100,000,000 for each of fiscal 2
359359 years 2025 through 2029, to remain available until 3
360360 expended.’’. 4
361361 SEC. 6. TRIBAL HUD–VASH AUTHORIZATION OF APPRO-5
362362 PRIATIONS. 6
363363 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec-7
364364 retary of Housing and Urban Development $7,000,000 for 8
365365 each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029 for the Tribal 9
366366 Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Sup-10
367367 portive Housing program. 11
368368 SEC. 7. HOUSING QUALITY STANDARDS. 12
369369 (a) S
370370 ATISFACTION OFINSPECTIONREQUIREMENTS 13
371371 T
372372 HROUGHPARTICIPATION IN OTHERHOUSINGPRO-14
373373 GRAMS.—Section 8(o)(8) of the United States Housing 15
374374 Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(8)), as amended by sec-16
375375 tion 101(a) of the Housing Opportunity Through Mod-17
376376 ernization Act of 2016 (Public Law 114–201; 130 Stat. 18
377377 783), is amended by adding at the end the following: 19
378378 ‘‘(I) S
379379 ATISFACTION OF INSPECTION RE -20
380380 QUIREMENTS THROUGH PARTICIPATION IN 21
381381 OTHER HOUSING PROGRAMS .— 22
382382 ‘‘(i) L
383383 OW-INCOME HOUSING TAX 23
384384 CREDIT-FINANCED BUILDINGS .—A dwell-24
385385 ing unit shall be deemed to meet the in-25
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388388 •S 890 IS
389389 spection requirements under this para-1
390390 graph if— 2
391391 ‘‘(I) the dwelling unit is in a 3
392392 building, the acquisition, rehabilita-4
393393 tion, or construction of which was fi-5
394394 nanced by a person who received a 6
395395 low-income housing tax credit under 7
396396 section 42 of the Internal Revenue 8
397397 Code of 1986 in exchange for that fi-9
398398 nancing; 10
399399 ‘‘(II) the dwelling unit was phys-11
400400 ically inspected and passed inspection 12
401401 as part of the low-income housing tax 13
402402 credit program described in subclause 14
403403 (I) during the preceding 12-month pe-15
404404 riod; and 16
405405 ‘‘(III) the applicable public hous-17
406406 ing agency is able to obtain the re-18
407407 sults of the inspection described in 19
408408 subclause (II). 20
409409 ‘‘(ii) HOME
410410 INVESTMENT PARTNER -21
411411 SHIPS PROGRAM .—A dwelling shall be 22
412412 deemed to meet the inspection require-23
413413 ments under this paragraph if— 24
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417417 ‘‘(I) the dwelling unit is assisted 1
418418 under the HOME Investment Part-2
419419 nerships Program under title II of the 3
420420 Cranston-Gonzalez National Afford-4
421421 able Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12721 et 5
422422 seq.); 6
423423 ‘‘(II) the dwelling unit was phys-7
424424 ically inspected and passed inspection 8
425425 as part of the program described in 9
426426 subclause (I) during the preceding 12- 10
427427 month period; and 11
428428 ‘‘(III) the applicable public hous-12
429429 ing agency is able to obtain the re-13
430430 sults of the inspection described in 14
431431 subclause (II). 15
432432 ‘‘(iii) R
433433 URAL HOUSING SERVICE .—A 16
434434 dwelling unit shall be deemed to meet the 17
435435 inspection requirements under this para-18
436436 graph if— 19
437437 ‘‘(I) the dwelling unit is assisted 20
438438 by the Rural Housing Service of the 21
439439 Department of Agriculture; 22
440440 ‘‘(II) the dwelling unit was phys-23
441441 ically inspected and passed inspection 24
442442 in connection with the assistance de-25
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446446 scribed in subclause (I) during the 1
447447 preceding 12-month period; and 2
448448 ‘‘(III) the applicable public hous-3
449449 ing agency is able to obtain the re-4
450450 sults of the inspection described in 5
451451 subclause (II). 6
452452 ‘‘(iv) R
453453 ULE OF CONSTRUCTION .— 7
454454 Nothing in clause (i), (ii), or (iii) shall be 8
455455 construed to affect the operation of a hous-9
456456 ing program described in, or authorized 10
457457 under a provision of law described in, that 11
458458 clause.’’. 12
459459 (b) P
460460 RE-APPROVAL OFUNITS.—Section 8(o)(8)(A) 13
461461 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 14
462462 1437f(o)(8)(A)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-15
463463 lowing: 16
464464 ‘‘(iv) I
465465 NITIAL INSPECTION PRIOR TO 17
466466 LEASE AGREEMENT .— 18
467467 ‘‘(I) D
468468 EFINITION.—In this 19
469469 clause, the term ‘new landlord’ means 20
470470 an owner of a dwelling unit who has 21
471471 not previously entered into a housing 22
472472 assistance payment contract with a 23
473473 public housing agency under this sub-24
474474 section for any dwelling unit. 25
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478478 ‘‘(II) EARLY INSPECTION.—Upon 1
479479 the request of a new landlord, a public 2
480480 housing agency may inspect the dwell-3
481481 ing unit owned by the new landlord to 4
482482 determine whether the unit meets the 5
483483 housing quality standards under sub-6
484484 paragraph (B) before the unit is se-7
485485 lected by a tenant assisted under this 8
486486 subsection. 9
487487 ‘‘(III) E
488488 FFECT.—An inspection 10
489489 conducted under subclause (II) that 11
490490 determines that the dwelling unit 12
491491 meets the housing quality standards 13
492492 under subparagraph (B) shall satisfy 14
493493 this subparagraph and subparagraph 15
494494 (C) if the new landlord enters into a 16
495495 lease agreement with a tenant assisted 17
496496 under this subsection not later than 18
497497 60 days after the date of the inspec-19
498498 tion. 20
499499 ‘‘(IV) I
500500 NFORMATION WHEN FAM -21
501501 ILY IS SELECTED.—When a public 22
502502 housing agency selects a family to 23
503503 participate in the tenant-based assist-24
504504 ance program under this subsection, 25
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508508 the public housing agency shall in-1
509509 clude in the information provided to 2
510510 the family a list of dwelling units that 3
511511 have been inspected under subclause 4
512512 (II) and determined to meet the hous-5
513513 ing quality standards under subpara-6
514514 graph (B).’’. 7
515515 SEC. 8. SMALL AREA FAIR MARKET RENT. 8
516516 (a) U
517517 SE OFSMALLAREAFAIRMARKETRENT.— 9
518518 Section 8(o)(1) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 10
519519 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(1)) is amended by adding at the end 11
520520 the following: 12
521521 ‘‘(F) S
522522 MALL AREA FAIR MARKET RENT .— 13
523523 ‘‘(i) D
524524 EFINITIONS.—In this subpara-14
525525 graph— 15
526526 ‘‘(I) the term ‘metropolitan area’ 16
527527 means a metropolitan statistical area, 17
528528 as defined by the Office of Manage-18
529529 ment and Budget; and 19
530530 ‘‘(II) the term ‘small area fair 20
531531 market rent’ means the fair market 21
532532 rent established for a ZIP Code area 22
533533 within a metropolitan area. 23
534534 ‘‘(ii) U
535535 SE OF SMALL AREA FAIR MAR -24
536536 KET RENT.—Notwithstanding subsection 25
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540540 (c) or any other provision of this sub-1
541541 section, not later than 3 years after the 2
542542 date of enactment of this subparagraph, 3
543543 the Secretary shall designate a number of 4
544544 metropolitan areas in which public housing 5
545545 agencies are required to use the small area 6
546546 fair market rent to determine the fair mar-7
547547 ket rental for dwelling units for purposes 8
548548 of tenant-based assistance under this sub-9
549549 section that is not less than 3 times the 10
550550 number of metropolitan areas so des-11
551551 ignated in the final rule of the Secretary 12
552552 entitled ‘Establishing a More Effective 13
553553 Fair Market Rent System; Using Small 14
554554 Area Fair Market Rents in the Housing 15
555555 Choice Voucher Program Instead of the 16
556556 Current 50th Percentile FMRs’, published 17
557557 in the Federal Register on November 16, 18
558558 2016 (81 Fed. Reg. 80567). 19
559559 ‘‘(iii) H
560560 OLD HARMLESS.—If the appli-20
561561 cation of clause (ii) would cause a decrease 21
562562 in the payment standard used to calculate 22
563563 the amount of tenant-based assistance pro-23
564564 vided to a family under this subsection, a 24
565565 public housing agency shall continue to use 25
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569569 the existing higher payment standard to 1
570570 calculate the amount of such assistance for 2
571571 the family for as long as the family con-3
572572 tinues to receive such assistance in the 4
573573 same dwelling unit.’’. 5
574574 (b) C
575575 ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Section 8(o)(1)(B) 6
576576 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 7
577577 1437f(o)(1)(B)) is amended by inserting after ‘‘subsection 8
578578 (c)’’ the following: ‘‘(subject to subparagraph (F) of this 9
579579 paragraph)’’. 10
580580 SEC. 9. SECTION 8 MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENT PROGRAM. 11
581581 (a) D
582582 EFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘Section 12
583583 8 Management Assessment Program’’ means the program 13
584584 set forth in part 985 of title 24, Code of Federal Regula-14
585585 tions (or any successor regulation). 15
586586 (b) D
587587 ECONCENTRATION OF PARTICIPATINGDWELL-16
588588 INGUNITS.—The Secretary shall explore ways to reform 17
589589 and modernize the Section 8 Management Assessment 18
590590 Program to assess public housing agencies in a manner 19
591591 that promotes— 20
592592 (1) positive interactions with landlords, includ-21
593593 ing timely payment of rent and identification of the 22
594594 dwelling unit for which a subsidy payment is being 23
595595 made; and 24
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599599 (2) an increase in the diversity of areas where 1
600600 dwelling units are leased to support voucher holders 2
601601 who want to access to low-poverty, integrated neigh-3
602602 borhoods. 4
603603 (c) R
604604 ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in sub-5
605605 section (b) shall be construed to prevent the Secretary 6
606606 from— 7
607607 (1) reforming the Section 8 Management As-8
608608 sessment Program to assess public housing agencies 9
609609 in other areas of performance; or 10
610610 (2) reforming the Section 8 Management As-11
611611 sessment Program in any other manner, at the dis-12
612612 cretion of the Secretary. 13
613613 SEC. 10. ANNUAL REPORT ON EFFECTIVENESS OF ACT. 14
614614 (a) D
615615 EFINITIONS.—In this section— 15
616616 (1) the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-16
617617 mittees’’ means— 17
618618 (A) the Committee on Banking, Housing, 18
619619 and Urban Affairs of the Senate; 19
620620 (B) the Subcommittee on Transportation, 20
621621 Housing and Urban Development, and Related 21
622622 Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of 22
623623 the Senate; 23
624624 (C) the Committee on Financial Services of 24
625625 the House of Representatives; and 25
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629629 (D) the Subcommittee on Transportation, 1
630630 Housing and Urban Development, and Related 2
631631 Agencies of the Committee on Appropriations of 3
632632 the House of Representatives; and 4
633633 (2) the term ‘‘high-opportunity area’’— 5
634634 (A) shall be defined by the Secretary for 6
635635 purposes of this section; and 7
636636 (B) does not include any census tract in 8
637637 which the poverty rate is equal to or greater 9
638638 than 20 percent. 10
639639 (b) R
640640 EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 11
641641 of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 5 12
642642 total years, the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate 13
643643 congressional committees and make publicly available a re-14
644644 port that— 15
645645 (1) evaluates the effectiveness of this Act and 16
646646 the amendments made by this Act in recruiting and 17
647647 retaining landlords who accept vouchers under the 18
648648 Housing Choice Voucher program, particularly land-19
649649 lords with dwelling units in high-opportunity neigh-20
650650 borhoods; and 21
651651 (2) includes— 22
652652 (A) the number of landlords in the United 23
653653 States who accept housing choice vouchers 24
654654 under the Housing Choice Voucher program 25
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658658 and the number of dwelling units assisted under 1
659659 the Housing Choice Voucher program; 2
660660 (B) any net changes to the number of 3
661661 landlords or dwelling units described in sub-4
662662 paragraph (A) during the preceding year; 5
663663 (C) the number of landlords described in 6
664664 subparagraph (A) who own disability-accessible 7
665665 dwelling units assisted under the Housing 8
666666 Choice Voucher program and the number of 9
667667 those dwelling units; and 10
668668 (D) the number of landlords described in 11
669669 subparagraph (A) who own dwelling units as-12
670670 sisted under the Housing Choice Voucher pro-13
671671 gram in high-opportunity areas and the number 14
672672 of those dwelling units. 15
673673 Æ
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