I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 46 

To provide for payment of an administrative fee to public housing agencies 

to cover the costs of administering family self-sufficiency programs in 

connection with the housing choice voucher program of the Department 

of Housing and Urban Development. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 6, 2009 

Mrs. BIGGERT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To provide for payment of an administrative fee to public 

housing agencies to cover the costs of administering family self-sufficiency programs in connection with the housing choice voucher program of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

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 ‘‘Family Self-Sufficiency 

5 Act of 2009’’. 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
2 

•HR 46 IH

1 SEC. 2. ADMINISTRATIVE FEES FOR FAMILY SELF-SUFFI2 CIENCY PROGRAM COSTS. 

3 Subsection (h) of section 23 of the United States 

4 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437u(h)) is amended 

5 by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following new 

6 paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(1) SECTION 8 FEES.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

9 establish a fee under section 8(q) for the costs 

10 incurred in administering the self-sufficiency 

11 program under this section to assist families re12 ceiving voucher assistance through section 8(o). 

13 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBILITY FOR FEE.—The fee shall 

14 provide funding for family self-sufficiency coor15 dinators as follows: 

16 ‘‘(i) BASE FEE.—A public housing 

17 agency serving 25 or more participants in 

18 the family self-sufficiency program under 

19 this section shall receive a fee equal to the 

20 costs of employing one full-time family 

21 self-sufficiency coordinator. An agency 

22 serving fewer than 25 such participants 

23 shall receive a prorated fee. 

24 ‘‘(ii) ADDITIONAL FEE.—An agency 

25 that meets minimum performance stand26 ards shall receive an additional fee suffiVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:58 Jan 08, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H46.IH H46

wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
3 

•HR 46 IH

1 cient to cover the costs of employing a sec2 ond family self-sufficiency coordinator if 

3 the agency has 75 or more participating 

4 families, and a third such coordinator if it 

5 has 125 or more participating families. 

6 ‘‘(iii) PREVIOUSLY FUNDED AGEN7 CIES.—An agency that received funding 

8 from the Department of Housing and 

9 Urban Development for more than three 

10 such coordinators in any of fiscal years 

11 1999 through 2008 shall receive funding 

12 for the highest number of coordinators 

13 funded in a single fiscal year during that 

14 period, provided they meet applicable size 

15 and performance standards. 

16 ‘‘(iv) INITIAL YEAR.—For the first 

17 year in which a public housing agency ex18 ercises its right to develop an family self19 sufficiency program for its residents, it 

20 shall be entitled to funding to cover the 

21 costs of up to one family self-sufficiency 

22 coordinator, based on the size specified in 

23 its action plan for such program. 

24 ‘‘(v) STATE AND REGIONAL AGEN25 CIES.—For purposes of calculating the 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
4 

•HR 46 IH

1 family self-sufficiency portion of the ad2 ministrative fee under this subparagraph, 

3 each administratively distinct part of a 

4 State or regional public housing agency 

5 shall be treated as a separate agency. 

6 ‘‘(vi) DETERMINATION OF NUMBER

7 OF COORDINATORS.—In determining 

8 whether a public housing agency meets a 

9 specific threshold for funding pursuant to 

10 this paragraph, the number of participants 

11 being served by the agency in its family 

12 self-sufficiency program shall be considered 

13 to be the average number of families en14 rolled in such agency’s program during the 

15 course of the most recent fiscal year for 

16 which the Department of Housing and 

17 Urban Development has data. 

18 ‘‘(C) PRORATION.—If insufficient funds 

19 are available in any fiscal year to fund all of the 

20 coordinators authorized under this section, the 

21 first priority shall be given to funding one coor22 dinator at each agency with an existing family 

23 self-sufficiency program. The remaining funds 

24 shall be prorated based on the number of reVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:58 Jan 08, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H46.IH H46

wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
5 

•HR 46 IH

1 maining coordinators to which each agency is 

2 entitled under this subparagraph. 

3 ‘‘(D) RECAPTURE.—Any fees allocated 

4 under this subparagraph by the Secretary in a 

5 fiscal year that have not been spent by the end 

6 of the subsequent fiscal year shall be recaptured 

7 by the Secretary and shall be available for pro8 viding additional fees pursuant to subparagraph 

9 (B)(ii). 

10 ‘‘(E) PERFORMANCE STANDARDS.—Within 

11 six months after the date of the enactment of 

12 this paragraph, the Secretary shall publish a 

13 proposed rule specifying the performance stand14 ards applicable to funding under clauses (ii) 

15 and (iii) of subparagraph (B). Such standards 

16 shall include requirements applicable to the 

17 leveraging of in-kind services and other re18 sources to support the goals of the family self19 sufficiency program. 

20 ‘‘(F) DATA COLLECTION.—Public housing 

21 agencies receiving funding under this paragraph 

22 shall collect and report to the Secretary, in such 

23 manner as the Secretary shall require, informa24 tion on the performance of their family self-suf25 ficiency programs. 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
6 

•HR 46 IH

1 ‘‘(G) EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall 

2 conduct a formal and scientific evaluation of 

3 the effectiveness of well-run family self-suffi4 ciency programs, using random assignment of 

5 participants to the extent practicable. Not later 

6 than the expiration of the 4-year period begin7 ning upon the enactment of this paragraph, the 

8 Secretary shall submit an interim evaluation re9 port to the Congress. Not later than the expira10 tion of the 8-year period beginning upon such 

11 enactment, the Secretary shall submit a final 

12 evaluation report to the Congress. There is au13 thorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 to 

14 carry out the evaluation under this subpara15 graph. 

16 ‘‘(H) INCENTIVES FOR INNOVATION AND

17 HIGH PERFORMANCE.—The Secretary may re18 serve up to 10 percent of the amounts made 

19 available for administrative fees under this 

20 paragraph to provide support to or reward fam21 ily self-sufficiency programs that are particu22 larly innovative or highly successful in achieving 

23 the goals of the program.’’. 

Æ 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS