I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2298

To amend section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 

to ensure improved access to employment opportunities for low-income people. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 2, 2003

Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL

To amend section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development 

Act of 1968 to ensure improved access to employment 

opportunities for low-income people.

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 ‘‘Earning and Living 

5 Opportunities Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS. 

7 Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development 

8 Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 1701u) is amended—

9 (1) by redesignating subsections (e), (f), and 

10 (g) as subsections (g), (h), and (i), respectively; 
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1 (2) in subsection (g), as so redesignated—

2 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting at the 

3 end ‘‘Provided, however, that any resident of a 

4 public or Indian housing development or any 

5 other person who qualifies as a low- or very 

6 low-income person under the preference cat7 egories set forth in section (c)(1)(B) shall, for 

8 purposes of this statute, continue to qualify, as 

9 initially verified, as a low- or very low-income 

10 person for a period of five years, irrespective of 

11 any increase in the person’s income during that 

12 period.’’; and 

13 (B) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 

14 following new paragraph: 

15 ‘‘(3) ONE-STOP DELIVERY SYSTEM.—The term 

16 ‘one-stop delivery system’ has the meaning given 

17 that term in section 134(c) of the Workforce Invest18 ment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2864(c)).’’; and 

19 (3) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol20 lowing new subsections: 

21 ‘‘(e) REQUIREMENT FOR EMPLOYING LOW- AND

22 VERY LOW-INCOME PERSONS.—

23 ‘‘(1) TWENTY PERCENT REQUIREMENT.—

24 ‘‘(A) CONDITION OF ASSISTANCE.—It shall 

25 be a condition of any assistance provided to a 
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1 public or Indian housing agency or contract 

2 awarded by a public or Indian housing agency 

3 for work to be performed in connection with de4 velopment assistance provided from the capital 

5 fund under section 9(d) of the United States 

6 Housing Act of 1937, the operating fund under 

7 section 9(e) of such Act, or any other Federal 

8 assistance for housing and community develop9 ment that, except as provided in paragraph 

10 2(B), a minimum of 20 percent of all hours 

11 worked by employees of the public or Indian 

12 housing agency or of a contractor in connection 

13 with such contract shall be performed by low14 or very low-income persons hired in accordance 

15 with subsection (c)(1)(B) 

16 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT.—Recipients of Fed17 eral housing and community development as18 sistance for housing rehabilitation, housing con19 struction, or other public construction projects 

20 and their contractors shall provide that a min21 imum of 20 percent of all hours worked by new 

22 employees of the recipient or its contractors 

23 shall be performed by low- or very low-income 

24 persons hired in accordance with subsection 

25 (c)(2)(B). 
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1 ‘‘(2) COMPLIANCE.—As a condition of any con2 tract awarded for the work described in paragraph 

3 (1), any contractor awarded such a contract shall—

4 ‘‘(A)(i) immediately before beginning work 

5 under such contract, submit evidence to the sat6 isfaction of the public or Indian housing agen7 cy, and the tenant association (or tenant dele8 gate where a tenant association does not exist) 

9 at the development where the contracted work 

10 is to be done, showing that a minimum of 20 

11 percent of all hours worked in connection with 

12 such contract shall be performed by low- or very 

13 low-income persons hired in accordance with 

14 subsection (c)(1)(B); and 

15 ‘‘(ii) submit evidence to the satisfaction of 

16 the public or Indian housing agency showing 

17 that a minimum of 20 percent of all hours actu18 ally worked in connection with such contract 

19 were in fact performed by low- or very low-in20 come persons hired in accordance with sub21 section (c)(1)(B); or 

22 ‘‘(B) if such contractor cannot meet the re23 quirement imposed by paragraph (1)—

24 ‘‘(i) submit evidence to the satisfac25 tion of the public or Indian housing agency 
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1 and the tenant association (or tenant dele2 gate where a tenant association does not 

3 exist) at the development where the con4 tracted work is to be done, that such con5 tractor made a best effort to hire low- and 

6 very low-income persons in conformance 

7 with subsection (c)(1)(B) by taking steps 

8 which include— 

9 ‘‘(I) recruiting and conducting 

10 job interviews at the affected develop11 ment and in the affected community; 

12 ‘‘(II) working with the public and 

13 Indian housing agency to advertise 

14 and recruit low- and very low-income 

15 persons; and 

16 ‘‘(III) giving notice of such con17 tract to the one-stop delivery system 

18 for the area which the housing subject 

19 to the contract is located, including 

20 the particular skills, knowledge, and 

21 abilities needed by potential employees 

22 for work under such contract; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) provide to the public or Indian 

24 housing agency and the tenant association 

25 (or tenant delegate where a tenant associa-
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1 tion does not exist) at the development 

2 where the contracted work is to be done, 

3 evidence, as the Secretary shall by regula4 tion require, sufficient to show why low- or 

5 very low-income persons who were provided 

6 by either the public or Indian housing 

7 agency or by the one-stop delivery system, 

8 or who otherwise made themselves avail9 able did not have the skills, knowledge, or 

10 abilities to perform the work. 

11 ‘‘(3) TRAINING.—Any contractor awarded a 

12 contract for the work described in paragraph (1) 

13 shall provide on-the-job training to any employee 

14 who is a low- or very low-income person and hired 

15 in conformance with subsection (c)(1)(B). Such 

16 training may be provided through an approved ap17 prenticeship program. 

18 ‘‘(f) RECRUITMENT, REFERRAL, AND TRAINING RE19 QUIREMENTS.—Public and Indian housing agencies 

20 shall—

21 ‘‘(1) maintain a registry of eligible low- and 

22 very low-income persons who reside in the public 

23 housing which is the site of a contract referred to 

24 in this section; 
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1 ‘‘(2) provide to any contractor and the tenant 

2 association (or tenant delegate where a tenant asso3 ciation does not exist) at the development where the 

4 contracted work is to be done, awarded such a con5 tract names and applications from low- and very 

6 low-income persons; 

7 ‘‘(3) refer any low- or very low-income persons 

8 seeking qualifying skills to the one-stop delivery sys9 tem for the area in which the housing subject to a 

10 contract is located; 

11 ‘‘(4) consult with contractors to ensure that 

12 with the skills, knowledge, and abilities, and in the 

13 priority categories of subsections (c)(1)(B) and 

14 (c)(2)(B) low- and very low-income persons are not 

15 passed over in hiring; 

16 ‘‘(5) provide to the one-stop delivery system for 

17 the area in which the housing subject to a contract 

18 is located a detailed description of the work to be 

19 done on all projects for which it is accepting, or will 

20 be accepting, bids, and a list of the priority cat21 egories, so that eligible low- and very low-income 

22 persons may be appropriately trained; and 

23 ‘‘(6) make any other effort that may be nec24 essary to increase the number of low- and very low-
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1 income persons hired in accordance with subsection 

2 (c)(1)(B).’’.

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