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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1336

To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide

enhanced vouchers for rental assistance under section 8 of the United

States Housing Act of 1937 for low-income elderly and disabled tenants

of housing projects with expiring contracts for Federal rental assistance

to ensure that such tenants can afford to retain their previously assisted

dwelling units, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 25, 1999

Mr. LAZIO (for himself, Mr. LEACH, and Mr. WALSH) introduced the following

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services

A BILL

To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide enhanced vouchers for rental assistance

under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of

1937 for low-income elderly and disabled tenants of

housing projects with expiring contracts for Federal rental assistance to ensure that such tenants can afford

to retain their previously assisted dwelling units, 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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Resident

3 Protection Act of 1999’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

5 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—

6 (1) there exists throughout the United States a

7 need for decent, safe and affordable housing;

8 (2) affordable housing is critical to the well9 being of vulnerable families, particularly seniors and

10 persons with disabilities;

11 (3) an unprecedented number of contracts for

12 Federal rental assistance are expiring now and will

13 expire in the near future, including contracts cov14 ering 2,384,000 units in fiscal year 2000 alone;

15 (4) a growing number of private owners of af16 fordable housing developments are choosing to not

17 renew their subsidy contracts with the Federal gov18 ernment;

19 (5) in cases where assistance contracts are not

20 renewed, rent levels in the affected developments

21 may rise dramatically;

22 (6) an overwhelming majority of residents in

23 these developments are seniors or persons with dis24 abilities and have little or no means of paying addi25 tional rent from personal income, effectively forcing
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1 them to move from what have been their homes for

2 almost a quarter of a century; and

3 (7) the Federal Government should use all ap4 propriate means to ensure that those least able to

5 provide for themselves enjoy the protection and wel6 fare of the people of the United States.

7 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to protect

8 vulnerable residents of affordable housing, particularly

9 seniors and persons with disabilities, and to help provide

10 those residents with peace of mind and security for

11 living—

12 (1) by providing greater rental assistance flexi13 bility to ensure that vulnerable populations are not

14 forced to move from their homes when rent levels

15 rise; and

16 (2) where appropriate, by encouraging private

17 owners of affordable housing developments to con18 tinue serving low-income families by allowing such

19 housing providers greater flexibility for refinancing

20 and by ensuring more effective administration by the

21 Federal Government of rental assistance contract re22 negotiations.
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1 SEC. 3. ENHANCED VOUCHERS FOR RESIDENTS OF

2 PROJECTS WITH EXPIRING CONTRACTS.

3 Section 524 of the Multifamily Assisted Housing Re4 form and Affordability Act of 1997 (42 U.S.C. 1437f

5 note) is amended by adding at the end the following new

6 subsection:

7 ‘‘(b) ENHANCED VOUCHERS UPON CONTRACT EXPI8 RATION.—In the case of contracts for assistance under

9 section 8 referred to in subsection (a) of this section that

10 are not renewed under subsection (a) (or any other au11 thority), the following provisions shall apply:

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To the extent that amounts

13 for assistance under this subsection are provided in

14 advance in appropriation Acts, upon the date of the

15 expiration of the contract for project-based assist16 ance for a covered project, the Secretary—

17 ‘‘(A) shall make enhanced voucher assist18 ance under this subsection available on behalf

19 of each covered resident of a covered project;

20 and

21 ‘‘(B) may make enhanced voucher assist22 ance under this section available on behalf of

23 any other low-income family who, upon the date

24 of such expiration, is residing in an assisted

25 dwelling unit in a covered project that is located

26 in a low-vacancy area.
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1 ‘‘(2) ENHANCED ASSISTANCE.—Enhanced

2 voucher assistance under this subsection for a family

3 shall be voucher assistance under section 8(o) of the

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

5 1437f(o)), except that under such enhanced voucher

6 assistance—

7 ‘‘(A) if the assisted family elects to remain

8 in the covered project in which the family was

9 residing on the date of the expiration of such

10 contract and the rent for such unit exceeds the

11 applicable payment standard established pursu12 ant to section 8(o) for the unit, the amount of

13 rental assistance provided on behalf of family

14 shall be determined using a payment standard

15 that is equal to the rent for the dwelling unit,

16 subject to paragraph (10)(A) of such section

17 8(o); and

18 ‘‘(B) if the assisted family elects to move

19 from such covered project, subparagraph (A) of

20 this paragraph shall not apply and the payment

21 standard for the dwelling unit occupied by the

22 family shall be determined in accordance with

23 section 8(o).

24 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub25 section, the following definitions shall apply:
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1 ‘‘(A) ASSISTED DWELLING UNIT.—The

2 term ‘assisted dwelling unit’ means a dwelling

3 unit that—

4 ‘‘(i) is in a covered project; and

5 ‘‘(ii) is covered by rental assistance

6 provided under the contract for project7 based assistance for the covered project.

8 ‘‘(B) COVERED PROJECT.—The term ‘cov9 ered project’ means any housing that—

10 ‘‘(i) consists of more than 4 dwelling

11 units;

12 ‘‘(ii) is covered in whole or in part by

13 a contract for project-based assistance

14 under—

15 ‘‘(I) the new construction or sub16 stantial rehabilitation program under

17 section 8(b)(2) of the United States

18 Housing Act of 1937 (as in effect be19 fore October 1, 1983),

20 ‘‘(II) the property disposition

21 program under section 8(b) of the

22 United States Housing Act of 1937,

23 ‘‘(III) the moderate rehabilitation

24 program under section 8(e)(2) of the
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1 United States Housing Act of 1937

2 (as in effect before October 1, 1991);

3 ‘‘(IV) the loan management as4 sistance program under section 8 of

5 the United States Housing Act of

6 1937,

7 ‘‘(V) section 23 of the United

8 States Housing Act of 1937 (as in ef9 fect before January 1, 1975),

10 ‘‘(VI) the rent supplement pro11 gram under section 101 of the Hous12 ing and Urban Development Act of

13 1965, or

14 ‘‘(VII) section 8 of the United

15 States Housing Act of 1937, following

16 conversion from assistance under sec17 tion 101 of the Housing and Urban

18 Development Act of 1965,

19 which contract will (under its own terms)

20 expire during the period consisting of fiscal

21 years 2000 through 2004; and

22 ‘‘(iii) is not housing for which resi23 dents are eligible for enhanced voucher as24 sistance as provided under the ‘Preserving

25 Existing Housing Investment’ account in
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1 the Departments of Veterans Affairs and

2 Housing and Urban Development, and

3 Independent Agencies Appropriations Act,

4 1997 (Public Law 104–204; 110 Stat.

5 2884), pursuant to such provision or any

6 other subsequently enacted provision of

7 law.

8 ‘‘(C) COVERED RESIDENT.—The term ‘cov9 ered resident’ means a family who—

10 ‘‘(i) is an elderly family or a disabled

11 family (as such terms are defined in sec12 tion 3(b) of the United States Housing Act

13 of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)); and

14 ‘‘(ii) upon the date of the expiration

15 of the contract for project-based assistance

16 for a covered project, is residing in an as17 sisted dwelling unit in the covered project.

18 ‘‘(D) LOW-VACANCY AREA.—The term

19 ‘low-vacancy area’ means an area that, in the

20 determination of the Secretary, has an inad21 equate supply of habitable, affordable housing

22 for low-income families using tenant-based as23 sistance.

24 ‘‘(4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

25 There are authorized to be appropriated for each of
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1 fiscal years 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 such

2 sums as may be necessary for enhanced voucher as3 sistance under this subsection.’’.

4 SEC. 4. RENEWAL OF SECTION 8 CONTRACTS.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 524(a)

6 of the Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and Afford7 ability Act of 1997 (42 U.S.C. 1437f note) is amended—

8 (1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘ at rent

9 levels that do not exceed comparable market rents

10 for the market area’’; and

11 (2) in the last sentence, by striking the period

12 at the end and inserting the following: ‘‘and, in the

13 case of expiring contracts, if provided shall be pro14 vided at rent levels that are—

15 ‘‘(A) equal to 90 percent of comparable

16 market rents for the market area, in the case

17 of a project having rent levels under the expir18 ing contract that do not exceed 90 percent of

19 such comparable market rents;

20 ‘‘(B) equal to the existing rents under the

21 expiring contract, in the case of a project hav22 ing rent levels under the expiring contract that

23 exceed 90 percent of comparable market rents

24 for the market area but do not exceed such

25 comparable market rents; and
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1 ‘‘(C) equal to comparable market rents for

2 the market area, in the case of a project that

3 is not eligible for mortgage restructuring under

4 this title and has rent levels under the expiring

5 contract that exceed such comparable market

6 rents.’’.

7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 524(a)(2)

8 of the Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and Afford9 ability Act of 1997 (42 U.S.C. 1437f note) is amended—

10 (1) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘and’’

11 after the semicolon at the end;

12 (2) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘; and’’

13 and inserting a period; and

14 (3) by striking subparagraph (E).

15 SEC. 5. ELIGIBLE PURPOSES OF INTEREST REDUCTION

16 PAYMENT GRANTS.

17 (a) ELIGIBLE PURPOSES.—Section 236(s)(3) of the

18 National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715z–1(s)(3)) is

19 amended—

20 (1) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘and’’ at

21 the end:

22 (2) in subparagraph (C), by striking the period

23 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

24 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub25 paragraph:
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1 ‘‘(D) refinancing of the mortgage on the

2 project.’’

3 SEC. 6. RETENTION OF EXCESS INCOME FOR SECTION 236

4 PROJECTS.

5 The last sentence of section 236(g) of the National

6 Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715z–1(g)) is amended by strik7 ing ‘‘an owner of a project’’ and all that follows through

8 ‘‘subsection (b),’’ and inserting ‘‘the project owner’’.

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