[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2953 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2953

   To expand the Moving to Work and Rental Assistance demonstration 
 programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 7, 2015

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To expand the Moving to Work and Rental Assistance demonstration 
 programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 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.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Housing Assistance Reform Act of 
2015''.

SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF MOVING TO WORK DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.

    (a) Authority.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (in 
this section referred to as the ``Secretary'') may increase, pursuant 
to this section, the number of public housing agencies authorized to 
participate in the Moving to Work demonstration program authorized 
under section 204 of the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing 
and Urban Development and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996 
(Public Law 104-134; 110 Stat. 1321) by adding to the program not more 
than 60 public housing agencies, for a total of not more than 300,000 
housing vouchers and public housing units, over 5 years, to test and 
rigorously evaluate innovative models for improving economic self-
sufficiency, mobility, academic performance, and other outcomes for 
tenants assisted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
    (b) Eligible Public Housing Agencies.--Public housing agencies 
selected for participation in the Moving to Work demonstration program 
pursuant to the expansion authorized under subsection (a)--
            (1) shall be high-capacity public housing agencies, the 
        definition of which shall include--
                    (A) a designation as a high performer under the 
                public housing assessment system and the section 8 
                management assessment program, as applicable; and
                    (B) a voucher utilization rate of at least 90 
                percent of voucher funds, as defined by the Secretary, 
                for the duration of participation in the program;
            (2) may include a consortia of public housing agencies of 
        an appropriate size, as determined by the Secretary;
            (3) shall represent, to the extent feasible based on 
        eligible applications, a diverse range of public housing 
        agencies, with respect to geographical jurisdiction and size, 
        to allow innovative policies to be tested in different 
        contexts; and
            (4) shall not receive more funding under section 8 or 9 of 
        the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f, 1437g) 
        than such agencies otherwise would have received absent such 
        designation.
    (c) Renewal.--With respect to public housing agencies participating 
in the Moving to Work demonstration program before the enactment of 
this Act, upon the expiration of the Moving to Work agreement for any 
such agency that the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
determines has complied with the terms of such agreement, the Secretary 
shall extend the Moving to Work agreement of the agency under such 
terms as are in effect upon the date of expiration of the agreement and 
shall not alter the formula allocation for funding for such agency.
    (d) Notice.--The Secretary shall establish criteria and program 
requirements to carry out this section by notice published in the 
Federal Register, after an opportunity for public comment.

SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF RENTAL ASSISTANCE DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.

    The fourth proviso in the heading ``Rental Assistance 
Demonstration'' in title II of the Transportation, Housing and Urban 
Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012 (division C 
of Public Law 112-55; 125 Stat. 673), as amended by section 234 of 
division K of Public Law 113-235 (128 Stat. 2757), is amended by 
striking ``not more than 185,000 units currently receiving assistance 
under section 9 or section 8(e)(2) of the Act shall be converted'' and 
inserting ``there shall not be any numerical limitation on the number 
of units currently receiving assistance under section 9 or section 
8(e)(2) of the Act that may be converted''.
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