I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 149 
To authorize funds to prevent housing discrimination through the use of 
nationwide testing, to increase funds for the Fair Housing Initiatives 
Program, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 3, 2017 
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To authorize funds to prevent housing discrimination through 
the use of nationwide testing, to increase funds for the 
Fair Housing Initiatives Program, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans, Women, 
Families with Children, Race, and Persons with Disabil-
ities Housing Fairness Act of 2017’’ or the ‘‘Housing 
Fairness Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. TESTING FOR DISCRIMINATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 
Urban Development shall conduct a nationwide program 
of testing to— 
(1) detect and document differences in the 
treatment of persons seeking to rent or purchase 
housing or obtain or refinance a home mortgage 
loan, and measure patterns of adverse treatment be-
cause of the race, color, religion, sex, familial status, 
disability status, or national origin of a renter, home 
buyer, or borrower; and 
(2) measure the prevalence of such discrimina-
tory practices across the housing and mortgage lend-
ing markets as a whole. 
(b) ADMINISTRATION.—The Secretary of Housing 
and Urban Development shall enter into agreements with 
qualified fair housing enforcement organizations, as such 
organizations are defined under subsection (h) of section 
561 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 
1987 (42 U.S.C. 3616a(h)), for the purpose of conducting 
the testing required under subsection (a). 
(c) 
PROGRAM
REQUIREMENTS.—The 
Secretary 
shall— 
(1) submit to the Congress an evaluation by the 
Secretary of the effectiveness of the program under 
this section; and 
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(2) issue regulations that require each applica-
tion for the program under this section to contain— 
(A) a description of the assisted activities 
proposed to be undertaken by the applicant; 
(B) a description of the experience of the 
applicant in formulating or carrying out pro-
grams to carry out the activities described in 
subsection (a); and 
(C) a description of proposed procedures to 
be used by the applicant for evaluating the re-
sults of the activities proposed to be carried out 
under the program. 
(d) REPORT.—The Secretary of Housing and Urban 
Development shall report to Congress— 
(1) on a biennial basis, the aggregate outcomes 
of testing required under subsection (a) along with 
any recommendations or proposals for legislative or 
administrative action to address any issues raised by 
such testing; and 
(2) on an annual basis, a detailed summary of 
the messages received by the Office of Fair Housing 
and Equal Opportunity of the Department through 
its 24-hour toll-free telephone hotline, through elec-
tronic mail, and through its website. 
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The Secretary may submit the reports required under 
paragraph (1) of this subsection as part of the reports 
prepared in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (6) of 
section 808(e) of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 
3608(e)) and section 561(j) of the Housing and Commu-
nity Development Act of 1987 (42 U.S.C. 3616a(j)). 
(e) USE OF RESULTS.—The results of any testing re-
quired under subsection (a) may be used as the basis for 
the Secretary, or any Federal agency authorized to bring 
such an enforcement action, or any State or local govern-
ment or agency, public or private nonprofit organization 
or institution, or other public or private entity that the 
Secretary has entered into a contract or cooperative agree-
ment with under section 561 of the Housing and Commu-
nity Development Act of 1987 (42 U.S.C. 3616a) to com-
mence, undertake, or pursue any investigation or enforce-
ment action to remedy any discriminatory housing practice 
(as such term is defined in section 802 of the Fair Hous-
ing Act (42 U.S.C. 3602)) uncovered as a result of such 
testing. 
(f) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 
(1) DISABILITY STATUS.—The term ‘‘disability 
status’’ has the same meaning given the term 
‘‘handicap’’ in section 802 of the Civil Rights Act of 
1968 (42 U.S.C. 3602). 
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