Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB970 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 970
5	5	To establish a pilot program to improve the family self-sufficiency program,
6	6	and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	MARCH11 (legislative day, MARCH10), 2025
9	9	Mr. R
10	10	EED(for himself and Mrs. BRITT) introduced the following bill; which
11	11	was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and
12	12	Urban Affairs
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To establish a pilot program to improve the family self-
15	15	sufficiency program, and for other purposes.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Helping More Families 4
20	20	Save Act’’. 5
21	21	SEC. 2. FAMILY SELF-SUFFICIENCY ESCROW EXPANSION 6
22	22	PILOT PROGRAM. 7
23	23	Section 23 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 8
24	24	(42 U.S.C. 1437u) is amended by adding at the end the 9
25	25	following: 10
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29	29	‘‘(p) ESCROWEXPANSIONPILOTPROGRAM.— 1
30	30	‘‘(1) D
31	31	EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 2
32	32	‘‘(A) C
33	33	OVERED FAMILY.—The term ‘cov-3
34	34	ered family’ means a family that receives assist-4
35	35	ance under section 8 or 9 of this Act and is en-5
36	36	rolled in the pilot program. 6
37	37	‘‘(B) E
38	38	LIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligi-7
39	39	ble entity’ means an entity described in sub-8
40	40	section (c)(2). 9
41	41	‘‘(C) P
42	42	ILOT PROGRAM.—The term ‘pilot 10
43	43	program’ means the pilot program established 11
44	44	under paragraph (2). 12
45	45	‘‘(D) W
46	46	ELFARE ASSISTANCE .—The term 13
47	47	‘welfare assistance’ has the meaning given the 14
48	48	term in section 984.103 of title 24, Code of 15
49	49	Federal Regulations, or any successor regula-16
50	50	tion. 17
51	51	‘‘(2) E
52	52	STABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es-18
53	53	tablish a pilot program under which the Secretary 19
54	54	shall select not more than 25 eligible entities to es-20
55	55	tablish and manage escrow accounts for not more 21
56	56	than 5,000 covered families, in accordance with this 22
57	57	subsection. 23
58	58	‘‘(3) E
59	59	SCROW ACCOUNTS.— 24
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63	63	‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity se-1
64	64	lected to participate in the pilot program— 2
65	65	‘‘(i) shall establish an interest-bearing 3
66	66	escrow account and place into the account 4
67	67	an amount equal to any increase in the 5
68	68	amount of rent paid by each covered family 6
69	69	in accordance with the provisions of section 7
70	70	3, 8(o), or 8(y), as applicable, that is at-8
71	71	tributable to increases in earned income by 9
72	72	the covered families during the participa-10
73	73	tion of each covered family in the pilot pro-11
74	74	gram; and 12
75	75	‘‘(ii) notwithstanding any other provi-13
76	76	sion of law, may use funds it controls 14
77	77	under section 8 or 9 for purposes of mak-15
78	78	ing the escrow deposit for covered families 16
79	79	assisted under, or residing in units assisted 17
80	80	under, section 8 or 9 of this title, respec-18
81	81	tively, provided such funds are offset by 19
82	82	the increase in the amount of rent paid by 20
83	83	the covered family. 21
84	84	‘‘(B) I
85	85	NCOME LIMITATION.—An eligible en-22
86	86	tity may not escrow any amounts for any cov-23
87	87	ered family whose adjusted income exceeds 80 24
88	88	percent of the area median income. 25
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92	92	‘‘(C) WITHDRAWALS.—A covered family 1
93	93	shall be able to withdraw funds, including inter-2
94	94	est earned, from an escrow account established 3
95	95	by an eligible entity under the pilot program— 4
96	96	‘‘(i) after the covered family ceases to 5
97	97	receive welfare assistance; and 6
98	98	‘‘(ii)(I) not earlier than the date that 7
99	99	is 5 years after the date on which the eligi-8
100	100	ble entity establishes the escrow account 9
101	101	under this subsection; 10
102	102	‘‘(II) not later than the date that is 7 11
103	103	years after the date on which the eligible 12
104	104	entity establishes the escrow account under 13
105	105	this subsection, if the covered family choos-14
106	106	es to continue to participate in the pilot 15
107	107	program after the date that is 5 years 16
108	108	after the date on which the eligible entity 17
109	109	establishes the escrow account; 18
110	110	‘‘(III) on the date the covered family 19
111	111	ceases to receive housing assistance under 20
112	112	section 8 or 9, if such date is earlier than 21
113	113	5 years after the date on which the eligible 22
114	114	entity establishes the escrow account; 23
115	115	‘‘(IV) earlier than 5 years after the 24
116	116	date on which the eligible entity establishes 25
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120	120	the escrow account, if the covered family is 1
121	121	using the funds to advance a self-suffi-2
122	122	ciency goal as approved by the eligible enti-3
123	123	ty; or 4
124	124	‘‘(V) under other circumstances in 5
125	125	which the Secretary determines an exemp-6
126	126	tion for good cause is warranted. 7
127	127	‘‘(D) I
128	128	NTERIM RECERTIFICATION .—For 8
129	129	purposes of the pilot program, a covered family 9
130	130	may recertify the income of the covered family 10
131	131	multiple times per year, as determined by the 11
132	132	Secretary, and not fewer than once per year. 12
133	133	‘‘(E) C
134	134	ONTRACT OR PLAN .—A covered 13
135	135	family is not required to complete a standard 14
136	136	contract of participation or an individual train-15
137	137	ing and services plan in order to participate in 16
138	138	the pilot program. 17
139	139	‘‘(4) E
140	140	FFECT OF INCREASES IN FAMILY IN -18
141	141	COME.—Any increase in the earned income of a cov-19
142	142	ered family during the enrollment of the family in 20
143	143	the pilot program may not be considered as income 21
144	144	or a resource for purposes of eligibility of the family 22
145	145	for other benefits, or amount of benefits payable to 23
146	146	the family, under any program administered by the 24
147	147	Secretary. 25
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151	151	‘‘(5) APPLICATION.— 1
152	152	‘‘(A) I
153	153	N GENERAL.—An eligible entity 2
154	154	seeking to participate in the pilot program shall 3
155	155	submit to the Secretary an application— 4
156	156	‘‘(i) at such time, in such manner, 5
157	157	and containing such information as the 6
158	158	Secretary may require by notice; and 7
159	159	‘‘(ii) that includes the number of pro-8
160	160	posed covered families to be served by the 9
161	161	eligible entity under this subsection. 10
162	162	‘‘(B) G
163	163	EOGRAPHIC AND ENTITY VARI -11
164	164	ETY.—The Secretary shall ensure that eligible 12
165	165	entities selected to participate in the pilot pro-13
166	166	gram— 14
167	167	‘‘(i) are located across various States 15
168	168	and in both urban and rural areas; and 16
169	169	‘‘(ii) vary by size and type, including 17
170	170	both public housing agencies and private 18
171	171	owners of projects receiving project-based 19
172	172	rental assistance under section 8. 20
173	173	‘‘(6) N
174	174	OTIFICATION AND OPT-OUT.—An eligible 21
175	175	entity participating in the pilot program shall— 22
176	176	‘‘(A) notify covered families of their enroll-23
177	177	ment in the pilot program; 24
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181	181	‘‘(B) provide covered families with a de-1
182	182	tailed description of the pilot program, includ-2
183	183	ing how the pilot program will impact their rent 3
184	184	and finances; 4
185	185	‘‘(C) inform covered families that the fami-5
186	186	lies cannot simultaneously participate in the 6
187	187	pilot program and the Family Self-Sufficiency 7
188	188	program under this section; and 8
189	189	‘‘(D) provide covered families with the abil-9
190	190	ity to elect not to participate in the pilot pro-10
191	191	gram— 11
192	192	‘‘(i) not less than 2 weeks before the 12
193	193	date on which the escrow account is estab-13
194	194	lished under paragraph (3); and 14
195	195	‘‘(ii) at any point during the duration 15
196	196	of the pilot program. 16
197	197	‘‘(7) M
198	198	AXIMUM RENTS.—During the term of 17
199	199	participation by a covered family in the pilot pro-18
200	200	gram, the amount of rent paid by the covered family 19
201	201	shall be calculated under the rental provisions of sec-20
202	202	tion 3 or 8(o), as applicable. 21
203	203	‘‘(8) P
204	204	ILOT PROGRAM TIMELINE .— 22
205	205	‘‘(A) A
206	206	WARDS.—Not later than 18 months 23
207	207	after the date of enactment of this subsection, 24
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211	211	the Secretary shall select the eligible entities to 1
212	212	participate in the pilot program. 2
213	213	‘‘(B) E
214	214	STABLISHMENT AND TERM OF AC -3
215	215	COUNTS.—An eligible entity selected to partici-4
216	216	pate in the pilot program shall— 5
217	217	‘‘(i) not later than 6 months after se-6
218	218	lection, establish escrow accounts under 7
219	219	paragraph (3) for covered families; and 8
220	220	‘‘(ii) maintain those escrow accounts 9
221	221	for not less than 5 years, or until the date 10
222	222	the family ceases to receive assistance 11
223	223	under section 8 or 9, and, at the discretion 12
224	224	of the covered family, not more than 7 13
225	225	years after the date on which the escrow 14
226	226	account is established. 15
227	227	‘‘(9) N
228	228	ONPARTICIPATION AND HOUSING ASSIST -16
229	229	ANCE.— 17
230	230	‘‘(A) I
231	231	N GENERAL.—Assistance under sec-18
232	232	tion 8 or 9 for a family that elects not to par-19
233	233	ticipate in the pilot program shall not be de-20
234	234	layed or denied by reason of such election. 21
235	235	‘‘(B) N
236	236	O TERMINATION.—Housing assist-22
237	237	ance may not be terminated as a consequence 23
238	238	of participating, or not participating, in the 24
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242	242	pilot program under this subsection for any pe-1
243	243	riod of time. 2
244	244	‘‘(10) S
245	245	TUDY.—Not later than 8 years after the 3
246	246	date the Secretary selects eligible entities to partici-4
247	247	pate in the pilot program under this subsection, the 5
248	248	Secretary shall conduct a study and submit to the 6
249	249	Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 7
250	250	of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Serv-8
251	251	ices of the House of Representatives a report on out-9
252	252	comes for covered families under the pilot program, 10
253	253	which shall evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot 11
254	254	program in assisting families to achieve economic 12
255	255	independence and self-sufficiency, and the impact 13
256	256	coaching and supportive services, or the lack thereof, 14
257	257	had on individual incomes. 15
258	258	‘‘(11) W
259	259	AIVERS.—To allow selected eligible en-16
260	260	tities to effectively administer the pilot program and 17
261	261	make the required escrow account deposits under 18
262	262	this subsection, the Secretary may waive require-19
263	263	ments under this section. 20
264	264	‘‘(12) T
265	265	ERMINATION.—The pilot program under 21
266	266	this subsection shall terminate on the date that is 10 22
267	267	years after the date of enactment of this subsection. 23
268	268	‘‘(13) A
269	269	UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS .— 24
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273	273	‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to 1
274	274	be appropriated to the Secretary for fiscal year 2
275	275	2026 $5,000,000— 3
276	276	‘‘(i) for technical assistance related to 4
277	277	implementation of the pilot program; and 5
278	278	‘‘(ii) to carry out an evaluation of the 6
279	279	pilot program under paragraph (10). 7
280	280	‘‘(B) A
281	281	VAILABILITY.—Any amounts appro-8
282	282	priated under this subsection shall remain avail-9
283	283	able until expended.’’. 10
284	284	Æ
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