“To increase the number of landlords participating in the Housing Choice Voucher program.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section defines key terms for purposes of the Act, including (1) the Housing Choice Voucher program as the tenant-based rental assistance program under section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)), which aids low-income families in renting privately owned housing; (2) the Secretary as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; and (3) the Tribal Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program (commonly known as Tribal HUD-VASH) as the demonstration program established by the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (Public Law 113-235).
This section states congressional findings concerning the Housing Choice Voucher program, including its role as the federal government's largest housing assistance program for low-income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities; its benefits such as increased housing stability, reduced homelessness, and poverty reduction for children; declining landlord participation (an average of 10,000 providers leaving annually from 2010 to 2016, especially in high-opportunity neighborhoods); ongoing research by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; and innovative strategies tested under the Moving to Work demonstration program. The section also notes that Indian Tribes and tribally designated housing entities, which do not participate in the Housing Choice Voucher program, receive rental assistance for Native American veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness through the Tribal HUD-VASH program.
This section expresses the sense of Congress that the Housing Choice Voucher program—under which public housing agencies provide tenant-based rental assistance to low-income families for housing in the private market—should be improved to increase landlord participation, particularly by those with units in high-opportunity neighborhoods, in order to expand housing choice and further fair housing.
This section establishes three new incentives in the Housing Choice Voucher program (i.e., Section 8(o) tenant-based rental assistance under the U.S. Housing Act of 1937) to increase landlord participation. (1) One-time incentive payments.—Authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide assistance to public housing agencies (PHAs) for one-time payments to owners of eligible units (i.e., previously unassisted units in census tracts with poverty rates below 20%) entering housing assistance payment (HAP) contracts, up to 200% of the monthly HAP amount per unit; limits owners to one such payment regardless of the number of units owned; and permits PHAs to require a lease commitment exceeding one year. (2) Security deposit payments.—Authorizes HUD assistance to PHAs to pay security deposits (or substantial portions thereof) on behalf of voucher tenants, with priority for extremely low-income families; requires PHAs to establish tenant responsibility amounts for repairs, damage claim processes (with tenant refutation rights), and procedures for unused deposit returns; and allows additional PHA conditions consistent with state and local law. (3) Landlord liaison bonus payments.—Directs HUD to award annual bonuses to PHAs employing or contracting for at least one dedicated landlord liaison responsible for outreach, recruitment, retention, landlord education, and operating a hotline or similar mechanism for the program, with amounts varying by region and not exceeding 150% of the average liaison employment or contracting cost.
This section modifies housing quality standards (HQS) inspection requirements under the Housing Choice Voucher program (i.e., Section 8(o) tenant-based rental assistance, which enables low-income families to rent eligible private-market housing). (1) Deems a dwelling unit to meet HQS if it is located in a low-income housing tax credit-financed building, assisted under the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, or assisted by the Rural Housing Service; passed a physical inspection under the relevant program during the preceding 12-month period; and the public housing agency (PHA) obtains the inspection results. (Nothing in this provision affects the operation of those programs.) (2) Authorizes a PHA, upon request by a new landlord (i.e., an owner without a prior housing assistance payment contract for any unit), to inspect a unit for HQS compliance prior to tenant selection; such an inspection satisfies HQS requirements if the unit is leased to a voucher-assisted tenant within 60 days of inspection. Requires PHAs to provide lists of such pre-approved units to families selected for vouchers.
This section requires the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, not later than three years after enactment, to designate a number of metropolitan areas—not less than three times the number (24) designated in HUD's November 2016 small area fair market rent final rule (81 Fed. Reg. 80567)—in which public housing agencies must use small area fair market rents (i.e., ZIP code-level fair market rents within metropolitan statistical areas) instead of metropolitan-area fair market rents to set payment standards for tenant-based Housing Choice Voucher assistance. It provides that if small area fair market rents would reduce a family's payment standard, the public housing agency must continue using the existing higher standard for that family as long as it remains in the same unit. (As background, the Housing Choice Voucher program provides portable rental subsidies to low-income families to help them lease privately owned housing and promotes access to low-poverty neighborhoods.) It makes a conforming amendment clarifying that general fair market rent provisions are subject to this small area requirement.
This section directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to explore ways to reform and modernize the Section 8 Management Assessment Program—which assesses public housing agencies' performance in administering the Housing Choice Voucher program (i.e., Section 8 tenant-based rental assistance)—to promote (1) positive interactions with landlords, including timely rent payments and identification of dwelling units for subsidy payments; and (2) increased diversity of areas where dwelling units are leased to support voucher holders' access to low-poverty, integrated neighborhoods. A rule of construction specifies that this directive does not limit the Secretary's authority to reform the program in other performance areas or manners.
This section requires the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to submit to designated congressional committees on banking, financial services, and related appropriations subcommittees, and make publicly available, a report not later than one year after enactment and annually thereafter for a total of five years. The report evaluates the effectiveness of the Act in recruiting and retaining landlords accepting Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV), particularly in high-opportunity areas (i.e., census tracts with poverty rates below 20%, as defined by the Secretary), and includes (1) the number of U.S. HCV landlords and assisted dwelling units, plus net changes from the prior year; (2) the number of HCV landlords owning disability-accessible units and the number of those units; and (3) the number of HCV landlords with units in high-opportunity areas and the number of those units.