I 
118TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7412 
To facilitate the use of rural housing vouchers. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 20, 2024 
Ms. CROCKETT (for herself, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, and Ms. SALINAS) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Finan-
cial Services 
A BILL 
To facilitate the use of rural housing vouchers. 
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 ‘‘Rural Housing Vouch-
er Enhancement Act of 2024’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Across the Nation, Americans are facing a 
shortage of affordable housing. 
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(2) The right to a peaceful, affordable, dignified 
place to live is a right to which every American is 
entitled. 
(3) In rural communities, a lack of housing 
supply makes the loss of formerly affordable housing 
devastating to the community. 
(4) That is why the United States Department 
of Agriculture provides essential rural housing 
vouchers for those who lose their affordability guar-
antees. 
(5) The people served by this program are pre-
dominately seniors and Americans with disabilities. 
(6) The Department of Agriculture has been 
charged with a monumentally important task that it 
has generally excelled in performing, especially con-
sidering it operates with far less funding than it 
needs. 
(7) Nevertheless, there are Americans who fall 
through the cracks and face housing instability as a 
result. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol-
lows: 
(1) To provide the Department of Agriculture 
with the tools necessary to ensure everyone entitled 
to a rural housing voucher remains housed. 
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(2) To clearly establish a standard that it is un-
acceptable for any person who is eligible for and 
chooses to use a rural housing voucher to not be 
able to fully use their voucher. 
(3) To make clear, de facto and de jure, that 
giving full force to rural housing vouchers is a 
whole-of-Government effort to guarantee that hous-
ing is a human right. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
For purposes of this Act the following definitions 
shall apply: 
(1) RURAL
HOUSING
VOUCHER.—The term 
‘‘rural housing voucher’’ means a voucher for rental 
assistance issued by the Secretary of Agriculture 
pursuant to title V of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 
U.S.C. 1471 et seq.) to a tenant of a multifamily 
property previously financed with a loan made or in-
sured under section 515 of such title (42 U.S.C. 
1485) or section 514 of such title (42 U.S.C. 1484), 
or a grant under section 516 of such title (42 U.S.C. 
1486). 
(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’, except 
where otherwise specified, means the Secretary of 
Agriculture. 
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SEC. 4. MODALITY OF NOTICE. 
(a) MODALITY REQUIREMENTS.— 
(1) STANDARD.—The Secretary of Agriculture 
shall provide all notices relating to rural housing 
vouchers that are mailed to tenants to be provided 
in the format that best facilitates the tenant’s un-
derstanding of the notice and advises the tenant of 
any applicable appellate rights. 
(2) ALTERNATIVE FORMATS.— 
(A) REQUIREMENT.—If a tenant has elect-
ed to receive information from another agency 
of the Federal Government agency in an alter-
native format to the standard format, including 
in a language other than English or in braille, 
large type, or audio format, the Secretary shall 
send all notices referred to in paragraph (1) in 
such alternative format, together with the no-
tice in the standard format. 
(B) INDICATION
OF
PREFERENCE.—The 
Secretary of Agriculture shall make available a 
mechanism for tenants to indicate their pref-
erence for receipt of notices referred to in para-
graph (1) in alternative formats and shall pro-
vide such notices to tenants in accordance with 
their indicated preference. 
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(C) ACTION ON TENANT’S BEHALF.—The 
Secretary shall provide for another individual, 
upon a signed certification that the tenant has 
authorized such action, to act on a tenant’s be-
half in indicating a preference with respect to 
an alternative format of notices. 
(b) COORDINATION ACROSS FEDERAL AGENCIES.— 
The Secretary of Agriculture shall consult and coordinate 
with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Commissioner 
of the Social Security Administration to implement the 
procedures and systems necessary to comply with sub-
section (a)(2)(A). The Secretary of the Treasury and the 
Commissioner of the Social Security Administration shall 
provide all information necessary to ensure such compli-
ance. 
(c) PLAIN LANGUAGE.—Within one year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall re-
vise the language on the standard notices provided pursu-
ant to paragraph (1) to be in compliance with the Plain 
Writing Act of 2010 (5 U.S.C. 301 note). 
(d) TIMELINE OF NOTICE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—For each property financed 
under section 515, or 514 and 516, of title V of the 
Housing Act of 1949 having tenants who may be eli-
gible for a rural housing voucher, the Secretary shall 
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provide notice as required by paragraph (2) within 
a reasonable time. In the event of eligibility due to 
prepayment or mortgage maturity, the Secretary 
shall provide initial notice as required by paragraph 
(2) and subsequently on an annual basis to each 
household following the initial notice. 
(2) INITIAL NOTICE.— 
(A) PREPAYMENT.—Within 30 days of the 
approval by the Secretary of a borrowers’ re-
quest to prepay its loan under such section 515 
or 514 and at least 120 days before the prepay-
ment date, the Secretary shall provide written 
notice to each household residing in the prop-
erty that informs them of the prepayment ap-
proval, the possible actions that may happen 
with respect to the property upon that prepay-
ment, and how to secure a rural housing vouch-
er. 
(B) MORTGAGE
MATURITY.—Not later 
than the date that is 3 years before the date 
that the loan under such section 515 or 514 for 
the property will mature, the Secretary shall 
provide written notice to each household resid-
ing in the property that informs them of the 
date of the loan maturity, the possible actions 
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that may happen with respect to the property 
upon that maturity, and how to secure a rural 
housing voucher. 
SEC. 5. LANDLORD OUTREACH. 
(a) IDENTIFICATION OF AT-RISK PROPERTIES.—On 
an annual basis, the Secretary shall identify the addresses 
of the multifamily housing properties with loans financed 
under section 515 of the Housing Act of 1949 having 
mortgages that are subject to loan acceleration or matu-
rity or rental assistance contracts that the Secretary de-
termines are at risk of being terminated within the ensu-
ing 4 years without an extension of the rental assistance 
contract. 
(b) EDUCATION AND OUTREACH TO LANDLORDS.— 
The Secretary shall engage in education and outreach to 
landlords, using multiple modalities and in-person out-
reach, to promote landlord interest in accepting rural 
housing vouchers that may be issued to tenants of such 
identified at-risk properties. 
(c) AREA.—Such education and outreach shall be 
performed first with landlords owning properties with 
dwelling units for rent that are nearest to such identified 
at-risk properties and if, after extensive outreach, the Sec-
retary determines there to be insufficient interest among 
such landlords the Secretary shall expand the radius for 
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the area of such education and outreach progressively up 
to an area within a 20-mile radius of such identified at- 
risk properties. 
(d) SHARING OF INFORMATION.—The Secretary of 
Housing and Urban Development shall provide the Sec-
retary of Agriculture with technical assistance and train-
ing on conducting landlord outreach and education, such 
as partnering with at the public housing agency whose ju-
risdiction is nearest to an identified at-risk property. 
SEC. 6. STRATEGIC PLAN. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall, not later 
than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
establish and submit to the Congress a strategic plan that 
identifies— 
(1) for each of the ensuing 5 years, the multi-
family housing properties with loans financed under 
section 515 of the Housing Act of 1949 having rent-
al assistance contracts that Secretary determines are 
at risk of exiting the portfolio, whether because of 
the loan being paid off or for some other reason; 
(2) for properties at risk of exiting the portfolio 
in the next year, tenants whose leases would expire 
or come up for renewal within one, two, and three 
months of the anticipated exit date of the property; 
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(3) a process for regularly updating the infor-
mation described in (2), as precisely as possible, as 
the anticipated exit date of the property approaches; 
(4) a method for identifying at-risk tenants who 
may not receive a rural housing voucher; 
(5) an outreach strategy to inform such at-risk 
tenants of their status and options for remaining 
housed; 
(6) metrics and procedures to track the status 
and outcomes of such at-risk tenants; and 
(7) a comprehensive procedure to ensure at-risk 
tenants have their vouchers and have a suitable 
dwelling to rent using the voucher by the time their 
lease expires or comes up for renewal. 
(b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Secretary shall fully 
and expeditiously implement the strategic plan established 
pursuant to subsection (a) within two years after the date 
of the enactment of this Act. 
(c) REPORTS.—During the 30-month period begin-
ning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary shall provide a report to the Congress not less fre-
quently than every three months on the status of the de-
velopment of the strategic plan and the implementation 
of the plan. 
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