Modernizing Federal Housing Programs for Low-Income Families (H.R. 3700)
Do you support or oppose this bill?
What is H.R. 3700?
(Updated October 10, 2018)
This bill was enacted on July 29, 2016
This bill would reform several aspects of the federal government’s low-income housing policies as administered through public housing agencies (PHAs) such as the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) within the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
PHAs would be authorized to make section 8 low-income rental assistance vouchers available for a dwelling unit after an inspection reveals non-life-threatening conditions. The payments would be suspended after 30 days if conditions require corrective action but none is taken. PHAs would also be authorized to prescribe further requirements for the enforcement of housing quality standards.
The frequency of normally annual reviews of family income for public housing and section 8 programs would be revised based on decreases or increases in annual adjusted income.
PHAs would be able to establish a payment standard through the section 8 program of to 120% or the fair market rent as a reasonable accommodation for a person with a disability, without approval of HUD.
Additional limitations, prohibitions, and requirements would be established related to a family’s eligibility for assistance based on assets, units owned by PHAs, PHA project-based assistance, fair market rent, denial of utility reimbursements, PHA capital and operating funds, and the expansion of the family unification program.
HUD would be directed to establish a demonstration program for executing budget-neutral, performance-based agreements with appropriate entities in the FY2016-FY2019 period that lead to cost reductions in energy or water conservation projects at up to 20,000 units of public housing. These agreements could last for up to 12 years each, and would apply to multifamily section 8 buildings, supportive housing for the elderly, or supportive housing for people with disabilities.
HUD would be directed to establish data exchange standards governing:
Necessary categories of information that state agencies operating related programs must exchange electronically with another state agency;
Required federal reporting and data exchange.
HUD may establish a Multifamily Housing Revitalization program to preserve and enhance multifamily housing projects funded by certain loans to ensure they have enough resources to provide safe and affordable housing to low-income residents and farm laborers.
Within HUD, a Special Assistant for Veterans Affairs would be in charge of coordinating all HUD programs and activities that are related to veterans. Both HUD and the VA would be directed to give Congress annual reports about veteran homelessness and activities related to veterans.
Argument in favor
The federal government’s housing programs help many Americans, but the archaic bureaucracies that operate them need to be modernized to operate more efficiently and avoid the waste of tax dollars.
Argument opposed
While this bill may have some necessary reforms, on balance it makes too many changes to these federal housing programs without giving the agencies that administer them additional resources.
Impact
Low-income families, the elderly, the disabled, and veterans who qualify or participate in federal housing assistance programs, state housing agencies, PHAs, the FHA, and HUD.
Cost of H.R. 3700
A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.
Additional Info
In-Depth: Sponsoring Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) introduced this bill to provide a long-awaited overhaul to improve the efficiency of federal housing programs.
“As I have said before, this legislation represents the first step in housing policy modernization by making many targeted reforms to streamline regulatory burdens and overhaul inefficient policies and regulations. We make these changes while saving taxpayer dollars.”
This legislation was passed by the House Financial Services Committee on a vote of 44-10. It currently has the bipartisan support of 11 cosponsors in the House, including three Democrats and eight Republicans.
Media:
- Sponsoring Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO) Press Release
- National Association of Home Builders
- National Low Income Housing Coalition
(Photo Credit: Flickr user Mike Wilson)
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