Home > 105th Congressional Bills > S. 462 (rs) To reform and consolidate the public and assisted housing programs of the United States, and to redirect primary responsibility for these programs from the Federal Government to States and localities, and for other purposes. ...S. 462 (rs) To reform and consolidate the public and assisted housing programs of the United States, and to redirect primary responsibility for these programs from the Federal Government to States and localities, and for other purposes. ...
105th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 462
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 21, 1998
Referred to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To reform and consolidate the public and assisted housing programs of
the United States, and to redirect primary responsibility for these
programs from the Federal Government to States and localities, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Public Housing
Reform and Responsibility Act of 1997''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings and purposes.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Effective date.
Sec. 5. Proposed regulations; technical recommendations.
Sec. 6. Elimination of obsolete documents.
Sec. 7. Annual reports.
TITLE I--PUBLIC HOUSING
Sec. 101. Declaration of policy.
Sec. 102. Membership on board of directors.
Sec. 103. Rental payments.
Sec. 104. Definitions.
Sec. 105. Contributions for lower income housing projects.
Sec. 106. Public housing agency plan.
Sec. 107. Contract provisions and requirements.
Sec. 108. Expansion of powers for dealing with public housing agencies
in substantial default.
Sec. 109. Public housing site-based waiting lists.
Sec. 110. Public housing capital and operating funds.
Sec. 111. Community service and self-sufficiency.
Sec. 112. Repeal of energy conservation; consortia and joint ventures.
Sec. 113. Repeal of modernization fund.
Sec. 114. Eligibility for public and assisted housing.
Sec. 115. Demolition and disposition of public housing.
Sec. 116. Repeal of family investment centers; voucher system for
public housing.
Sec. 117. Repeal of family self-sufficiency; homeownership
opportunities.
Sec. 118. Revitalizing severely distressed public housing.
Sec. 119. Mixed-finance and mixed-ownership projects.
Sec. 120. Conversion of distressed public housing to tenant-based
assistance.
Sec. 121. Public housing mortgages and security interests.
Sec. 122. Linking services to public housing residents.
Sec. 123. Prohibition on use of amounts.
Sec. 124. Pet ownership.
Sec. 125. City of Indianapolis flexible grant demonstration.
TITLE II--SECTION 8 RENTAL ASSISTANCE
Sec. 201. Merger of the certificate and voucher programs.
Sec. 202. Repeal of Federal preferences.
Sec. 203. Portability.
Sec. 204. Leasing to voucher holders.
Sec. 205. Homeownership option.
Sec. 206. Law enforcement and security personnel in public housing.
Sec. 207. Technical and conforming amendments.
Sec. 208. Implementation.
Sec. 209. Definition.
Sec. 210. Effective date.
Sec. 211. Recapture and reuse of annual contribution contract project
reserves under the tenant-based assistance
program.
TITLE III--SAFETY AND SECURITY IN PUBLIC AND ASSISTED HOUSING
Sec. 301. Screening of applicants.
Sec. 302. Termination of tenancy and assistance.
Sec. 303. Lease requirements.
Sec. 304. Availability of criminal records for public housing resident
screening and eviction.
Sec. 305. Definitions.
Sec. 306. Conforming amendments.
TITLE IV--MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
Sec. 401. Public housing flexibility in the CHAS.
Sec. 402. Determination of income limits.
Sec. 403. Demolition of public housing.
Sec. 404. National Commission on Housing Assistance Program Costs.
Sec. 405. Technical correction of public housing agency opt-out
authority.
Sec. 406. Review of drug elimination program contracts.
Sec. 407. Treatment of public housing agency repayment agreement.
Sec. 408. Ceiling rents for certain section 8 properties.
Sec. 409. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 410. Other repeals.
Sec. 411. Guarantee of loans for acquisition of property.
Sec. 412. Prohibition on use of assistance for employment relocation
activities.
Sec. 413. Use of HOME funds for public housing modernization.
Sec. 414. Report on single family and multifamily homes.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
(1) there exists throughout the Nation a need for decent,
safe, and affordable housing;
(2) the inventory of public housing units owned and
operated by public housing agencies, an asset in which the
Federal Government has invested approximately $90,000,000,000,
has traditionally provided rental housing that is affordable to
low-income persons;
(3) despite serving this critical function, the public
housing system is plagued by a series of problems, including
the concentration of very poor people in very poor
neighborhoods and disincentives for economic self-sufficiency;
(4) the Federal method of overseeing every aspect of public
housing by detailed and complex statutes and regulations
aggravates the problem and places excessive administrative
burdens on public housing agencies;
(5) the interests of low-income persons, and the public
interest, will best be served by a reformed public housing
program that--
(A) consolidates many public housing programs into
programs for the operation and capital needs of public
housing;
(B) streamlines program requirements;
(C) vests in public housing agencies that perform
well the maximum feasible authority, discretion, and
control with appropriate accountability to both public
housing residents and localities; and
(D) rewards employment and economic self-
sufficiency of public housing residents; and
(6) voucher and certificate programs under section 8 of the
United States Housing Act of 1937 are successful for
approximately 80 percent of applicants, and a consolidation of
the voucher and certificate programs into a single, market-
driven program will assist in making section 8 tenant-based
assistance more successful in assisting low-income families in
obtaining affordable housing and will increase housing choice
for low-income families.
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to consolidate the various programs and activities
under the public housing programs administered by the Secretary
in a manner designed to reduce Federal overregulation;
(2) to redirect the responsibility for a consolidated
program to States, localities, public housing agencies, and
public housing residents;
(3) to require Federal action to overcome problems of
public housing agencies with severe management deficiencies;
and
(4) to consolidate and streamline tenant-based assistance
programs.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Public housing agency.--The term ``public housing
agency'' has the same meaning as in section 3 of the United
States Housing Act of 1937.
(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development.
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
(a) In General.--Except with respect to any provision or amendment
identified by the Secretary under subsection (b) and as otherwise
specifically provided in this Act or the amendments made by this Act,
this Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the
date of enactment of this Act.
(b) Exception.--
(1) Determination.--Not later than 2 months after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall identify any
provision of this Act, or any amendment made by this Act, the
implementation of which, in the determination of the
Secretary--
(A) requires a substantial exercise of discretion,
such that there exists a significant risk of
litigation;
(B) requires a need for uniform interpretation; or
(C) is otherwise problematic, such that immediate
implementation is inappropriate.
(2) Notice.--
(A) In general.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, not later than 6 months after the
date on which the Secretary makes any identification
under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall implement each
provision or amendment so identified by notice
published in the Federal Register, which notice shall--
(i) include such requirements as may be
necessary to implement the provision or
amendment; and
(ii) invite public comments on those
requirements.
(B) Effective date of notice.--The notice published
under paragraph (2) may, in the discretion of the
Secretary, take effect upon publication.
(3) Final regulations.--Not later than 12 months after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue such
final regulations as may be necessary, taking into account any
comments received under paragraph (2)(A)(ii), to implement each
provision or amendment identified under paragraph (1).
SEC. 5. PROPOSED REGULATIONS; TECHNICAL RECOMMENDATIONS.
(a) Proposed Regulations.--Not later than 9 months after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress
proposed regulations that the Secretary determines are necessary to
carry out the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended by this
Act.
(b) Technical Recommendations.--Not later than 9 months after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the
Committee on Banking and Financial Services of the House of
Representatives, recommended technical and conforming legislative
changes necessary to carry out this Act and the amendments made by this
Act.
SEC. 6. ELIMINATION OF OBSOLETE DOCUMENTS.
Effective 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, no rule,
regulation, or order (including all handbooks, notices, and related
requirements) pertaining to public housing or section 8 tenant-based
programs issued or promulgated under the United States Housing Act of
1937 before the date of enactment of this Act may be enforced by the
Secretary.
SEC. 7. ANNUAL REPORTS.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and
annually thereafter, the Secretary shall submit a report to Congress
on--
(1) the impact of the amendments made by this Act on--
(A) the demographics of public housing residents
and families receiving tenant-based assistance under
the United States Housing Act of 1937; and
(B) the economic viability of public housing
agencies; and
(2) the effectiveness of the rent policies established by
this Act and the amendments made by this Act on the employment
status and earned income of public housing residents.
TITLE I--PUBLIC HOUSING
SEC. 101. DECLARATION OF POLICY.
Section 2 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437)
is amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 2. DECLARATION OF POLICY.
``It is the policy of the United States to promote the general
welfare of the Nation by employing the funds and credit of the Nation,
as provided in this title--
``(1) to assist States and political subdivisions of States
to remedy the unsafe housing conditions and the acute shortage
of decent and safe dwellings for low-income families;
``(2) to assist States and political subdivisions of States
to address the shortage of housing affordable to low-income
families; and
``(3) consistent with the objectives of this title, to vest
in public housing agencies that perform well, the maximum
amount of responsibility and flexibility in program
administration, with appropriate accountability to both public
housing residents and localities.''.
SEC. 102. MEMBERSHIP ON BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
Title I of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et
seq.) is amended--
(1) by redesignating the second section designated as
section 27 (as added by section 903(b) of Public Law 104-193
(110 Stat. 2348)) as section 28; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 29. MEMBERSHIP ON BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
``(a) Required Membership.--Except as provided in subsection (b),
the membership of the board of directors of each public housing agency
shall contain not less than 1 member--
``(1) who is a resident who directly receives assistance
from the public housing agency; and
``(2) who may, if provided for in the public housing agency
plan (as developed with appropriate notice and opportunity for
comment by the resident advisory board) be elected by the
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