March 11, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 43 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session
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HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER MOBILITY DEMONSTRATION ACT OF 2019; Congressional Record Vol. 165, No. 43
(House of Representatives - March 11, 2019)
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[Pages H2618-H2620] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER MOBILITY DEMONSTRATION ACT OF 2019 Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1122) to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to carry out a housing choice voucher mobility demonstration to encourage families receiving such voucher assistance to move to lower-poverty areas and expand access to opportunity areas. The Clerk read the title of the bill. The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 1122 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 ``Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2019''. SEC. 2. HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER MOBILITY DEMONSTRATION. (a) Authority.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (in this section referred to as the ``Secretary'') may carry out a mobility demonstration program to enable public housing agencies to administer housing choice voucher assistance under section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) in a manner designed to encourage families receiving such voucher assistance to move to lower-poverty areas and expand access to opportunity areas. (b) Selection of PHAs.-- (1) Requirements.--The Secretary shall establish requirements for public housing agencies to participate in the demonstration program under this section, which shall provide that the following public housing agencies may participate: (A) Public housing agencies that together-- (i) serve areas with high concentrations of holders of rental assistance vouchers under section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) in poor, low- opportunity neighborhoods; and (ii) have an adequate number of moderately priced rental units in higher-opportunity areas. (B) Planned consortia or partial consortia of public housing agencies that-- (i) include at least one agency with a high-performing Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program; and (ii) will enable participating families to continue in such program if they relocate to the jurisdiction served by any other agency of the consortium. (C) Planned consortia or partial consortia of public housing agencies that-- (i) serve jurisdictions within a single region; (ii) include one or more small agencies; and (iii) will consolidate mobility focused operations. (D) Such other public housing agencies as the Secretary considers appropriate. (2) Selection criteria.--The Secretary shall establish competitive selection criteria for public housing agencies eligible under paragraph (1) to participate in the demonstration program under this section. [[Page H2619]] (3) Random selection of families.--The Secretary may require participating agencies to use a randomized selection process to select among the families eligible to receive mobility assistance under the demonstration program. (c) Regional Housing Mobility Plan.--The Secretary shall require each public housing agency applying to participate in the demonstration program under this section to submit a Regional Housing Mobility Plan (in this section referred to as a ``Plan''), which shall-- (1) identify the public housing agencies that will participate under the Plan and the number of vouchers each participating agency will make available out of their existing programs in connection with the demonstration; (2) identify any community-based organizations, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and other entities that will participate under the Plan and describe the commitments for such participation made by each such entity; (3) identify any waivers or alternative requirements requested for the execution of the Plan; (4) identify any specific actions that the public housing agencies and other entities will undertake to accomplish the goals of the demonstration, which shall include a comprehensive approach to enable a successful transition to opportunity areas and may include counseling and continued support for families; (5) specify the criteria that the public housing agencies would use to identify opportunity areas under the plan; (6) provide for establishment of priority and preferences for participating families, including a preference for families with young children, as such term is defined by the Secretary, based on regional housing needs and priorities; and (7) comply with any other requirements established by the Secretary. (d) Funding for Mobility-Related Services.-- (1) Use of administrative fees.--Public housing agencies participating in the demonstration program under this section may use administrative fees under section 8(q) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(q)), their administrative fee reserves, and funding from private entities to provide mobility-related services in connection with the demonstration program, including services such as counseling, portability coordination, landlord outreach, security deposits, and administrative activities associated with establishing and operating regional mobility programs. (2) Use of housing assistance funds.--Public housing agencies participating in the demonstration under this section may use housing assistance payments funds under section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) for security deposits if necessary to enable families to lease units with vouchers in designated opportunity areas. (e) Waivers; Alternative Requirements.-- (1) Waivers.--To allow for public housing agencies to implement and administer their Regional Housing Mobility Plans, the Secretary may waive or specify alternative requirements for the following provisions of the United States Housing Act of 1937: (A) Sections 8(o)(7)(A) and 8(o)(13)(E)(i) (relating to the term of a lease and mobility requirements). (B) Section 8(o)(13)(C)(i) (relating to the public housing plan for an agency). (C) Section 8(r)(2) (relating to the responsibility of a public housing agency to administer ported assistance). (2) Alternative requirements.--The Secretary shall provide additional authority for public housing agencies in a selected region to form a consortium that has a single housing choice voucher funding contract, or to enter into a partial consortium to operate all or portions of the Regional Housing Mobility Plan, including agencies participating in the Moving To Work Demonstration program. (3) Effective date.--Any waiver or alternative requirements pursuant to this subsection shall not take effect before the expiration of the 10-day period beginning upon publication of notice of such waiver or alternative requirement in the Federal Register. (f) Implementation.--The Secretary may implement the demonstration, including its terms, procedures, requirements, and conditions, by notice. (g) Evaluation.--Not later than 5 years after implementation of the regional housing mobility programs under the demonstration program under this section, the Secretary shall submit to the Congress and publish in the Federal Register a report evaluating the effectiveness of the strategies pursued under the demonstration, subject to the availability of funding to conduct the evaluation. Through official websites and other methods, the Secretary shall disseminate interim findings as they become available, and shall, if promising strategies are identified, notify the Congress of the amount of funds that would be required to expand the testing of these strategies in additional types of public housing agencies and housing markets. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Luetkemeyer) each will control 20 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California. General Leave Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from California? There was no objection. Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, rigorous studies have demonstrated that giving a low- income family an opportunity to move to a lower-poverty neighborhood can have a profound impact, particularly for children. For example, one study found that young boys and girls in families that used a voucher to move to lower-poverty neighborhoods were 32 percent more likely to attend college and earned 31 percent more, or nearly $3,500 a year, compared to their counterparts in families who did not receive a voucher. Unfortunately, families with housing choice vouchers who want to move to a better neighborhood can face significant challenges, particularly if it involves moving from one public housing agency jurisdiction to another. In fact, data shows that only one in eight families with children with a housing choice voucher use their vouchers to live in lower-poverty areas. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1122 would help reduce barriers to mobility by establishing a demonstration program that would enable and incentivize public housing agencies to come together to come up with a regional plan to increase mobility across their jurisdictions. This is a bipartisan proposal that was included in HUD budget requests under the Obama administration. Further, $25 million in funding for this demonstration was included in fiscal year 2019 funding bill for HUD programs, and a version of this bill passed the House last Congress 368 to 19. This demonstration will not only provide thousands of families with opportunities to move to better neighborhoods, but it will also lay the foundation for how successful outcomes can be replicated at a larger scale across the country. I congratulate the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Cleaver) and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Duffy) for introducing this initiative. Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 1122, and I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1122, the Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2019. As currently administered, housing vouchers often are insufficient in helping American families get access to neighborhoods with greater opportunities. That is why H.R. 1122 is so important. A strong body of research shows that growing up in a safe, lower- poverty neighborhood with good schools improves children's academic achievement and long-term chances of success, and may reduce intergenerational poverty. A recent groundbreaking Harvard study found that young children in families who used housing vouchers to move to better neighborhoods fared much better as young adults than similar children who remained in extremely poor neighborhoods. The Harvard study found that young boys and girls in families who use a voucher to move to lower-poverty neighborhoods were 32 percent more likely to attend college and earned 31 percent more as young adults than their counterparts in families who did not receive an MTO voucher. Girls in families who moved to lower-poverty neighborhoods were also 30 percent less likely to be single parents as adults. And let us not forget that location also affects adults in many ways, such as access to jobs, the cost of getting to work, the feasibility of balancing child care responsibilities with work schedules, and other basic goods and services. Voucher mobility is key to enabling families with children to move to safer neighborhoods with less poverty, thereby enhancing their chances of long- [[Page H2620]] term health and success. H.R. 1122 will provide the foundation for many of these key changes. I thank Mr. Duffy and Mr. Cleaver for their hard work in looking into this issue and providing evidence-based solutions to affect positive change in families and communities. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of H.R. 1122, and I reserve the balance of my time. Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Cleaver), the chair of the Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy. Mr. CLEAVER. Mr. Speaker, this piece of legislation is particularly significant to me. I lived in public housing for 5 years. I saw what the possibilities were there. I saw people who did not make it, and I saw people who did made it. The one thing that I found difficult to accept was the fact that if you lived in public housing, almost every rule made was designed, unintentionally, to keep you in public housing. My father didn't tell the truth about the fact that he was cleaning up at an office building on Saturday earning some additional money and then serving at parties on the weekends. He had to pretend that that didn't happen because he was saving money trying to get our family in our own home. And it worked. He is watching C-SPAN right now, hearing his son talk about what could have happened. The essence of this bill was passed as a part of the appropriations package that was signed into law earlier this year. It promotes housing mobility for individuals who rely on housing vouchers. Under this bill, the Department of Housing and Urban Development would establish a demonstration program to allow interested public housing agencies to form consortia to enhance mobility and provide residents with increased opportunity to move to higher-income communities. There is something contagious about working around only poor people. If you live in a neighborhood and all you see are people who are struggling, it is easy to come to the conclusion that that is the way life is: that you are just supposed to struggle and that you are just supposed to barely make it. If you don't see the signs of people who are making progress--people who are achieving--you might come to the conclusion that achievement is beyond one's reach. This was demonstrated with a research project from Harvard economists Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, and Lawrence Katz which indicates that children who move to higher-opportunity neighborhoods increase their chances of success. More specifically, the study found that children who were able to use housing vouchers to move to lower-poverty areas were 32 percent more likely to attend college and earned 31 percent more a year than their counterparts in lower-income neighborhoods. This bill removes barriers by providing families with the tools to navigate a move from one neighborhood to another. H.R. 1122 will allow more families to thrive by increasing their access to higher performing schools, employment opportunities, fresh and affordably priced foods, and safe playgrounds. There is something about homeownership or living in a nice neighborhood. Our family was able to move out. My father bought a house in a White neighborhood where we could not live and had it moved at night from the Midwestern Parkway to Gerald Street, where my father lives today. And, my goodness, I wish the world could see what transpired. My father's yard is in contention with any yard in town for the yard of the summer. We had a water shortage in Texas--we had a drought, a serious drought 38 years ago--and my father would get up at 3 a.m. in the morning to trick the city people who would come out checking to see if anybody was violating the water ordinance by watering his lawn at 2, 3, or 4 a.m. in the morning. While I am confessing my father broke the law, the truth of the matter is that it pleased me because we had never had a yard in my life until we were able to get out of public housing. So not only does it give the children an opportunity for a higher achievement educationally, but it also does something for the homeowner. This bill removes barriers, and I am supportive of that. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired. Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Missouri. Mr. CLEAVER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, friend, and former neighbor, Sean Duffy, who worked with me on this bill. And I also thank the chair and the ranking member of the committee for their continued support. With this, I am hopeful that we can continue working across the aisle to promote housing opportunity for all of our constituents. Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, I reiterate my support for the bill. I thank Mr. Cleaver for his personal testimony today. It was very compelling. It is a tremendous story of success in the use of these things and how changing our neighborhoods can really be helpful. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. {time} 1615 Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that we were able to work in a bipartisan manner on this initiative. This bill shows that we can foster new ideas and help improve services and flexibility for our citizens who are receiving housing assistance. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Luetkemeyer) for his engagement on the bill, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important piece of legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1122. The question was taken. The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the ayes have it. Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays. The yeas and nays were ordered. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. ____________________
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