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115th Congress } { Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session } { 115-809
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HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER MOBILITY DEMONSTRATION ACT OF 2018
_______
July 10, 2018.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Hensarling, from the Committee on Financial Services, submitted the
following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 5793]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Financial Services, to whom was referred
the bill (H.R. 5793) 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, having considered the same, report
favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill
do pass.
PURPOSE AND SUMMARY
On May 15, 2018, Rep. Sean Duffy introduced H.R. 5793, the
``Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2018''.
The bill would create a demonstration program in which the
administration of housing choice vouchers would be designed to
encourage movement to lower-poverty areas with expanded
employment or educational opportunities. To ensure the
demonstration has the greatest impact, H.R. 5793 would require
the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to award
demonstration program funds on a competitive basis and
prioritize regional collaborations among public housing
agencies (PHAs) that have high concentrations of voucher
holders in low-opportunity neighborhoods, a high-performing
Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) program, or a strong regional
collaboration including one or more small housing agencies,
among other factors. Five years after implementation of the
demonstration program, the HUD Secretary will submit a report
to Congress that evaluates the effectiveness of the program.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
The Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program is the federal
government's major program to assist very low-income families,
the elderly, and persons with disabilities afford decent, safe,
and sanitary housing in the private market. The HCV program is
authorized under Section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act
of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) and is administered locally by
approximately 2,200 PHAs.
The HCV program partners with local PHAs and landlords to
provide housing to our nation's neediest citizens. Of the
families currently receiving HCV assistance, over half are
either elderly or have a disabled head of household, and 75
percent are extremely low-income with incomes at or below 30
percent of the area median income. A unique aspect of the HCV
program is that it is designed to work in partnership, rather
than in competition, with the private rental market. HCV
assistance is primarily tenant-based assistance, which means
the assistance is not permanently tied to a particular unit or
project, but rather to an individual family.
The family is responsible for finding a suitable rental
unit with an owner who is willing to participate in the
program. The PHA pays a monthly housing assistance payment
directly to the owner on behalf of the family. That payment
helps cover the affordability gap between what very low-income
families can afford to pay for rent, and the actual rent
charged. The HCV program relies on this private sector
partnership to effectively and efficiently provide affordable
housing opportunities in the local community rather than depend
on direct government intervention.
The HCV program's design is to provide financial assistance
to households to enable them to choose the housing and
neighborhood that best suits their needs. Evidence underscores
that low-income children whose families move from very poor
neighborhoods to lower-poverty areas have higher earnings as
adults--and are less likely to become single parents and more
likely to attend college--than children that remain in less-
advantageous neighborhoods. Yet as currently administered,
housing vouchers do not effectively enable families to access
neighborhoods with greater opportunities that can help prevent
intergenerational poverty.
HUD contracts with about 2,200 PHAs to administer housing
vouchers. These agencies administer as few as four and as many
as 99,200 vouchers.\1\ Beyond consideration of population and
housing need, differences in municipal and county governance as
well as state politics have led to this great variation in
PHAs' scale, as well as in their geographic coverage. The
result is a complex network of program administration, where
multiple agencies, both large and small, often administer
vouchers in the same metro areas, sometime with overlapping
jurisdictions. The complexity and redundancy of program
administration is inefficient, increases program costs, makes
federal oversight more difficult, and reduces housing
opportunities for families.
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\1\Testimony of Barbara Sard, Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities (CBPP), Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on
Housing and Insurance, Hearing entitled, ``Housing Choice Voucher
Program: An Oversight and Review of Legislative Proposals,'' April 17,
2018, available at https://financialservices.house.gov/uploadedfiles/
hhrg-115-ba04-wstate-bsard-20180417.pdf
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In most metropolitan areas, one agency administers the HCV
program in the central city and one or more different agencies
serve suburban cities and towns. This pattern is the case in 97
of the 100 largest metro areas, where 71 percent of households
in the HCV program lived in 2015. In 35 of the 100 largest
metro areas, voucher administration is divided among ten or
more agencies. This is the case even in mid-size metro areas
such as Providence, Rhode Island, and Albany, New York, each of
which has at least 35 agencies administering the HCV
program.\2\
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\2\CBPP analysis of HUD, 2015 Picture of Subsidized Households. In
278 out of the 381 metro areas in the United States and territories,
two or more PHAs administered HCV programs; a single agency served only
a little more than one-fourth of metro areas. Sard and Thrope.
(Appendix 3 has data for each of the largest 100 metro areas.)
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H.R. 5793, the Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act could
help the voucher program reach its full potential in three
ways: (1) it would encourage local housing agencies to form
regional collaboratives to reduce barriers preventing families
from moving to higher-opportunity areas. Such collaboratives
also have potential to reduce long-run operating costs; (2) By
providing the HUD Secretary with the authority to waive or
specify alternative requirements for certain statutory
provisions necessary to implement a regional plan, the bill
could make regional operation of the HCV program more feasible;
and, (3) It provides a framework for learning what types of
mobility-related services are most cost-effective at increasing
the share of HCV families with children living in higher-
opportunity areas.
HEARINGS
The Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on
Housing and Insurance held a hearing examining matters relating
to H.R. 5793 on April 17, 2018.
COMMITTEE CONSIDERATION
The Committee on Financial Services met in open session on
May 22, 2018, and ordered H.R. 5793 to be reported favorably to
the House by a recorded vote of 53 yeas to 0 nays (recorded
vote no. FC-179), a quorum being present.
COMMITTEE VOTES
Clause 3(b) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives requires the Committee to list the record votes
on the motion to report legislation and amendments thereto. The
sole recorded vote was on a motion by Chairman Hensarling to
report the bill favorably to the House. The motion was agreed
to by a recorded vote of 53 yeas to 0 nays (Record vote no. FC-
179), a quorum being present.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the findings and recommendations of
the Committee based on oversight activities under clause
2(b)(1) of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives,
are incorporated in the descriptive portions of this report.
PERFORMANCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the Committee states that H.R. 5793
authorizes 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.
NEW BUDGET AUTHORITY, ENTITLEMENT AUTHORITY, AND TAX EXPENDITURES
In compliance with clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules
of the House of Representatives, the Committee adopts as its
own the estimate of new budget authority, entitlement
authority, or tax expenditures or revenues contained in the
cost estimate prepared by the Director of the Congressional
Budget Office pursuant to section 402 of the Congressional
Budget Act of 1974.
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE ESTIMATES
Pursuant to clause 3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the following is the cost estimate
provided by the Congressional Budget Office pursuant to section
402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, June 25, 2018.
Hon. Jeb Hensarling,
Chairman, Committee on Financial Services,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 5793, the Housing
Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2018.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Elizabeth
Cove Delisle.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall,
Director.
Enclosure.
H.R. 5793--Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2018
H.R. 5793 would allow the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development to establish a demonstration program to encourage
participants in the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program to
move to areas with lower rates of poverty. Families with young
children would have a higher priority for participation in the
program. Households that participate in the demonstration could
receive assistance such as counseling and payments for security
deposits.
H.R. 5793 does not specify the number of households that
should participate in the demonstration nor does it authorize a
funding level; consequently, the amount that would be spent on
the program is uncertain. For purposes of this estimate, CBO
assumes that the bill would authorize a one-time appropriation
to be spent over a 5-year demonstration period. Using the
amount allocated in H.R. 6072 (the Transportation, Housing and
Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, as
reported by the House Committee on Appropriations on June 12,
2018) for that demonstration project, CBO estimates that
implementing H.R. 5793 would cost about $50 million over the
2019-2023 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary
amounts.
Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 5793 would not increase
net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
H.R. 5793 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Elizabeth Cove
Delisle. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss,
Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
FEDERAL MANDATES STATEMENT
This information is provided in accordance with section 423
of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995.
The Committee has determined that the bill does not contain
Federal mandates on the private sector. The Committee has
determined that the bill does not impose a Federal
intergovernmental mandate on State, local, or tribal
governments.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE STATEMENT
No advisory committees within the meaning of section 5(b)
of the Federal Advisory Committee Act were created by this
legislation.
APPLICABILITY TO LEGISLATIVE BRANCH
The Committee finds that the legislation does not relate to
the terms and conditions of employment or access to public
services or accommodations within the meaning of the section
102(b)(3) of the Congressional Accountability Act.
EARMARK IDENTIFICATION
With respect to clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the
House of Representatives, the Committee has carefully reviewed
the provisions of the bill and states that the provisions of
the bill do not contain any congressional earmarks, limited tax
benefits, or limited tariff benefits within the meaning of the
rule.
DUPLICATION OF FEDERAL PROGRAMS
In compliance with clause 3(c)(5) of rule XIII of the Rules
of the House of Representatives, the Committee states that no
provision of the bill establishes or reauthorizes: (1) a
program of the Federal Government known to be duplicative of
another Federal program; (2) a program included in any report
from the Government Accountability Office to Congress pursuant
to section 21 of Public Law 111-139; or (3) a program related
to a program identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal
Domestic Assistance, published pursuant to the Federal Program
Information Act (Pub. L. No. 95-220, as amended by Pub. L. No.
98-169).
DISCLOSURE OF DIRECTED RULEMAKING
Pursuant to section 3(i) of H. Res. 5, (115th Congress),
the following statement is made concerning directed rule
makings: The Committee estimates that the bill requires no
directed rule makings within the meaning of such section.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF THE LEGISLATION
Section 1. Short title
This section cites H.R. 5793 as the ``Housing Choice
Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2018.''
Section 2. Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration
This section authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) to create and execute a mobility
demonstration program to enable public housing agencies to
administer housing choice vouchers in a manner designed to
encourage families receiving voucher assistance to move to
lower-poverty areas and expand access to opportunity areas.
The Secretary must establish competitive selection criteria
for eligible public housing agencies to participate in the
demonstration where such agencies serve areas with high
concentrations of holders of rental assistance vouchers in
poor, low-opportunity neighborhoods, among other selection
factors. PHAs would be encouraged to create geographical
consortia including small and large agencies with the goal of
consolidating mobility focused operations.
Each public housing agency applying to participate in the
demonstration program must submit a Regional Housing Mobility
Plan that: (1) identifies the public housing agencies that will
participate under the Plan; (2) identifies any community-based
organizations and non-profits that will participate under the
Plan; (3) identifies any waivers requested for the execution of
the Plan; (4) identifies any specific actions that public
housing agencies will undertake to accomplish the goals of the
demonstration; (5) specifies the criteria that the public
housing agencies would use to identify opportunity areas; (6)
provides for the establishment of priority and preferences for
participating families; and, (7) complies with any other
requirements established by the HUD Secretary.
Public housing agencies may use their Section 8
administrative fees and funding from private entities to
provide mobility-related services in connection with the
demonstration program.
To allow public housing agencies to implement and
administer their Regional Housing Mobility Plans, the HUD
Secretary may waive certain provisions of the U.S. Housing Act
of 1937 relating to terms of lease and mobility requirements,
the agency's public housing plan, and the responsibility of a
public housing agency to administer ported assistance.
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. The
Secretary may implement the demonstration program by notice.
Not later than five years after implementation of the
regional housing mobility programs under the demonstration
program, the HUD Secretary shall submit to Congress and publish
in the Federal Register a report evaluating the effectiveness
of the strategies pursued under the demonstration.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED
H.R. 5793 does not repeal or amend any section of a
statute. Therefore, the Office of Legislative Counsel did not
prepare the report contemplated by Clause 3(e)(1)(B) of rule
XIII of the House of Representatives.
[all]
