“A bill 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) Housing Choice Voucher program, as the tenant-based assistance program under section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (i.e., tenant-based Section 8 rental assistance for low-income families); (2) Secretary, as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; and (3) Tribal Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program (commonly known as Tribal HUD-VASH), as the HUD-VASH demonstration program for homeless veterans established by the FY2015 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act.
This section sets forth eight congressional findings concerning the Housing Choice Voucher program (i.e., the federal government's largest rental assistance program helping low-income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities afford decent, safe, and sanitary private-market housing), including its positive impacts on housing stability and poverty reduction, an average annual decline of 10,000 participating landlords from 2010 through 2016 (particularly in high-opportunity neighborhoods), ongoing HUD research on landlord participation, flexibilities available to public housing agencies under the Moving to Work demonstration, and comparable rental assistance available to Native American veterans through the Tribal HUD-VASH program.
This section expresses the sense of Congress that the Housing Choice Voucher program should be improved to increase landlord participation, particularly in high-opportunity neighborhoods, to expand housing choice and opportunity and further fair housing.
This section establishes incentives to increase landlord participation in the Housing Choice Voucher program (i.e., tenant-based rental assistance under Section 8(o) of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937). Specifically, it (1) authorizes public housing agencies (PHAs) to offer owners of eligible units (i.e., in census tracts with poverty rates below 20% and not previously assisted) a one-time incentive payment of up to 200% of the monthly housing assistance payment upon entering a housing assistance payment contract, limited to one payment per unit and subject to an optional multi-year lease commitment; (2) directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide assistance to PHAs to pay security deposits (or substantial portions thereof) on behalf of voucher tenants, with priority for extremely low-income families, owner deductions for damages beyond normal wear and tear via a PHA-administered claims process, PHA-established tenant responsibility thresholds, and return of unused funds to PHAs; and (3) requires annual bonus payments to PHAs employing (or intending to employ via contract) at least one dedicated landlord liaison for outreach, recruitment, retention, landlord education, and a support mechanism (e.g., hotline), in amounts set by the Secretary not exceeding 150% of average regional liaison costs.
This section authorizes appropriations of $7 million for each of fiscal years 2025 through 2029 for the Tribal Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (Tribal HUD-VASH) program. (As background, the program provides rental assistance vouchers and supportive services to homeless veterans residing in or near tribal areas.)
This section amends the housing quality standards (HQS) inspection requirements in the Housing Choice Voucher Program (i.e., Section 8 tenant-based rental assistance under the U.S. Housing Act of 1937, which aids low-income families with rental subsidies). (1) Deems a dwelling unit to meet HQS if it is 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 respective program in the preceding 12-month period; and the public housing agency (PHA) obtains the results. (A rule of construction specifies that this does not affect those programs.) (2) Authorizes PHAs, upon request by a new landlord (i.e., an owner without prior housing assistance payment contracts under the program), to inspect a unit for HQS compliance before tenant selection; such inspections satisfy initial HQS requirements if the unit is leased to an assisted family within 60 days of inspection. PHAs must provide lists of such pre-approved units to selected families.
This section requires the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), not later than three years after enactment, to designate at least 72 metropolitan areas (three times the 24 areas designated in HUD's 2016 small area fair market rent final rule) in which public housing agencies must use small area fair market rents (i.e., ZIP code-level fair market rents within metropolitan statistical areas) to set payment standards for tenant-based assistance under the Housing Choice Voucher program (i.e., Section 8 vouchers subsidizing private-market rents for low-income families). It provides that if a small area fair market rent 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 dwelling unit. (Conforming amendment subjects the payment standard exception in subsection (o)(1)(B) to this new requirement.)
This section directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to explore ways to reform and modernize the Section 8 Management Assessment Program (SEMAP)—which assesses public housing agencies' performance in administering the Housing Choice Voucher Program—to promote (1) positive landlord interactions, including timely rent payments and identification of subsidized dwelling units, and (2) greater diversity in leased unit locations to support voucher holders' access to low-poverty, integrated neighborhoods. Nothing in this directive limits the Secretary's authority to reform SEMAP in other performance areas or manners.
This section requires the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to submit to the appropriate congressional committees—defined as the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies; and House Committee on Financial Services—and make publicly available an annual report evaluating the effectiveness of the Act in recruiting and retaining landlords accepting Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV), particularly in high-opportunity areas (i.e., as defined by the Secretary, excluding census tracts with poverty rates of 20% or greater), not later than one year after enactment and annually thereafter for five years total. (The HCV program, also known as Section 8 tenant-based rental assistance, enables low-income families to lease privately owned housing by subsidizing a portion of their rent.) The report must include (1) the number of U.S. landlords accepting HCV and the number of assisted dwelling units; (2) net changes in those numbers from the preceding year; (3) the number of such landlords owning disability-accessible HCV units and the number of those units; and (4) the number of such landlords owning HCV units in high-opportunity areas and the number of those units.