I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3827 

To improve the program under section 8 of the United States Housing 

Act of 1937 for using amounts for rental voucher assistance for projectbased rental assistance, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 23, 2015 

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To improve the program under section 8 of the United States 

Housing Act of 1937 for using amounts for rental voucher assistance for project-based rental assistance, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Project-Based Voucher 

5 Improvement Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. UNITS OWNED BY PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCIES. 

2 Paragraph (11) of section 8(o) of the United States 

3 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(11)) is amend4 ed— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘(11) LEASING OF UNITS

6 OWNED BY PHA.—If’’ and inserting the following: 

7 ‘‘(11) LEASING OF UNITS OWNED BY PHA.— 

8 ‘‘(A) INSPECTIONS AND RENT DETERMINA9 TIONS.—If’’; and 

10 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub11 paragraph: 

12 ‘‘(B) UNITS OWNED BY PHA.—For pur13 poses of this subsection, the term ‘owned by a 

14 public housing agency’ means, with respect to a 

15 dwelling unit, that the dwelling unit is in a 

16 project that is owned by such agency, by an en17 tity wholly controlled by such agency, or by a 

18 limited liability company or limited partnership 

19 in which such agency (or an entity wholly con20 trolled by such agency) holds a controlling in21 terest in the managing member or general part22 ner. A dwelling unit shall not be deemed to be 

23 owned by a public housing agency for purposes 

24 of this subsection because the agency holds a 

25 fee interest as ground lessor in the property on 

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1 terest under a mortgage or deed of trust on the 

2 unit, or holds a non-controlling interest in an 

3 entity which owns the unit or in the managing 

4 member or general partner of an entity which 

5 owns the unit.’’. 

6 SEC. 3. PHA PROJECT-BASED ASSISTANCE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (13) of section 8(o) of 

8 the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 

9 1437f(o)(13)) is amended— 

10 (1) by striking ‘‘structure’’ each place such 

11 term appears and inserting ‘‘project’’; 

12 (2) by striking ‘‘structures’’ each place such 

13 term appears and inserting ‘‘projects’’; 

14 (3) by striking subparagraph (B) and inserting 

15 the following new subparagraph: 

16 ‘‘(B) PERCENTAGE LIMITATION.— 

17 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 

18 (ii), a public housing agency may use for 

19 project-based assistance under this para20 graph not more than 20 percent of the au21 thorized units for the agency. 

22 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—A public housing 

23 agency may use up to an additional 10 

24 percent of the authorized units for the 

25 agency for project-based assistance under 


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1 this paragraph, to provide units that house 

2 individuals and families that meet the defi3 nition of homeless under section 103 of the 

4 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act 

5 (42 U.S.C. 11302), that house families 

6 with veterans, that provide supportive 

7 housing to persons with disabilities or el8 derly persons, or that are located in areas 

9 where vouchers under this subsection are 

10 difficult to use, as specified in subpara11 graph (D)(ii)(II). Any units of project12 based assistance that are attached to units 

13 previously subject to federally required 

14 rent restrictions or receiving another type 

15 of long-term housing subsidy provided by 

16 the Secretary shall not count toward the 

17 percentage limitation under clause (i) of 

18 this subparagraph. The Secretary may, by 

19 regulation, establish additional categories 

20 for the exception under this clause.’’; 

21 (4) by striking subparagraph (D) and inserting 

22 the following new subparagraph: 

23 ‘‘(D) INCOME-MIXING REQUIREMENT.— 

24 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro25 vided in clause (ii), not more than the 


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1 greater of 25 dwelling units or 25 percent 

2 of the dwelling units in any project may be 

3 assisted under a housing assistance pay4 ment contract for project-based assistance 

5 pursuant to this paragraph. For purposes 

6 of this subparagraph, the term ‘project’ 

7 means a single building, multiple contig8 uous buildings, or multiple buildings on 

9 contiguous parcels of land. 

10 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTIONS.— 

11 ‘‘(I) CERTAIN FAMILIES.—The 

12 limitation under clause (i) shall not 

13 apply to dwelling units assisted under 

14 a contract that are exclusively made 

15 available to elderly families or to 

16 households eligible for supportive serv17 ices that are made available to the as18 sisted residents of the project, accord19 ing to standards for such services the 

20 Secretary may establish. 

21 ‘‘(II) CERTAIN AREAS.—With re22 spect to areas in which tenant-based 

23 vouchers for assistance under this 

24 subsection are difficult to use, as de25 termined by the Secretary, and with 


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1 respect to census tracts with a poverty 

2 rate of 20 percent or less, clause (i) 

3 shall be applied by substituting ‘40 

4 percent’ for ‘25 percent’, and the Sec5 retary may, by regulation, establish 

6 additional conditions. 

7 ‘‘(III) CERTAIN CONTRACTS.— 

8 The limitation under clause (i) shall 

9 not apply with respect to contracts or 

10 renewal of contracts under which a 

11 greater percentage of the dwelling 

12 units in a project were assisted under 

13 a housing assistance payment contract 

14 for project-based assistance pursuant 

15 to this paragraph on the date of the 

16 enactment of the Project-Based 

17 Voucher Improvement Act of 2015. 

18 ‘‘(IV) CERTAIN PROPERTIES.— 

19 Any units of project-based assistance 

20 under this paragraph that are at21 tached to units previously subject to 

22 federally required rent restrictions or 

23 receiving other project-based assist24 ance provided by the Secretary shall 

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1 tation imposed by this subparagraph 

2 (D). 

3 ‘‘(iii) ADDITIONAL MONITORING AND

4 OVERSIGHT REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec5 retary may establish additional require6 ments for monitoring and oversight of 

7 projects in which more than 40 percent of 

8 the dwelling units are assisted under a 

9 housing assistance payment contract for 

10 project-based assistance pursuant to this 

11 paragraph.’’; 

12 (5) by striking subparagraph (F) and inserting 

13 the following new subparagraph: 

14 ‘‘(F) CONTRACT TERM.— 

15 ‘‘(i) TERM.—A housing assistance 

16 payment contract pursuant to this para17 graph between a public housing agency 

18 and the owner of a project may have a 

19 term of up to 20 years, subject to— 

20 ‘‘(I) the availability of sufficient 

21 appropriated funds for the purpose of 

22 renewing expiring contracts for assist23 ance payments, as provided in appro24 priation Acts and in the agency’s an25 nual contributions contract with the 


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1 Secretary, provided that in the event 

2 of insufficient appropriated funds, 

3 payments due under contracts under 

4 this paragraph shall take priority if 

5 other cost-saving measures that do 

6 not require the termination of an ex7 isting contract are available to the 

8 agency; and 

9 ‘‘(II) compliance with the inspec10 tion requirements under paragraph 

11 (8), except that the agency shall not 

12 be required to make biennial inspec13 tions of each assisted unit in the de14 velopment. 

15 ‘‘(ii) ADDITION OF ELIGIBLE UNITS.— 

16 Subject to the limitations of subparagraphs 

17 (B) and (D), the agency and the owner 

18 may add eligible units within the same 

19 project to a housing assistance payments 

20 contract at any time during the term 

21 thereof without being subject to any addi22 tional competitive selection procedures. 

23 ‘‘(iii) HOUSING UNDER CONSTRUC24 TION OR RECENTLY CONSTRUCTED.—An 

25 agency may enter into a housing assistance 


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1 payments contract with an owner for any 

2 unit that does not qualify as existing hous3 ing and is under construction or recently 

4 has been constructed whether or not the 

5 agency has executed an agreement to enter 

6 into a contract with the owner, provided 

7 that the owner demonstrates compliance 

8 with applicable requirements prior to exe9 cution of the housing assistance payments 

10 contract. This clause shall not subject a 

11 housing assistance payments contract for 

12 existing housing under this paragraph to 

13 such requirements or otherwise limit the 

14 extent to which a unit may be assisted as 

15 existing housing. 

16 ‘‘(iv) ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS.—The 

17 contract may specify additional conditions, 

18 including with respect to continuation, ter19 mination, or expiration, and shall specify 

20 that upon termination or expiration of the 

21 contract without extension, each assisted 

22 family may elect to use its assistance 

23 under this subsection to remain in the 

24 same project if its unit complies with the 

25 inspection requirements under paragraph 


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1 (8), the rent for the unit is reasonable as 

2 required by paragraph (10)(A), and the 

3 family pays its required share of the rent 

4 and the amount, if any, by which the unit 

5 rent (including the amount allowed for ten6 ant-based utilities) exceeds the applicable 

7 payment standard.’’; 

8 (6) in subparagraph (G), by striking ‘‘15 years’’ 

9 and inserting ‘‘20 years’’; 

10 (7) by striking subparagraph (I) and inserting 

11 the following new subparagraph: 

12 ‘‘(I) RENT ADJUSTMENTS.—A housing as13 sistance payments contract pursuant to this 

14 paragraph entered into after the date of the en15 actment of the Project-Based Voucher Improve16 ment Act of 2015 shall provide for annual rent 

17 adjustments upon the request of the owner, ex18 cept that— 

19 ‘‘(i) by agreement of the parties, a 

20 contract may allow a public housing agency 

21 to adjust the rent for covered units using 

22 an operating cost adjustment factor estab23 lished by the Secretary pursuant to section 

24 524(c) of the Multifamily Assisted Housing 

25 Reform and Affordability Act of 1997 


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1 (which shall not result in a negative ad2 justment), in which case the contract may 

3 require an additional adjustment, if re4 quested, up to the reasonable rent periodi5 cally during the term of the contract, and 

6 shall require such an adjustment, if re7 quested, upon extension pursuant to sub8 paragraph (G); 

9 ‘‘(ii) the adjusted rent shall not ex10 ceed the maximum rent permitted under 

11 subparagraph (H); 

12 ‘‘(iii) the contract may provide that 

13 the maximum rent permitted for a dwelling 

14 unit shall not be less than the initial rent 

15 for the dwelling unit under the initial 

16 housing assistance payments contract cov17 ering the units; and 

18 ‘‘(iv) the provisions of subsection 

19 (c)(2)(C) shall not apply.’’; 

20 (8) in subparagraph (J)— 

21 (A) in the first sentence— 

22 (i) by striking ‘‘shall’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘may’’; and 

24 (ii) by inserting before the period the 

25 following ‘‘or may permit owners to select 


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1 applicants from site-based waiting lists as 

2 specified in this subparagraph’’; 

3 (B) by striking the third sentence and in4 serting the following: ‘‘The agency or owner 

5 may establish preferences or criteria for selec6 tion for a unit assisted under this paragraph 

7 that are consistent with the public housing 

8 agency plan for the agency approved under sec9 tion 5A and that give preference to families 

10 who qualify for voluntary services, including 

11 disability-specific services, offered in conjunc12 tion with assisted units.’’; and 

13 (C) by striking the fifth and sixth sen14 tences and inserting the following: ‘‘A public 

15 housing agency may establish and utilize proce16 dures for owner-maintained site-based waiting 

17 lists, under which applicants may apply at, or 

18 otherwise designate to the public housing agen19 cy, the project or projects in which they seek to 

20 reside, except that all eligible applicants on the 

21 waiting list of an agency for assistance under 

22 this subsection shall be permitted to place their 

23 names on such separate list, subject to policies 

24 and procedures established by the Secretary. All 

25 such procedures shall comply with title VI of 


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1 the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fair Housing 

2 Act, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 

3 1973, and other applicable civil rights laws. The 

4 owner or manager of a project assisted under 

5 this paragraph shall not admit any family to a 

6 dwelling unit assisted under a contract pursu7 ant to this paragraph other than a family re8 ferred by the public housing agency from its 

9 waiting list, or a family on a site-based waiting 

10 list that complies with the requirements of this 

11 subparagraph. A public housing agency shall 

12 disclose to each applicant all other options in 

13 the selection of a project in which to reside that 

14 are provided by the public housing agency and 

15 are available to the applicant.’’; 

16 (9) in subparagraph (M)(ii), by inserting before 

17 the period at the end the following: ‘‘relating to 

18 funding other than housing assistance payments’’; 

19 and 

20 (10) by adding at the end the following new 

21 subparagraphs: 

22 ‘‘(N) STRUCTURE OWNED BY AGENCY.—A 

23 public housing agency engaged in an initiative 

24 to improve, develop, or replace a public housing 

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1 isting, newly constructed, or rehabilitated struc2 ture in which the agency has an ownership in3 terest or which the agency has control of with4 out following a competitive process, provided 

5 that the agency has notified the public of its in6 tent through its public housing agency plan and 

7 subject to the limitations and requirements of 

8 this paragraph. 

9 ‘‘(O) SPECIAL PURPOSE VOUCHERS.—A 

10 public housing agency that administers vouch11 ers authorized under subsection (o)(19) or (x) 

12 of this section may provide such assistance in 

13 accordance with the limitations and require14 ments of this paragraph, without additional re15 quirements for approval by the Secretary.’’. 

16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Secretary of Housing 

17 and Urban Development shall issue notice or regulations 

18 to implement subsection (a) of this section and such sub19 section shall take effect upon such issuance. 

Æ 


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