II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2945 

To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to carry 

out a housing choice voucher mobility demonstration to encourage families receiving the voucher assistance to move to lower-poverty areas 

and expand access to opportunity areas. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 24, 2018 

Mr. YOUNG (for himself and Mr. VAN HOLLEN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to carry out a housing choice voucher mobility 

demonstration to encourage families receiving the voucher assistance to move to lower-poverty areas and expand 

access to opportunity areas. 

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 Choice Vouch5 er Mobility Demonstration Act of 2018’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER MOBILITY DEM2 ONSTRATION. 

3 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) FAMILIES; PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCY.—The 

5 term ‘‘public housing agency’’ have the meanings 

6 given those terms in section 3(b) of the United 

7 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 

8 (2) HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER ASSISTANCE.— 

9 The term ‘‘housing choice voucher assistance’’ 

10 means voucher assistance provided under section 

11 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 

12 U.S.C. 1437f(o)). 

13 (3) PLAN.—The term ‘‘Plan’’ means a Regional 

14 Housing Mobility Plan submitted under subsection 

15 (d). 

16 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

17 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 

18 (b) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may carry out a mo19 bility demonstration program to enable public housing 

20 agencies to administer housing choice voucher assistance 

21 in a manner designed to encourage families receiving that 

22 assistance to move to lower-poverty areas and expand ac23 cess to opportunity areas. 

24 (c) SELECTION OF PHAS.— 

25 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary shall es26 tablish requirements for public housing agencies to 


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1 participate in the demonstration program under this 

2 section, which shall provide that the following public 

3 housing agencies may participate: 

4 (A) Public housing agencies that to5 gether— 

6 (i) serve areas with high concentra7 tions of families receiving housing choice 

8 voucher assistance in poor, low-opportunity 

9 neighborhoods; and 

10 (ii) have an adequate number of mod11 erately priced rental units in higher-oppor12 tunity areas. 

13 (B) Planned consortia or partial consortia 

14 of public housing agencies that— 

15 (i) include not less than 1 public 

16 housing agency with a high-performing 

17 Family Self-Sufficiency program carried 

18 out under section 23 of the United States 

19 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437u); 

20 and 

21 (ii) will enable participating families 

22 to continue in the Family Self-Sufficiency 

23 program if the family relocates to the ju24 risdiction served by any other public hous25 ing agency of the consortium. 


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1 (C) Planned consortia or partial consortia 

2 of public housing agencies that— 

3 (i) serve jurisdictions within a single 

4 region; 

5 (ii) include not less than 1 small pub6 lic housing agency; and 

7 (iii) will consolidate mobility-focused 

8 operations. 

9 (D) Such other public housing agencies as 

10 the Secretary considers appropriate. 

11 (2) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall 

12 establish competitive selection criteria for public 

13 housing agencies eligible under paragraph (1) to 

14 participate in the demonstration program under this 

15 section. 

16 (3) RANDOM SELECTION OF FAMILIES.—The 

17 Secretary may require public housing agencies par18 ticipating in the demonstration program under this 

19 section to use a randomized selection process to se20 lect among the families eligible to receive assistance 

21 under the demonstration program. 

22 (d) REGIONAL HOUSING MOBILITY PLAN.—The Sec23 retary shall require each public housing agency applying 

24 to participate in the demonstration program under this 


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1 section to submit a Regional Housing Mobility Plan, which 

2 shall— 

3 (1) identify the public housing agencies that 

4 will participate under the Plan and the number of 

5 vouchers each participating public housing agency 

6 will make available out of their existing programs in 

7 connection with the demonstration; 

8 (2) identify any community-based organizations, 

9 nonprofit organizations, businesses, and other enti10 ties that will participate under the Plan and describe 

11 the commitments for the participation made by each 

12 such entity; 

13 (3) identify any waivers or alternative require14 ments requested for the execution of the Plan; 

15 (4) identify any specific actions that the public 

16 housing agencies and other entities will undertake to 

17 accomplish the goals of the demonstration program, 

18 which shall include a comprehensive approach to en19 able a successful transition to opportunity areas and 

20 may include counseling and continued support for 

21 families; 

22 (5) specify the criteria that the public housing 

23 agencies would use to identify opportunity areas 

24 under the Plan; 


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1 (6) provide for the establishment of priority and 

2 preferences for families receiving assistance under 

3 the demonstration program, including a preference 

4 for families with young children, as such term is de5 fined by the Secretary, based on regional housing 

6 needs and priorities; and 

7 (7) comply with any other requirements estab8 lished by the Secretary. 

9 (e) FUNDING FOR MOBILITY-RELATED SERVICES.— 

10 (1) USE OF ADMINISTRATIVE FEES.—Each 

11 public housing agency participating in the dem12 onstration program under this section may use ad13 ministrative fees under section 8(q) of the United 

14 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(q)), 

15 any administrative fee reserves of the public housing 

16 agency, and funding from private entities to provide 

17 mobility-related services in connection with the dem18 onstration program, including services such as coun19 seling, portability coordination, landlord outreach, 

20 security deposits, and administrative activities asso21 ciated with establishing and operating regional mo22 bility programs. 

23 (2) USE OF HOUSING ASSISTANCE FUNDS.— 

24 Each public housing agency participating in the 

25 demonstration program under this section may use 


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1 housing assistance payment contract funds under 

2 section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 

3 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) for security deposits if 

4 necessary to enable families to lease units with hous5 ing choice voucher assistance in designated oppor6 tunity areas. 

7 (f) WAIVERS; ALTERNATIVE REQUIREMENTS.— 

8 (1) WAIVERS.—To allow for public housing 

9 agencies to implement and administer the Plan of 

10 the public housing agency under the demonstration 

11 program under this section, the Secretary may waive 

12 or specify alternative requirements for the following 

13 provisions of the United States Housing Act of 1937 

14 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.): 

15 (A) Paragraphs (7)(A) and (13)(E)(i) of 

16 section 8(o) (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) (relating to 

17 the term of a lease and mobility requirements). 

18 (B) Section 8(o)(13)(C)(i) (42 U.S.C. 

19 1437f(o)(13)(C)(i)) (relating to the public hous20 ing agency plan). 

21 (C) Section 8(r)(2) (42 U.S.C. 

22 1437f(r)(2)) (relating to the responsibility of a 

23 public housing agency to administer portable 

24 assistance). 


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1 (2) ALTERNATIVE REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec2 retary shall provide additional authority for public 

3 housing agencies in a selected region to form a con4 sortium that has a single housing assistance pay5 ment contract, or to enter into a partial consortium 

6 to operate all or portions of the Plan, including pub7 lic housing agencies participating in the Moving To 

8 Work demonstration program established under sec9 tion 204 of the Departments of Veterans Affairs and 

10 Housing and Urban Development, and Independent 

11 Agencies Appropriations Act, 1996 (Public Law 

12 104–134; 110 Stat. 1321–281). 

13 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Any waiver or alter14 native requirements pursuant to this subsection shall 

15 not take effect before the date that is 10 days after 

16 the date on which the date on which the Secretary 

17 publishes a notice of the waiver or alternative re18 quirement in the Federal Register. 

19 (g) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary may imple20 ment the demonstration program under this section, in21 cluding the terms, procedures, requirements, and condi22 tions of the demonstration, by notice. 

23 (h) EVALUATION.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 5 years after 

25 the implementation of the regional housing mobility 


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1 programs by public housing agencies participating in 

2 the demonstration program under this section, the 

3 Secretary shall submit to Congress and publish in 

4 the Federal Register a report evaluating the effec5 tiveness of the strategies pursued under the dem6 onstration program, subject to the availability of 

7 funding to conduct the evaluation. 

8 (2) DISSEMINATION OF FINDINGS.—The Sec9 retary shall— 

10 (A) through internet websites and other 

11 means, disseminate interim findings relating to 

12 the demonstration program under this section 

13 as they become available; and 

14 (B) if promising strategies are identified 

15 through the findings described in subparagraph 

16 (A), notify Congress of the amount of funds 

17 that would be required to expand the testing of 

18 these strategies in additional types of public 

19 housing agencies and housing markets. 

Æ 


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