IIB 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 46 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 30, 2009 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 

Urban Affairs 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Family Self-Sufficiency 

3 Act of 2009’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ADMINISTRATIVE FEES FOR FAMILY SELF-SUFFI5 CIENCY PROGRAM COSTS. 

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

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

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

9 paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(1) SECTION 8 FEES.— 

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

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

13 incurred in administering the self-sufficiency 

14 program under this section to assist families re15 ceiving voucher assistance through section 8(o). 

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

17 provide funding for family self-sufficiency coor18 dinators as follows: 

19 ‘‘(i) BASE FEE.—A public housing 

20 agency serving 25 or more participants in 

21 the family self-sufficiency program under 

22 this section shall receive a fee equal to the 

23 costs of employing one full-time family 

24 self-sufficiency coordinator. An agency 

25 serving fewer than 25 such participants 

26 shall receive a prorated fee. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) ADDITIONAL FEE.—An agency 

2 that meets minimum performance stand3 ards shall receive an additional fee suffi4 cient to cover the costs of employing a sec5 ond family self-sufficiency coordinator if 

6 the agency has 75 or more participating 

7 families, and a third such coordinator if it 

8 has 125 or more participating families. 

9 ‘‘(iii) PREVIOUSLY FUNDED AGEN10 CIES.—An agency that received funding 

11 from the Department of Housing and 

12 Urban Development for more than three 

13 such coordinators in any of fiscal years 

14 1999 through 2008 shall receive funding 

15 for the highest number of coordinators 

16 funded in a single fiscal year during that 

17 period, provided they meet applicable size 

18 and performance standards. 

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

20 year in which a public housing agency ex21 ercises its right to develop an family self22 sufficiency program for its residents, it 

23 shall be entitled to funding to cover the 

24 costs of up to one family self-sufficiency 


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1 coordinator, based on the size specified in 

2 its action plan for such program. 

3 ‘‘(v) STATE AND REGIONAL AGEN4 CIES.—For purposes of calculating the 

5 family self-sufficiency portion of the ad6 ministrative fee under this subparagraph, 

7 each administratively distinct part of a 

8 State or regional public housing agency 

9 shall be treated as a separate agency. 

10 ‘‘(vi) DETERMINATION OF NUMBER

11 OF COORDINATORS.—In determining 

12 whether a public housing agency meets a 

13 specific threshold for funding pursuant to 

14 this paragraph, the number of participants 

15 being served by the agency in its family 

16 self-sufficiency program shall be considered 

17 to be the average number of families en18 rolled in such agency’s program during the 

19 course of the most recent fiscal year for 

20 which the Department of Housing and 

21 Urban Development has data. 

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

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

24 coordinators authorized under this section, the 

25 first priority shall be given to funding one coorVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:35 May 01, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H46.RFS H46

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1 dinator at each agency with an existing family 

2 self-sufficiency program. The remaining funds 

3 shall be prorated based on the number of re4 maining coordinators to which each agency is 

5 entitled under this subparagraph. 

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

7 under this subparagraph by the Secretary in a 

8 fiscal year that have not been spent by the end 

9 of the subsequent fiscal year shall be recaptured 

10 by the Secretary and shall be available for pro11 viding additional fees pursuant to subparagraph 

12 (B)(ii). 

13 ‘‘(E) PERFORMANCE STANDARDS.—Within 

14 six months after the date of the enactment of 

15 this paragraph, the Secretary shall publish a 

16 proposed rule specifying the performance stand17 ards applicable to funding under clauses (ii) 

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

19 shall include requirements applicable to the 

20 leveraging of in-kind services and other re21 sources to support the goals of the family self22 sufficiency program. 

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

24 agencies receiving funding under this paragraph 

25 shall collect and report to the Secretary, in such 


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1 manner as the Secretary shall require, informa2 tion on the performance of their family self-suf3 ficiency programs. 

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

5 conduct a formal and scientific evaluation of 

6 the effectiveness of well-run family self-suffi7 ciency programs, using random assignment of 

8 participants to the extent practicable. Not later 

9 than the expiration of the 4-year period begin10 ning upon the enactment of this paragraph, the 

11 Secretary shall submit an interim evaluation re12 port to the Congress. Not later than the expira13 tion of the 8-year period beginning upon such 

14 enactment, the Secretary shall submit a final 

15 evaluation report to the Congress. There is au16 thorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 to 

17 carry out the evaluation under this subpara18 graph. 

19 ‘‘(H) INCENTIVES FOR INNOVATION AND

20 HIGH PERFORMANCE.—The Secretary may re21 serve up to 10 percent of the amounts made 

22 available for administrative fees under this 

23 paragraph to provide support to or reward fam24 ily self-sufficiency programs that are particuVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:35 May 01, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H46.RFS H46

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1 larly innovative or highly successful in achieving 

2 the goals of the program.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives April 29, 2009. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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