I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4436

To reform and improve certain housing programs of the Department of 

Housing and Urban Development. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 20, 2004

Mr. DEUTSCH (for himself and Mr. HASTINGS of Florida) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL

To reform and improve certain housing programs 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 ‘‘Fair Housing Protec5 tion Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF PER-UNIT COSTS UNDER SEC7 TION 8 RENTAL HOUSING ASSISTANCE PRO8 GRAM. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of the item relat10 ing to the Housing Certificate Fund in title II of the De-
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1 partments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban 

2 Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations 

3 Act, 2004 (division G of Public Law 108–199; 118 Stat. 

4 372) is amended—

5 (1) by inserting ‘‘in each calendar quarter’’ 

6 after ‘‘and by applying’’; and 

7 (2) by inserting ‘‘in the most recent quarter for 

8 which the public housing agency has submitted such 

9 actual per unit cost information to the Secretary’’ 

10 after ‘‘actual per unit cost’’. 

11 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub12 section (a) shall apply to all expiring section 8 tenant13 based annual contributions contracts renewed pursuant to 

14 the paragraph referred to in subsection (a), whether such 

15 renewal occurs before, on, or after the date of the enact16 ment of this Act. 

17 SEC. 3. PLAN TO END WAITING LISTS FOR SECTION 8 RENT18 AL HOUSING ASSISTANCE. 

19 (a) DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN.—The Secretary of 

20 Housing and Urban Development shall develop a plan to 

21 reduce and eventually eliminate the delay between the sub22 mission by an eligible family to a public housing agency 

23 of an application for rental housing assistance under sec24 tion 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 

25 U.S.C. 1437f) and the time when such assistance is even-
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1 tually made available on behalf of such a family. The plan 

2 shall—

3 (1) identify actual affordable housing needs, 

4 taking into consideration needs of eligible families 

5 who have not applied to a public housing agency for 

6 housing assistance due to extensive or closed waiting 

7 lists; 

8 (2) provide for elimination of waiting lists over 

9 both the 10- and 20-year periods that begin upon 

10 the date of the enactment of this Act; 

11 (3) determine the amount of additional funding 

12 and other resources necessary to eliminate the delay 

13 in providing housing assistance to eligible families 

14 and the appropriate programs and activities to which 

15 to devote such resources; 

16 (4) include a strategy for expenditure of addi17 tional funds that sets forth the projected results of 

18 such expenditures; and 

19 (5) set forth options for an incentive program 

20 to encourage landlords to participate in the rental 

21 housing assistance program under such section 8. 

22 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after the date 

23 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Housing 

24 and Urban Development shall submit a report to the Con25 gress setting forth the plan required under subsection (a). 
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1 SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF SECTION 8 RESERVES. 

2 (a) NOTIFICATION AND REPLENISHMENT.—If the 

3 Secretary of Housing and Urban Development withdraws 

4 amounts from the reserve account for any public housing 

5 agency, or takes any other action that has the result of 

6 reducing amounts in a reserve account without approval 

7 of the agency, the Secretary shall— 

8 (1) immediately notify the agency of such with9 drawal or action; and 

10 (2) before the commencement of the quarter of 

11 the fiscal year first commencing after such with12 drawal or action, replenish such reserve account with 

13 the full amount of such withdrawal or reduction. 

14 (b) ZERO BALANCE APPROVAL.—The Secretary of 

15 Housing and Urban Development may not withdraw 

16 amounts from the reserve account for any public housing 

17 agency, or take any other action that has the result of 

18 reducing amounts in a reserve account, if such withdrawal 

19 or action causes the balance of amounts in the reserve ac20 count for a public housing agency to fall to zero, unless, 

21 in advance of such withdrawal or action, the Secretary of 

22 Housing and Urban Development notifies the public hous23 ing agency of withdrawal or action and obtains written 

24 approval of such withdrawal or action from such public 

25 housing agency. 
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1 (c) QUARTERLY NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary of 

2 Housing and Urban Development shall, on a quarterly 

3 basis, notify each public housing agency of the balance of 

4 amounts in the reserve account for the agency. 

5 (d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

6 (1) PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCY.—The term 

7 ‘‘public housing agency’’ has the meaning given the 

8 term in section 3(b) of the United States Housing 

9 Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 

10 (2) RESERVE ACCOUNT.—The term ‘‘reserve ac11 count’’ means, with respect to a public housing 

12 agency, the annual contributions contract reserve ac13 count for the agency for the tenant-based rental as14 sistance program under section 8 of the United 

15 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) . 

16 SEC. 5. ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR FAIR HOUSING INITIA17 TIVES PROGRAM. 

18 Subsection (g) of section 561 of the Housing and 

19 Community Development Act of 1987 (42 U.S.C. 3616a) 

20 is amended by adding after and below paragraph (4) the 

21 following: 

22 ‘‘In addition to any other amounts made available to carry 

23 out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated for 

24 investigative and enforcement activities under this section 
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1 $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2005, 2006, and 

2 2007. ’’.

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