[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5632 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5632

    To reform and update the flat rent structure for public housing.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 18, 2014

Mr. Neugebauer introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To reform and update the flat rent structure for public housing.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fair Local Adjustment for Tenant 
Rents Act of 2014''.

SEC. 2. PUBLIC HOUSING FLAT RENTS.

    (a) In General.--Clause (i) of section 3(a)(2)(B) of the United 
States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(a)(2)(B)(i)) is amended to 
read as follows:
                            ``(i) Flat rents.--
                                    ``(I) In general.--Each public 
                                housing agency shall establish, for 
                                each dwelling unit in public housing 
                                owned or operated by the agency, a flat 
                                rental amount for the dwelling unit, 
                                which shall--
                                            ``(aa) be based on the 
                                        rental value of the unit, as 
                                        determined by the public 
                                        housing agency, but may not be 
                                        an amount that is less than 80 
                                        percent of the applicable fair 
                                        market rental established under 
                                        section 8(c) of this Act; or
                                            ``(bb) be established using 
                                        another factor as determined by 
                                        the Secretary.
                                    ``(II) Exceptions.--A public 
                                housing agency may request that the 
                                Secretary may establish a flat rent for 
                                a dwelling in an amount that is less 
                                than the minimum amount established 
                                pursuant to subclause (I) for the unit, 
                                if the public housing agency 
                                demonstrates that such minimum amount 
                                is not an accurate measure of the 
                                rental value for the unit.
                                    ``(III) Rent increases.--If a new 
                                flat rental amount established pursuant 
                                to this clause for a dwelling unit 
                                would increase the existing rental 
                                payment of any family residing in 
                                public housing as of implementation of 
                                such flat rent by more than 35 percent, 
                                the new flat rental amount shall be 
                                phased in as necessary to ensure that 
                                the family's existing rental payment 
                                does not increase by more than 35 
                                percent annually.''.
    (b) Implementation.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
shall implement section 3(a)(2)(B)(i) of the United States Housing Act 
of 1937, as amended by subsection (a) of this section, not later than 
the expiration of the 6-month period beginning on the date of the 
enactment of this Act.

SEC. 3. MINIMUM RENTS FOR PUBLIC HOUSING AND SECTION 8 RENTAL 
              ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS.

    Subparagraph (A) of section 3(a)(3) of the United States Housing 
Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(a)(3)(A)) is amended, in the matter 
preceding clause (i), by striking ``more than'' and inserting ``less 
than''.
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