I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4159
To encourage gainful employment among the residents of public housing,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 24, 1994
Ms. WATERS (for herself and Mr. BISHOP) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs
A BILL
To encourage gainful employment among the residents of
public housing, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Public Housing Rent
Reform Act’’.
SEC. 2. PUBLIC HOUSING CEILING RENTS.
Section 3(a)(2) of the United States Housing Act of
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(a)(2)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking clause (iii)
and inserting the following new clause:
‘‘(iii) at the election of such agency and subject
to approval by the Secretary, is—
‘‘(I) not less than the average monthly
amount of debt service and operating expenses
attributable to dwelling units of similar size in
public housing projects owned and operated by
such agency;
‘‘(II) not less than the rental paid by a
family the amount of whose rent is such that,
on the date upon which a public housing agency
adopts ceiling rents under this subclause for the
project in which such family resides, not less
than 10 percent nor more than 20 percent (as
determined by the Secretary from time to time
by regulation) of the families residing in such
project pay a higher rent; any ceiling rents so
adopted and approved by the Secretary shall be
redetermined annually by application of the
automatic annual adjustment factors issued
from time to time by the Secretary pursuant to
section 8(c)(2)(A); or
‘‘(III) not less than the fair market rent
determined by the agency for comparable units
of similar size pursuant to the procedures pre-
scribed by the Secretary for determining rent
reasonableness under the program for rental
certificate assistance under section 8(b); the
Secretary may, not more frequently than annu-
ally, review the ceiling rents determined under
this subclause by each agency and each agen-
cy’s application of the procedures for determin-
ing rent reasonableness used in establishing
such rents and if, pursuant to such review, the
Secretary determines on the record after oppor-
tunity for an agency hearing, that the ceiling
rents adopted by an agency pursuant to this
subclause are deliberately and materially under-
stated, the Secretary may impose such correc-
tive actions as the Secretary considers appro-
priate, which may include payment to the Sec-
retary of some or all of the aggregate amounts
by which such rents are understated; the Sec-
retary may at any time require that the deter-
mination of ceiling rents pursuant to this
subclause be conducted by a qualified independ-
ent third party in accordance with regulations
issued by the Secretary.’’; and
(2) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as sub-
paragraph (I) and inserting after subparagraph (A)
the following new subparagraphs:
‘‘(B) A waiver by the Secretary shall not be necessary
for a public housing agency to adopt ceiling rents under
this paragraph. The discretion of the Secretary in approv-
ing an election by a public housing agency to adopt ceiling
rents shall be limited to ensuring that the election meets
the requirements of this paragraph. Without limiting any
other provision of this subparagraph, the Secretary shall
not (except as otherwise specifically provided in subpara-
graph (C)) hold or exercise any discretion with respect to
the method under subparagraph (A)(iii) that an agency
may elect to determine its ceiling rents, and such election
shall be within the sole discretion of the agency.
‘‘(C) Unless otherwise approved by the Secretary, a
public housing agency shall utilize the same method for
determining ceiling rents for all projects with respect to
which such agency elects to adopt ceiling rents; except
that, with respect to single family scattered site housing
or projects consisting of 10 or less units, a public housing
agency may elect, or the Secretary may require, that ceil-
ing rents applicable to such units be calculated using the
method under subparagraph (A)(iii)(III), notwithstanding
that ceiling rents applicable to the agency’s other projects
are calculated using another method. After the initial
adoption of ceiling rents by a public housing agency and
approval thereof by the Secretary, the agency may not
thereafter elect a different method of calculating such
rents except as approved by the Secretary.
‘‘(D) Subject to the limitations under subparagraph
(C), different ceiling rents may be adopted by a public
housing agency and approved by the Secretary for each
project owned by the public housing agency. A public
housing agency may adopt and the Secretary may approve
maximum rents for some or all of the projects owned by
such agency.
‘‘(E) Any ceiling rents adopted shall be redetermined
annually, for each project for which such rents are adopt-
ed, by the public housing agency and, subject to subse-
quent readjustment if the Secretary determines after re-
view that such rents are improper, such redetermined ceil-
ing rents shall be effective without further approval by the
Secretary.
‘‘(F) Notwithstanding any other provision of this
paragraph—
‘‘(i) not more than 25 percent of the total num-
ber of dwelling units contained in any project
(rounded upward to the nearest whole unit) may be
occupied by families whose rents are limited in
amount by the ceiling rents adopted for such project;
if, at any time, families occupying more than 25 per-
cent of the units in a project are eligible for ceiling
rents, then, at the time of the next annual redeter-
mination of ceiling rents for such project, the public
housing agency shall increase the applicable ceiling
rents so that, at the time of such redetermination,
not more than 25 percent of the dwelling units in
the project are occupied by families whose rent is
limited by ceiling rents; and
‘‘(ii) the total continuous period during which
any family’s rent may be limited by the full applica-
tion of ceiling rents shall not exceed 3 years; if at
any time commencing before the expiration of the 3-
year period, the rent payable by a family is less than
the applicable ceiling rent for a period in excess of
12 consecutive months, because of a reduction in the
family’s adjusted income or an increase in ceiling
rents, or both, then a new 3-year period shall com-
mence when such family’s rent again would exceed
the applicable ceiling rents; after the expiration of
any 3-year continuous period during which ceiling
rents are fully applied to limit a family’s rent, the
reduction in such family’s rent that would otherwise
result from full application of the ceiling rents shall
be successively decreased so that (I) during the 4th
year, the family shall receive 85 percent of the re-
duction that would result if the ceiling rents were
fully applied; (II) during the 5th year, the family
shall receive 65 percent of such reduction; (III) dur-
ing the 6th year, the family shall receive 40 percent
of such reduction; and (IV) during the 7th and sub-
sequent years the family shall not receive any reduc-
tion in rent as a result of the adoption of ceiling
rents; the commencement of a family’s initial 3-year
eligibility or subsequent 3-year reeligibility for full
ceiling rent limitations and the commencement of
each reduction in the full application of ceiling rents
as provided in this clause shall, in the case of each
family, occur not later than the effective date of
such family’s annual redetermination of rent and
family composition in accordance with its public
housing lease.
‘‘(G) Ceiling rents authorized under this paragraph
shall not be applicable to any project which is designated
as housing for elderly persons.
‘‘(H) For purposes of this paragraph—
‘‘(i) the term ‘ceiling rent’ means the maximum
amount of rent, adopted by a public housing agency
and approved by the Secretary pursuant to this sub-
paragraph, that may be charged to a family; and
‘‘(ii) the term ‘project’ means a building or
group of buildings containing public housing units
case of a nonelderly family, 20 percent of the earned
income of the family;’’;
(3) in subparagraph (F), by striking ‘‘and’’ at
the end;
(4) in subparagraph (G), by striking the period
at the end and inserting a semicolon; and
(5) by adding at the end the following new sub-
paragraphs:
‘‘(H) in the case of 2-parent families with chil-
dren (as defined by the Secretary by regulation), an
amount not to exceed an additional 10 percent of
the earned income of the family; and
‘‘(I) in the case of a family residing in public
housing, of any earned income of any formerly de-
pendent child who is a member of the family—
‘‘(i) 100 percent of such earned income
during the period beginning on the date of the
first redetermination of the rent for and family
composition of the family that occurs after the
child reaches 18 years of age and ending upon
the commencement of the period under clause
(ii);
‘‘(ii) 85 percent of such earned income
during the period beginning on the date of the
first redetermination of the rent for and family
composition of the family that occurs after the
child reaches 21 years of age and ending upon
the commencement of the period under clause
(iii);
‘‘(iii) 65 percent of such earned income
during the period beginning on the date of the
first redetermination of the rent for and family
composition of the family that occurs after the
child reaches 22 years of age and ending upon
the commencement of the period under clause
(iv);
‘‘(iv) 40 percent of such earned income
during the 1-year period beginning on the date
of the first redetermination of the rent for and
family composition of the family that occurs
after the child reaches 23 years of age.’’.
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by this Act shall take effect
120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 5. IMPLEMENTATION.
The Secretary shall issue any final regulations nec-
essary to implement the amendments made by this Act,
which shall take effect not later than the effective date
under section 4 for the amendments. The regulations shall
be issued after notice and opportunity for public comment
in accordance with the procedures under section 553 of
title 5, United States Code, applicable to substantive rules
(notwithstanding subsections (a)(2), (b)(B), and (d)(3) of
such section).
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