I 

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. 

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 ‘‘Housing Assistance 

5 Reform Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF MOVING TO WORK DEMONSTRATION 

7 PROGRAM. 

8 (a) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of Housing and 

9 Urban Development (in this section referred to as the 


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1 ‘‘Secretary’’) may increase, pursuant to this section, the 

2 number of public housing agencies authorized to partici3 pate in the Moving to Work demonstration program au4 thorized under section 204 of the Departments of Vet5 erans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development and 

6 Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996 (Public 

7 Law 104–134; 110 Stat. 1321) by adding to the program 

8 not more than 60 public housing agencies, for a total of 

9 not more than 300,000 housing vouchers and public hous10 ing units, over 5 years, to test and rigorously evaluate in11 novative models for improving economic self-sufficiency, 

12 mobility, academic performance, and other outcomes for 

13 tenants assisted by the Department of Housing and Urban 

14 Development. 

15 (b) ELIGIBLE PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCIES.—Public 

16 housing agencies selected for participation in the Moving 

17 to Work demonstration program pursuant to the expan18 sion authorized under subsection (a)— 

19 (1) shall be high-capacity public housing agen20 cies, the definition of which shall include— 

21 (A) a designation as a high performer 

22 under the public housing assessment system 

23 and the section 8 management assessment pro24 gram, as applicable; and 


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1 (B) a voucher utilization rate of at least 90 

2 percent of voucher funds, as defined by the Sec3 retary, for the duration of participation in the 

4 program; 

5 (2) may include a consortia of public housing 

6 agencies of an appropriate size, as determined by the 

7 Secretary; 

8 (3) shall represent, to the extent feasible based 

9 on eligible applications, a diverse range of public 

10 housing agencies, with respect to geographical juris11 diction and size, to allow innovative policies to be 

12 tested in different contexts; and 

13 (4) shall not receive more funding under section 

14 8 or 9 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 

15 (42 U.S.C. 1437f, 1437g) than such agencies other16 wise would have received absent such designation. 

17 (c) RENEWAL.—With respect to public housing agen18 cies participating in the Moving to Work demonstration 

19 program before the enactment of this Act, upon the expi20 ration of the Moving to Work agreement for any such 

21 agency that the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop22 ment determines has complied with the terms of such 

23 agreement, the Secretary shall extend the Moving to Work 

24 agreement of the agency under such terms as are in effect 

25 upon the date of expiration of the agreement and shall 


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1 not alter the formula allocation for funding for such agen2 cy. 

3 (d) NOTICE.—The Secretary shall establish criteria 

4 and program requirements to carry out this section by no5 tice published in the Federal Register, after an oppor6 tunity for public comment. 

7 SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF RENTAL ASSISTANCE DEMONSTRA8 TION PROGRAM. 

9 The fourth proviso in the heading ‘‘Rental Assistance 

10 Demonstration’’ in title II of the Transportation, Housing 

11 and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appro12 priations Act, 2012 (division C of Public Law 112–55; 125 

13 Stat. 673), as amended by section 234 of division K of 

14 Public Law 113–235 (128 Stat. 2757), is amended by 

15 striking ‘‘not more than 185,000 units currently receiving 

16 assistance under section 9 or section 8(e)(2) of the Act 

17 shall be converted’’ and inserting ‘‘there shall not be any 

18 numerical limitation on the number of units currently re19 ceiving assistance under section 9 or section 8(e)(2) of the 

20 Act that may be converted’’. 

Æ 


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