[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 48 (Monday, March 23, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H1812-H1814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             TENANT INCOME VERIFICATION RELIEF ACT OF 2015

  Mr. STIVERS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 233) to allow reviews of certain families' incomes every 3 
years for purposes of determining eligibility for certain Federal 
assisted housing programs.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 233

       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 ``Tenant Income Verification 
     Relief Act of 2015''.

     SEC. 2. REVIEWS OF FAMILY INCOMES.

       (a) In General.--The second sentence of paragraph (1) of 
     section 3(a) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 
     U.S.C. 1437a(a)(1)) is amended by inserting before the period 
     at the end the following: ``; except that, in the case of any 
     family with a fixed income, as defined by the Secretary, 
     after the initial review of the family's income, the public 
     housing agency or owner shall not be required to conduct a 
     review of the family's income for any year for which such 
     family certifies, in accordance with such requirements as the 
     Secretary shall establish, which shall include policies to 
     adjust for inflation-based income changes, that 90 percent or 
     more of the income of the family consists of fixed income, 
     and that the sources of such income have not changed since 
     the previous year, except that the public housing agency or 
     owner shall conduct a review of each such family's income not 
     less than once every 3 years''.
       (b) Housing Choice Voucher Program.--Subparagraph (A) of 
     section 8(o)(5) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 
     U.S.C. 1437f(o)(5)(A)) is amended by striking ``not less than 
     annually'' and inserting ``as required by section 3(a)(1) of 
     this Act''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Ohio (Mr. Stivers) and the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Perlmutter) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Ohio.


                             General Leave

  Mr. STIVERS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
to add extraneous material on this bill.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Ohio?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. STIVERS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I rise today in support of H.R. 233, the Tenant Income Verification 
Relief Act, and I am proud to cosponsor it with my colleague from 
Colorado (Mr. Perlmutter).
  This is a very simple bill that helps relieve stressful burdens of 
fixed-income tenants who participate in the housing choice voucher and 
project-based housing programs all across the country. Additionally, it 
is a responsible reform bill that will allow housing authorities to 
work more efficiently and effectively at less cost to the taxpayers.
  I have heard from housing authorities from Columbus, Ohio, from 
Circleville, Ohio, from other parts of my district, and throughout the 
country about how burdensome this requirement is on elderly tenants as 
well as on the housing authorities.
  Current law requires tenant verification of income at move-in and 
recertification annually. This legislation allows for the 
recertification of residents' incomes every 3 years rather than 
annually for individuals and families on fixed incomes.
  It will permit housing authorities to verify these tenants' incomes 
when they change as well as annually. Based on a recent U.S. Department 
of Housing and Urban Development study of these 2 million residents on 
fixed incomes, about half of them are on very fixed incomes that are 
not changing. Most of them are using Social Security as their main 
source of income.
  This bill is a great first step toward ensuring our Nation's low-
income families have safe places to live, while also reducing 
administrative burdens on families and on these housing authorities and 
toward saving taxpayer resources. I ask my colleagues to join me and 
Mr. Perlmutter in supporting this commonsense legislation.
  Finally, I would like to thank the gentleman from Colorado for his 
leadership and for his commonsense approach on this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I want to thank Mr. Stivers for joining me in H.R. 233, and I want to 
thank the chairman of the committee, Mr. Hensarling, and the ranking 
member, Ms. Waters, for their support of this bill as well.
  Mr. Stivers has described it well, but I think we should go through 
it one more time, just so the record is clear for future generations.
  H.R. 233, the Tenant Income Verification Relief Act of 2015, 
represents a bipartisan effort to aid our most vulnerable constituents 
and to provide marginal regulatory relief to public housing authorities 
and to those who have privately owned rental properties who wish to 
service housing vouchers.
  Currently, private property owners and State and local housing 
agencies must review income annually for all rental assistance 
recipients. That includes recipients who receive most or all of their 
income from fixed sources--such as from Social Security or other 
pensions--and, therefore, see little income change from year to year.
  Our legislation reduces administrative burdens by allowing for the 
recertification of rent and income to occur every 3 years rather than 
annually for those on fixed incomes. In other words, housing 
authorities and those who accept vouchers would be allowed to conduct 
triennial income recertifications for households of which 90 percent or 
more of their income is fixed.
  The annual review requirement also places burdens on those within 
fixed income households themselves, who must gather and submit 
information needed to verify income and deductions and who, in some 
cases, must go to agencies for in-person reviews.
  The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which wrote in support of 
H.R. 233, said that this change would substantially reduce paperwork 
burdens for low-income seniors and for people with disabilities and 
administrative costs for agencies and owners.
  More than half of rental assistance recipients are elderly or 
disabled, who often rely on fixed incomes, and income reviews are the 
single largest source of rental assistance administrative costs.

[[Page H1813]]

  Due to ongoing budget pressures, our public housing authorities are 
struggling to manage their Section 8 housing programs. In fact, it is 
estimated the amount Congress appropriates to fund the housing choice 
voucher program is only 74 percent of what is actually required to run 
the program.
  The Public Housing Authorities Directors Association wrote to me, 
saying:

       Both in principle and in practice, your bill is a 
     commonsense approach to streamlining Federal rental 
     assistance programs at a time when scarce financial resources 
     are straining housing authorities' program delivery.

  Since continued budget pressures are precluding Congress from funding 
the cost of administering this program 100 percent, we must look at 
solutions to control expenses or the cost of running the program.
  This provision or concept is not new. In fact, it has been included 
in several comprehensive Section 8 reform bills by both Democrats and 
Republicans. In fact, the administration included language similar to 
H.R. 233 in the 2016 budget proposal.
  I stand here today with my friend, Mr. Stivers from Ohio, with a 
reasonable and commonsense proposal, making our public housing programs 
more efficient, and we all want to find ways to make our government run 
more efficiently.
  I have a number of letters to include for the Record.

                                        Public Housing Authorities


                                        Directors Association,

                                 Washington, DC, January 12, 2015.
     Hon. Ed Perlmutter,
     House of Representatives,
     Washington DC.
       Dear Congressman Perlmutter: On behalf of the Public 
     Housing Authorities Directors Association (PHADA), I would 
     like to thank you for introducing the Tenant Income 
     Verification Relief Act of 2015 (HR 233) as an original co-
     sponsor. If enacted, this bill would allow Housing 
     Authorities (HAs) to conduct triennial recertifications for 
     households where 90 percent or more their income is fixed.
       Passage of the Tenant Income Verification Relief Act of 
     2015 would benefit millions of low-income elderly and 
     disabled households with fixed incomes in the Section 8 
     Tenant-Based Voucher and Public Housing programs. Fixed-
     income households, who are served by Housing Authorities, 
     would benefit if they could be spared from having to go 
     through the burdensome, confusing and stressful 
     recertification process annually but to do so every three 
     years instead.
       Many households who receive Federal rental assistance live 
     on fixed incomes. According to HUD's Resident Characteristics 
     Report August 2013 through November 2014, approximately 20 
     percent of voucher-assisted households have a disabled head 
     of household and approximately 22 percent have an elderly 
     head of household. Approximately 17 percent of Public 
     Housing-assisted households have a disabled head of household 
     and approximately 31 percent have an elderly head of 
     household. Although HUD's national data reflects a degree of 
     overlap in households' types of income, approximately 55 
     percent of households receive Supplemental Security Income 
     (SSI), Social Security and/or a pension for all or some of 
     their annual income, in both Section 8 tenant-based and 
     Public Housing programs.
       Your legislation would also produce cost-savings for 
     Housing Authorities, which struggle each year from downward 
     funding prorations in Section 8 voucher program 
     administrative fees and/or the Public Housing Operating Fund. 
     Taken together, the above figures illustrate the scope and 
     scale of relief that would benefit applicable low-income 
     households and the Housing Authorities that serve them.
       Legislation regarding triennial recertifications for fixed-
     income households has been a feature of both House and Senate 
     authorizing rental assistance reform bills for several years, 
     but has not been enacted into law yet. PHADA has demonstrated 
     the adverse impacts of downward funding pro-rations, in terms 
     of Housing Authorities' operations to serve low-income 
     households, participating property owners and the communities 
     in which they live. Introduction of the bill is an important 
     step for future action that could not come a moment too soon.
       Both in principle and practice your bill is a common sense 
     approach to streamlining Federal rental assistance programs 
     at a time when scarce financial resources are straining 
     Housing Authorities' program delivery. Given the urgent need 
     for relief to low-income households and Housing Authorities, 
     we believe that the bill can and should be enacted either as 
     an amendment or a stand-alone bill as soon as possible.
       Thank you and your staff for working on issues important to 
     HAs and the low-income people they serve. PHADA and its 
     members look forward to working with you and your colleagues 
     to secure passage of the bill.
       If you need any information or have questions, please feel 
     free to call me at 202-546- 5445.
           Sincerely,
                                                Timothy G. Kaiser,
     Executive Director.
                                  ____

                                                   March 20, 2015.
     House of Representatives.
       Dear Representative: The real estate industry is pleased 
     that Congress supports efforts to streamline rental 
     assistance programs. Our industry believes it is imperative 
     for Congress to pass legislation that will improve the 
     federally assisted housing rental programs for both residents 
     and owners alike: doing so saves taxpayer dollars and 
     eliminates inefficiencies. We support H.R. 233, the ``Tenant 
     Income Verification Relief Act of 2015'' introduced by 
     Congressman Perlmutter (D-CO) and Congressman Stivers (R-OH).
       Our organizations represent owners, management companies, 
     lenders, builders, developers, and housing cooperatives. We 
     have long-supported these programs. The Housing Choice 
     Voucher program provides rental subsidies to approximately 
     two million low income households who obtain housing in the 
     private rental market. This program broadens the range of 
     housing choices for families seeking affordable housing, has 
     a high success rate and serves as the cornerstone for public 
     federal housing policy. The Project-Based Rental Assistance 
     programs house nearly 1.3 million families and elderly 
     households in privately owned housing--representing 
     successful public and private partnerships that not only 
     provide quality housing but often connect residents with 
     services. This is particularly important for elderly 
     residents, who may otherwise be forced to move to nursing 
     homes. These programs are essential tools that also preserve 
     and expand the supply of quality affordable housing, a 
     necessity in today's tight rental markets.
       However, in spite of the overall success, the programs 
     suffer under the weight of too many inefficient and 
     duplicative requirements. The myriad overlapping and 
     redundant procedures make the programs difficult to 
     administer and, with respect to the voucher program, deter 
     many professional landlords from participating. As such, we 
     have worked diligently with Congress for several years to 
     formulate common sense legislation that would streamline the 
     sometimes burdensome procedures associated with operating and 
     maintaining an assisted housing portfolio.
       H.R. 233 significantly reduces administrative burdens by 
     allowing for the recertification of residents' income to 
     occur every three years rather than annually for those 
     residents on fixed incomes, permitting verification review 
     efforts to focus on those whose incomes change.
       We urge you to support efforts to streamline the assisted 
     housing programs and urge Congress to pass H.R. 233, the 
     ``Tenant Income Verification Relief Act of 2015.''
           Sincerely,
         Council for Affordable and Rural Housing (CARH); 
           Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM); Leading 
           Age; National Apartment Association (NAA); National 
           Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA); 
           National Association of Home Builders (NAHB); National 
           Association of Housing Cooperatives (NAHC); National 
           Association of Realtors (NAR); National Leased Housing 
           Association (NLHA); National Multifamily Housing 
           Council (NMHC).
                                  ____

                                                  Center on Budget


                                        and Policy Priorities,

                                   Washington, DC, March 17, 2015.
     Hon. Jeb Hensarling, Chairman,
     Hon. Maxine Waters, Ranking Member,
     Committee on Financial Services, House of Representatives, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman Hensarling and Ranking Member Waters: The 
     Tenant Income Verification Relief Act of 2015 (H.R. 233) is a 
     well-designed, common sense measure to ease administrative 
     burdens in federal rental assistance programs while 
     maintaining key protections for low-income program 
     participants. We strongly recommend that Congress move 
     promptly to enact the bill.
       Currently, owners and state and local housing agencies must 
     review income annually for all rental assistance recipients. 
     That includes recipients who receive most or all of their 
     income from fixed sources such as Social Security or SSI and 
     therefore see little income change from year to year. This 
     requirement imposes sizable administrative costs. More than 
     half of rental assistance recipients are elderly or disabled 
     households that often rely on fixed incomes, and income 
     reviews are the single largest source of rental assistance 
     administrative costs. The annual review requirement also 
     places burdens on the fixed-income households themselves, who 
     must gather and submit information needed to verify income 
     and deductions and in some cases must go to agency offices 
     for in-person reviews.
       HUD has eased burdens modestly by administratively 
     streamlining review requirements for fixed-income households 
     (and has proposed regulations to codify the change), but HUD 
     lacks authority to allow less frequent reviews because the 
     annual income review requirement is statutory. H.R. 233 would 
     reduce the frequency of required reviews for fixed-income 
     families to once every three years and direct HUD to 
     establish procedures to adjust income for inflation in the 
     intervening years. This change would substantially reduce 
     paperwork burdens for low-income seniors and people with 
     disabilities and administrative costs for agencies and 
     owners. The need for the administrative savings is 
     particularly acute now, since both the

[[Page H1814]]

     Public Housing Operative Fund and Housing Choice Voucher 
     administrative fees have been deeply underfunded in recent 
     years.
       The changes in H.R. 233 have been proposed in a series of 
     bills that received strong bipartisan support. For example, 
     provisions similar to H.R. 233 were included in both the 
     Affordable Housing and Self-Sufficiency Improvement Act 
     (AHSSIA), which a subcommittee of the House Financial 
     Services Committee approved by a voice vote in January 2012, 
     and the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA), which the House 
     passed 333-83 in July 2007.
       Congress should enact this important, timely, well-vetted 
     proposal without further delay.
           Sincerely,
                                                     Barbara Sard,
     Vice President for Housing Policy.
                                  ____

         National Association of Housing and Redevelopment 
           Officials,
                                   Washington, DC, March 19, 2015.
     Hon. Ed Perlmutter,
     Longworth Building, Washington, DC.
     Hon. Steve Stivers,
     Longworth Building, Washington, DC.
       Dear Rep. Perlmutter and Rep. Stivers: On behalf of the 
     over 22,000 members of the National Association of Housing 
     and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO), I am writing today to 
     underscore our strong support for the expeditious approval of 
     the Tenant Income Verification Act of 2015 (HR 233) that you 
     are both sponsoring.
       This common-sense legislation would amend the U.S. Housing 
     Act of 1937 to allow PHAs to reduce the frequency of re-
     examinations for families that receive at least 90 percent of 
     their income from fixed sources. PHAs would not be required 
     to review a public housing or Section 8 family's income for 
     any year for which the family certifies that it has a fixed 
     income and the source of the income has not changed since the 
     previous year. PHAs would be required to conduct a review of 
     the family's income not less than once every three years; in 
     any year in which a PHA does not conduct a review of income, 
     a family's prior year income determination would be adjusted 
     by applying an inflationary factor.
       NAHRO strongly supports the bill's focus on reducing 
     unnecessary administrative burdens. We also believe this 
     legislation properly balances the need to maintain 
     responsible government protections; the legislation does not 
     adversely impact residents and provides long-overdue 
     administrative relief that will increase local PHA's ability 
     to address other pressing needs. Responsible reform 
     legislation such as this ultimately enables PHAs to work more 
     efficiently and effectively at less cost to the federal 
     government.
       NAHRO has been working with both HUD and members of 
     Congress to bring about responsible programmatic and 
     regulatory reforms. This legislation is a strong and 
     necessary step forward. In this regard, we were pleased to 
     see that the Administration included language similar to HR 
     233 in the FY 2016 budget proposal. We urge the House to 
     approve this legislation under suspension of the rules so 
     that it can be promptly sent to the Senate for adoption.
       We stand ready to continue to work with members of Congress 
     on both sides of the isle to approve properly balanced 
     programmatic reforms that sustain the ability of PHAs to 
     provide decent, safe and affordable housing for vulnerable 
     families.
           Respectfully,
                                              Saul N. Ramirez Jr.,
     Chief Executive Officer, NAHRO.
                                  ____

                                               National Low Income


                                            Housing Coalition,

                                   Washington, DC, March 18, 2015.
     Hon. Jeb Hensarling,
     Chair, House Committee on Financial Services, House of 
         Representatives, Washington, DC.
     Hon. Maxine Waters,
     Ranking Member, House Committee on Financial Services, House 
         of Representatives, Washington, DC.
       Dear Chairman Hensarling and Ranking Member Waters: On 
     behalf of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, I am 
     pleased to support H.R. 233, legislation that would allow 
     public housing agencies to reduce the frequency of income 
     recertifications for HUD rent assisted households whose 
     income is at least 90% from fixed-income sources. Income 
     recertifications for fixed-income households would be only 
     every three years, instead of annually.
       NLIHC members include non-profit housing providers, 
     homeless service providers, fair housing organizations, state 
     and local housing coalitions, public housing agencies, 
     private developers and property owners, housing researchers, 
     local and state government agencies, faith-based 
     organizations, residents of public and assisted housing and 
     their organizations, and concerned citizens. We do not 
     represent any sector of the housing industry. Rather, NLIHC 
     works only on behalf of and with low income people who need 
     safe, decent, and affordable homes, especially those with the 
     most serious housing problems, including people who are 
     homeless. NLIHC is funded entirely with private 
     contributions.
       Because a tenant's share of rent is based on income, 
     recertifications are done to make sure tenants are paying the 
     correct amount of rent. The Department of Housing and Urban 
     Development estimates that fixed-income families are about 
     50% of all public housing, housing choice voucher, and 
     project-based rental assistance tenants. If implemented, this 
     policy change could substantially reduce administrative 
     duties for public housing agencies and owners, as well as 
     recertification time for tenants.
       This is an idea whose time has come. One of the suggestions 
     resulting from the 2005 National Housing Voucher Summit, 
     which NLIHC convened, was to implement rent simplification 
     policies, including reducing the income recertification 
     period for people whose income is largely from fixed sources, 
     such as Social Security and SSI, to three years. In the years 
     when recertifications are not required, Summit participants 
     recommended, tenant incomes could be adjusted based on the 
     cost-of-living adjustment in any income maintenance program 
     in which the household participates.
       We applaud Representatives Ed Perlmutter and Steve Stivers 
     for introducing this important legislation and hope that 
     Congress acts swiftly toward its enactment.
           Sincerely,
                                                   Sheila Crowley,
                                                President and CEO.

  Mr. PERLMUTTER. Mr. Speaker, it is my hope that we pass this today 
here on the floor of the House and that the Senate passes it quickly 
and sends it to the President's desk.
  I thank my friend, Mr. Stivers, for joining me on this bill.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. STIVERS. Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I just want to ask all of my 
colleagues to support this legislation. It is common sense, and it 
simplifies an administrative burden. It saves money for taxpayers, and 
it allows people on fixed incomes, whether they be senior citizens or 
disabled, to have less onerous burdens. This is a commonsense bill.
  I thank the gentleman from Colorado for his leadership, and I urge 
everyone to support this legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Stivers) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 233.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________