[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 61 (Wednesday, May 5, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H2605-H2607]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SMALL PUBLIC HOUSING AUTHORITY ACT
Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 27) to amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 to exempt
small public housing agencies from the requirement of preparing an
annual public housing agency plan, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 27
Be it enacted the 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 ``Small Public Housing
Authority Act''.
SEC. 2. PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCY PLANS FOR CERTAIN SMALL PUBLIC
HOUSING AGENCIES.
Section 5A(b) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42
U.S.C. 1437c-1(b)) is amended by adding at the end the
following new paragraph:
``(3) Exemption of certain small phas from filing
requirement.--
``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding paragraph (1) or any
other provision of this Act--
``(i) the requirement under paragraph (1) shall not apply
to any qualified small public housing agency; and
``(ii) any reference in this section or any other provision
of law to a `public housing agency' shall not be considered
to refer to any qualified small public housing agency, to the
extent such reference applies to the requirement to submit a
public housing agency plan under this subsection.
``(B) Definition.--For purposes of this paragraph, the term
`qualified small public housing agency' means a public
housing agency that meets all of the following requirements:
``(i) The sum of (I) the number of public housing dwelling
units administered by the agency, and (II) the number of
vouchers under section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act
of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) administered by the agency, is
100 or fewer.
``(ii) The agency is not designated pursuant to section
6(j)(2) as a troubled public housing agency.
``(iii) The agency provides assurances satisfactory to the
Secretary that notwithstanding the inapplicability of the
requirements under this section relating to resident advisory
boards and public hearings and notice, residents of public
housing administered by the agency will have an adequate and
comparable opportunity for participation and notice regarding
establishment of the goals, objectives, and policies of the
public housing agency.''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms.
Waters) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter).
General Leave
Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their
remarks on the legislation and to insert extraneous material on the
bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Nebraska?
There was no objection.
Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, this Member rises today to express his support for H.R.
27, the Small Public Housing Authority Act. The bill, which was
introduced by this Member on January 27, 2003, will be considered under
suspension of the rules. This legislation, which addresses the annual
plan requirements for small public housing authorities passed the
Committee on Financial Services by a unanimous, bipartisan voice vote
on March 17, 2004. It is important to note that this Member introduced
this legislation in the 107th Congress as well.
First, this Member would like to thank both the distinguished
gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Oxley) and the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Frank), the ranking minority member, for their
efforts in bringing this measure to the floor.
Indeed, following some concerns and suggestions from the gentleman
from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank), compromise language was agreed upon to
ensure unanimous support for this legislation. It should be noted for
background that the Public Housing Reform Act requires PHAs to submit
both a 5-year plan and an annual plan to HUD. The 5-year PHA plan
addresses the Agency's mission and their plan to achieve their mission.
The annual plan requires PHAs to provide details about updates or
changes to the 5-year plan.
Specifically, the annual plan, among other things, has typically
asked for the following information: Housing needs of the families in
the jurisdiction; strategies to meet these needs; statement of
financial resources; and PHA policies governing eligibility, selection,
and admissions. HUD has made the effort to streamline this annual
planning for small PHAs and for high-performing PHAs. However,
incredibly, an example of a streamlined plan was still 47 pages with
extensive attachments.
This legislation would exempt small PHAs from being required to
submit that annual plan to HUD. Under the bill as it passed the House
Committee on Financial Services, a small PHA is defined to be one which
has 100 or fewer combined public housing units and section 8 vouchers.
PHAs, which are exempt from the annual planning requirement, would
still have to prepare a 5-year plan. Moreover, a small PHA which is
designated as a troubled housing agency by HUD would still be required
to submit that annual plan.
This legislation also includes a provision that tenants of small PHAs
which are exempt from the annual planning requirement must continue to
have an adequate and comparable opportunity for participation and
notice regarding the establishment of goals, objectives and policies of
that PHA.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation is needed to simply provide some
regulatory burden relief to small PHAs which do not have the time,
staff or resources to do these annual HUD plans by themselves. Many of
these small PHAs only have a part-time executive director. Currently,
small PHAs are forced to hire consultants since they do not have the
computer software package to complete these annual plans, and these
consultants are expensive costs for small PHAs which already face some
daunting financial challenges.
Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to note that these small PHAs
are located across the entire Nation. Today this Member will focus on
the small PHAs in Nebraska because I am most familiar with them. For
example, in this Member's district, there are 23 PHAs which would
qualify under the definition used for small PHAs. There are
approximately 60 PHAs in Nebraska statewide which qualify as small PHAs
under this bill, especially in the district of the gentleman from
Nebraska (Mr. Osborne), and he will speak on that.
To give a not-atypical example from this Member's congressional
district, the village of Beemer is a community of 773 people, according
to the last census. They have a PHA which administered just 20 public
housing units and no section 8 vouchers. Under the current law, the
Beemer PHA is required to submit the extensive annual plan to HUD which
I have mentioned.
[[Page H2606]]
In conclusion, this bill contains reasonable provisions regarding PHA
annual plans which enjoy bipartisan support. This Member would urge his
colleagues to support H.R. 27, the Small Public Housing Authority Act.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bipartisan legislation offered
by the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter) which would ease the
paperwork requirements for certain small public housing authorities and
reduce their need to hire consultants to prepare housing plans, and I
would like to congratulate both the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Oxley) and
ranking member, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank), for the
leadership they provided, recognizing that it is important for us to
come together from time to time to work to get rid of unnecessary
regulations and they have done that with this bill.
H.R. 27 would exempt small housing authorities that administer 100 or
fewer units of assisted housing from the requirement to prepare an
annual public housing agency plan. The threshold would include both
public housing units and vouchers under section 8 of the United States
Housing Act of 1937.
The affected small housing authorities would remain subject to the
Public Housing Reform Act's requirement to submit a 5-year PHA plan to
the Department of Housing and Urban Development that addresses the
Agency's mission and its plan to achieve its mission.
In order to qualify as a small housing authority under this bill, an
agency would have to provide assurances satisfactory to the Secretary
of HUD that notwithstanding the inapplicability of certain provisions
relating to resident advisory boards and public hearings and notice,
residents of public housing administered by the Agency will have an
adequate and comparable opportunity for participation and notice
regarding establishment of the goals, objectives and policies of the
public housing agency.
The objective of this legislation simply is to reduce the
administration workload of small PHAs. The goal of H.R. 27 is to give
executive directors of small PHAs more time to focus on the needs of
their tenants, rather than having to spend time and resources
completing an annual plan for submission to HUD.
Mr. Speaker, I believe this legislation will help to limit the burden
on small PHAs while providing the necessary protections to ensure that
tenants will have the opportunity for input into the small PHA's 5-year
plan. I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her supportive
comments as we try to meet the Nation's diverse housing needs.
Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman
from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne).
Mr. OSBORNE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this
time.
I rise in support of H.R. 27, which was introduced by the gentleman
from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter), and thank the gentleman for his long and
effective service to Congress over many years. He has done a great job
and has been very helpful to me and other people in Nebraska.
Mr. Speaker, there are over 50 small public housing authorities in my
district that will benefit from this legislation. I think the gentleman
from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter) mentioned there are 60 in the State of
Nebraska. My district is almost entirely rural. Most of these PHAs are
very, very small, and so we have the vast majority in this particular
district.
As the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter) mentioned, this
legislation is needed to simply provide some regulatory burden relief
to small PHAs which do not have the time or staff or resources to do
housing and urban development plans by themselves. Many of these PHAs
have only a part-time executive director, and they hire consultants.
Sometimes these PHAs are spending $600 to $1,000 a year just for a
consultant's fee, and the complexity and length of the reports are
ridiculous for the size of the PHA.
If a small PHA in my district is able to create the report, they
often have difficulty in filing that report because the Internet dial-
up systems are extremely slow, and often they are disconnected before
their reports are filed.
So this bill really does what Congress oftentimes fails to do, which
is to provide some much-needed regulatory relief. It simplifies rather
than complicates the process. I would like to thank the gentleman from
Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter) for introducing this legislation, the gentleman
from Ohio (Mr. Oxley) the chairman of the Committee on Financial
Services, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank), and the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) for their efforts in bringing
this measure to the House floor. I urge its support.
Mr. NEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support for H.R. 27,
the Small Public Housing Authority Act. This legislation addresses the
regulatory burdens placed on smaller Public Housing Authorities (PHAs)
to comply with annual planning requirements enacted into law under the
Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998. I am confident
that passage of this bill would correct an adverse unintended
consequence for smaller PHAs. This legislation passed the House
Financial Services Committee, by a unanimous bipartisan voice vote on
March 17, 2004.
The authors of the 1998 Act envisioned a planning process for PHAs
that could be used as a tool for advancing management, budgeting,
forecasting and tenant needs, among other things. The 1998 Act required
a 5-year plan as well as annual planning updates. In the best of all
worlds, Congress intended for this tool to be complimentary of the
great things that PHAs were currently undertaking to meet the new
challenges of housing low-income families and individuals. What
Congress did not intend, however, was a complicated planning system
that would require many PHAs to hire expensive consultants and detract
resources from other management issues.
Advocates of the 5-year and annual planning process argue that this
management tool would require PHAs to engage tenants and actually
provide de facto business plans that would assist in meeting future
challenges before a crisis occurs. Opponents claim that both planning
requirements have been a paper exercise taking away employee and
funding resources that could be applied to other management needs. We
have yet to get a complete picture of whether the planning process is a
useful exercise. I think that it is something that the Committee should
continue to review.
We are clear, however, that the smaller PHAs, of which we define in
this legislation as those authorities with no more than 100 units or
section 8 vouchers, have had difficulty complying with the annual
requirements. This legislation would provide much needed regulatory
relief for these smaller organizations where the development of the
annual plans usually falls on a staff composed of very few individuals.
Mindful that the planning process has been used as an effective tool
for tenant groups to provide input to PHA management, we have provided
language to preserve the tenant's rights. This, we believe, is a
healthy balance between the needs and resources of the PHA management
teams as well as the needs of the tenants and their respective
organizations.
On a final note, let me just say that it has been my pleasure to work
with the sponsor of this legislation--the Gentleman from Nebraska--over
the almost 10 years I have served in Congress and on the Committee on
Financial Services and its predecessor--The Committee on Banking and
Financial Service. Mr. Bereuter has been an expert on a variety of
issues, not limited to rural housing where he developed numerous
programs such as the single family loan guarantee program as well as
the multifamily loan guarantee program. In addition, he has been
instrumental on reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program and
providing much needed reform to address repetitive loss issues. I am
hopeful that the flood insurance bill will be signed into law before
Mr. Bereuter retires.
On issues such as the legislation today, Mr. Bereuter has ensured
that rural and small-town America would be heard and their perspectives
recognized. Mr. Bereuter will retire at the end of this summer and I
ask all of my colleagues to join me in wishing him well and thanking
him for his service.
Finally, I want to thank the Committee Chairman, Mr. Mike Oxley, as
well as the Ranking Chairman, Mr. Barney Frank, for moving this bill
through the Committee. Moreover, I want to thank the Housing
Subcommittee's Ranking Member, Ms. Maxine Waters, for all her hard work
on this and many issues facing this Subcommittee.
Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of H.R. 27.
[[Page H2607]]
Mr. OXLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support for H.R.
27, the Small Public Housing Authority Act. This bill will be
considered under the suspension of the rules. This legislation, which
addresses the annual plan requirement for small public housing
authorities (PHAs), passed the House Financial Services Committee by a
unanimous bipartisan voice vote on March 17, 2004.
First, I would like to thank the distinguished gentleman from
Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter), the author of this legislation, for his
efforts in attempting to reduce the regulatory burdens that small PHAs
face. I would also like to thank the distinguished gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Frank), the Chairman of the Subcommittee for Housing
and Community Opportunity, Mr. Bob Ney, and the ranking member, Ms.
Maxine Waters, for their support of H.R. 27.
This legislation would exempt small PHAs from being required to
submit an annual plan to the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD). Under current law, PHAs are required to submit both
a 5-year plan and an annual plan to HUD. This legislation is needed to
provide some regulatory relief to small PHAs who do not have the
resources or time to do these HUD annual plans by themselves.
Currently, small PHAs are having to hire expensive third parties to
complete these annual plans. Furthermore, an indirect result of this
bill would give executive directors of these small PHAs more time to
focus on the important needs of their tenants.
The exemption of these smaller PHAs will not have an adverse impact
on the ability of tenant organizations to continue to have input with
the manager's of their developments. Language was incorporated into the
legislation to ensure tenant's participation. Additionally, I want to
assure my colleagues that this legislation will still require smaller
PHAs to provide the forward-type thinking and advance planning as
required under the 5-year plans.
The larger question, however, raised by this legislation is whether
the planning requirements for smaller and larger PHAs alike can be a
useful tool. It appears that the jury is still out on that question and
the Committee will review the issue to determine how we can provide as
much flexibility to the Public Housing Authorities, decrease
unnecessary regulatory burdens as well as ensure that tenants have a
stake in the communities where they live.
In conclusion, I want to urge your support for H.R. 27. This
bipartisan bill contains important provisions to reduce the regulatory
burdens on small PHAs.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I urge an aye vote on the bill, and I yield
back the balance of my time.
Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I urge an aye vote, and I yield back the
balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Chocola). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 27, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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