I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5137 
To reform the Moving to Work Program of the Department of Housing 
and Urban Development, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 29, 2016 
Mr. MCCARTHY (for himself, Mr. VALADAO, Ms. HAHN, Mr. STIVERS, Mr. 
NEUGEBAUER, Mr. DOLD, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. ROTHFUS, Mr. WESTMORE-
LAND, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mr. 
FLEISCHMANN, Mr. KNIGHT, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. MCHENRY, Mr. 
HUNTER, and Mr. HILL) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
to the Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To reform the Moving to Work Program of the Department 
of Housing and Urban Development, 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 ‘‘Moving to Work Re-
form and Expansion Act of 2016’’. 
SEC. 2. REFORM OF MOVING TO WORK PROGRAM. 
(a) PROGRAM REFORMS.—Section 204 of the Depart-
ments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Devel-
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opment, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 
1996 (42 U.S.C. 1437f note) is amended— 
(1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘DEM-
ONSTRATION’’ and inserting ‘‘PROGRAM’’; 
(2) by striking the section designation and all 
that follows through the end of subsection (a) and 
inserting the following: 
‘‘SEC. 204. (a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the pro-
gram under this section are as follows: 
‘‘(1) ECONOMIC
INDEPENDENCE.—To develop 
measures to promote economic independence for 
families with children whose head of household is 
working, seeking work, or preparing for work, for 
able-bodied individuals, and for persons with disabil-
ities who are able to work on a limited basis, to ob-
tain employment and become economically inde-
pendent, by participating in job training, educational 
programs, or other supportive services and programs 
that assist in meeting such goal. 
‘‘(2) 
FLEXIBILITY
AND
COST-EFFECTIVE-
NESS.—To give public housing agencies and the Sec-
retary of Housing and Urban Development the flexi-
bility to design and implement various approaches 
for providing and administering housing assistance 
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that reduce cost and achieve greater cost effective-
ness in Federal expenditures. 
‘‘(3) HOUSING CHOICE.—To increase housing 
choices for low-income families.’’; 
(3) in subsection (b)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘(b) PROGRAM AUTHOR-
ITY.—The Secretary’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(b) PROGRAM AUTHORITY.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary’’; 
(B) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘con-
duct a demonstration program’’ and all that fol-
lows through ‘‘Indian housing program and’’ 
and inserting ‘‘carry out a program under this 
section under which public housing agencies ad-
ministering the public housing program or’’; 
(C) by inserting after the first sentence the 
following: ‘‘There shall be no limitation on the 
number of public housing agencies that may 
participate in the program under this section.’’; 
(D) by striking ‘‘The Secretary shall’’ and 
all that follows through ‘‘demonstration.’’ and 
inserting the following: 
‘‘(2) IDENTIFICATION
OF
REPLICABLE
MOD-
ELS.—The Secretary shall provide training and tech-
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nical assistance under the program and conduct de-
tailed evaluations of various agencies to identify 
replicable program models promoting the purposes 
of the program.’’; 
(E) by striking ‘‘Under the demonstration’’ 
and inserting the following: 
‘‘(3) COMBINATION
OF
ASSISTANCE.—Under 
the program under this section’’; and 
(F) by striking ‘‘operating assistance pro-
vided under section 9 of the United States 
Housing Act of 1937, modernization assistance 
provided under section 14’’ and inserting 
‘‘amounts provided to the agency from the Op-
erating Fund under section 9(e) of the United 
States Housing Act of 1937, amounts provided 
to the agency from the Capital Fund under sec-
tion 9(d)’’; 
(4) in subsection (c)— 
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 
by striking ‘‘demonstration’’ and inserting ‘‘pro-
gram under this section’’; 
(B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘9, and 
14’’ and inserting ‘‘9(d), and 9(e)’’; 
(C) in paragraph (3)— 
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(i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 
‘‘demonstration’’; 
(ii) in subparagraph (B)— 
(I) by striking ‘‘self-sufficiency’’ 
and inserting ‘‘economic independ-
ence’’; and 
(II) by striking ‘‘purpose of this 
demonstration’’ and inserting ‘‘pur-
pose of the program under subsection 
(a)(1)’’; 
(iii) in subparagraph (D), by striking 
‘‘demonstration’’ and inserting ‘‘program 
under this section;’’; 
(iv) in subparagraph (E), by striking 
‘‘demonstration program’’ and inserting 
‘‘program under this section’’; 
(v) by redesignating subparagraphs 
(A), (B), (C), (D), and (E) as subpara-
graphs (B), (C), (D), (G), and (H), respec-
tively; 
(vi) by inserting before subparagraph 
(B) (as so redesignated by clause (v) of 
this subparagraph) the following new sub-
paragraph: 
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‘‘(A) actions to be taken under the pro-
posed program to achieve the purposes of the 
program under paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of 
subsection (a);’’; and 
(vii) by inserting after subparagraph 
(D) (as so redesignated by clause (v) of 
this subparagraph) the following new sub-
paragraphs: 
‘‘(E) hardship exceptions consistent with 
the purposes under subsection (a) under which 
tenants may be temporarily exempted from 
compliance with the program operated by the 
agency in the event of extenuating cir-
cumstances preventing such compliance and a 
process that provides tenants with recourse to 
a speedy determination regarding such an ex-
ception and makes available the contents and 
results of such a determination available to the 
public and the board of directors or other gov-
erning body on request of the tenant concerned 
or the director or other head official of the 
agency; 
‘‘(F) providing assisted families and par-
ticipants in the program operated by the agency 
with an informal administrative hearing or 
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grievance process, prior to any eviction or ter-
mination of assistance, which process shall 
make the content and determination of the 
hearing available to the public and the board of 
directors or other governing body on request of 
the tenant concerned or the director or other 
head official of the agency;’’; and 
(D) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘dem-
onstration’’ and inserting ‘‘proposed program’’; 
(5) in subsection (d)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘(d) SELECTION.—In se-
lecting among applications, the Secretary shall 
take into account the’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(d) APPLICATIONS FOR PARTICIPATION.— 
‘‘(1) SUBMISSION; STANDARDS FOR PARTICIPA-
TION.—The Secretary shall provide for public hous-
ing agencies to submit applications for participation 
in the program under this section and shall estab-
lish, and make public, standards and requirements 
for participation that further the purposes of this 
program set forth in subsection (a), which shall— 
‘‘(A) provide that all agencies not des-
ignated as troubled pursuant to part 902 or 
subpart B of part 985 of the Secretary’s regu-
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lations (24 C.F.R. 902, 985) at any time dur-
ing the most recent two fiscal years are invited 
to submit applications for consideration; 
‘‘(B) provide that participation of an agen-
cy, upon approval, shall be for a period not 
shorter than 10 years; 
‘‘(C) include a common set of budget 
metrics for use under the program that allow 
for comparison of the performance of different 
agencies under the program; 
‘‘(D) require that each agency include in 
its application— 
‘‘(i) a list of innovative proposals to 
be carried out under the program that are 
designed to reduce the cost of, and in-
crease the cost-efficiency of, housing pro-
vided in connection with the program and 
metrics to assess the progress of the agen-
cy toward such goals; and 
‘‘(ii) a list of innovative manners in 
which the agency will use the authorities 
under the program to assist families, goals 
regarding such activities to accomplish on 
an annual basis, and metrics to assess the 
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progress of the agency toward such goals; 
and 
‘‘(E) include a plan for using, to the great-
est extent feasible, electronic data-matching for 
income verification services. 
‘‘(2) DETERMINATION AND NOTIFICATION.— 
‘‘(A) REVIEW
AND
DETERMINATION.— 
Upon receipt of an application for participation 
in the program under this section, the Secretary 
shall provide for review such application by a 
selection panel comprised of Federal officials 
and employees and established by the Secretary 
for such purpose. Based on such review, such 
selection panel shall make a determination of 
whether to approve such agency for participa-
tion in the program under this section, based 
on the criteria under paragraph (4). 
‘‘(B) NOTIFICATION.—Upon making a de-
termination pursuant to subparagraph (A), the 
selection panel shall notify the public housing 
agency, the Secretary, and the governments for 
any counties and municipalities in which the ju-
risdiction of the public housing agency is lo-
cated of such determination. In the case of dis-
approval of an application, such notice shall in-
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clude a statement specifying the reasons for 
such disapproval. 
‘‘(3) TRANSITION.— 
‘‘(A) NUMERICAL LIMITATION.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary 
shall review and process such applications 
as to enable the transition of not less than 
25 public housing agencies per year to the 
program under this section (subject to ap-
provable applications), until such time as 
there are not 25 agencies whose applica-
tions merit approval. 
‘‘(ii) RESERVED
SPOTS
FOR
SMALL 
AND RURAL PHAS.—Of the applications of 
public housing agencies approved in each 
year pursuant to clause (i), not less than 
10 shall be applications of public housing 
agencies that administer, in the aggregate, 
fewer than 6,000 vouchers for rental as-
sistance under section 8 of the United 
States Housing Act of 1937 and public 
housing dwelling units, except that if for 
any year the Secretary receives fewer than 
10 applications by public housing agencies 
described in this clause that merit ap-
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proval, the requirement under this clause 
shall apply for such year only to the extent 
of the number of such approvable applica-
tions received. 
‘‘(iii) TREATMENT
OF
NEW
MTW 
AGENCIES.—Any agency that is newly 
transitioned under this subparagraph to 
participation in the program as in effect 
pursuant to the amendments made by the 
Moving to Work Reform and Expansion 
Act of 2016, shall count toward fulfillment 
of the numerical limitation in clause (i), 
notwithstanding the authority under sec-
tion 239 of the Transportation, Housing 
and Urban Development, and Related 
Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016 (divi-
sion L of Public Law 114–113) or any 
other provision of law other than this sec-
tion authorizing participation of new agen-
cies. 
‘‘(B) CONTRACT
REVISIONS.—The Sec-
retary shall, from time to time and in consulta-
tion with public housing agencies, amend con-
tracts for participation by agencies in the pro-
gram under this section as may be necessary, 
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based on experiences of agencies that have par-
ticipated in the program, to correct mistakes 
and better achieve the goals of this program set 
forth in subsection (a). 
‘‘(C) RENEWAL OF CERTIFICATION.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary 
shall provide that upon expiration of a con-
tract for participation by a public housing 
agency in the program under this section, 
to continue participating in the program 
the agency shall be required to recertify 
with the Secretary for such renewed par-
ticipation. The standards and requirements 
applicable to applications for initial partici-
pation in the program shall also apply to 
applications for renewed participation in 
the program. 
‘‘(ii) TREATMENT OF NUMERICAL LIM-
ITATION.—An agency approved for contin-
ued participation in the program pursuant 
to recertification under this subparagraph 
shall not count toward fulfillment of the 
numerical 
limitation 
in 
subparagraph 
(A)(i). 
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in subsection (a), including the effects of the 
program on— 
‘‘(i) the number of new families the 
agency has been able to assist from the 
waiting lists for housing assistance that is 
administered by the agency, including 
vouchers for rental assistance under sec-
tion 8(o) of the United States Housing Act 
of 1937 and dwelling units in public hous-
ing and in housing assisted with project- 
based section 8 assistance, as a result of 
the flexibility of funds and achievement of 
economic independence; 
‘‘(ii) the cost and annual change, per 
family participating in the program, of 
providing housing assistance referred to in 
clause (i) that is administered by the agen-
cy; 
‘‘(iii) any cost savings and additional 
housing resulting from the program; and 
‘‘(iv) the household incomes, and 
changes in such incomes, of members of 
families participating in the program who 
are not exempt from work requirements; 
and 
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‘‘(v) such other factors as the Sec-
retary considers appropriate.’’; 
(C) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and 
(4) as paragraphs (5) and (6); and 
(D) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 
following new paragraphs: 
‘‘(3) ANNUAL BUDGET PLAN.— 
‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT.—Each agency shall 
submit annually to the Secretary, together with 
the report under paragraph (2), a budget plan 
for the program of the agency for the upcoming 
year and shall make such budget plan publicly 
available. 
‘‘(B) FORM AND METRICS.—Each annual 
budget plan shall be set forth in a standard 
form, prescribed by the Secretary and shall uti-
lize a common budget metric that allows for 
comparison of the budget plans of all public 
housing agencies participating in the program. 
‘‘(C) CONTENT.—Each annual budget plan 
shall include such content as the Secretary shall 
specify, which shall include— 
‘‘(i) a description and explanation of 
all new rules and policy changes adopted 
by the agency in accordance with this sec-
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tion and the program under this section 
and, with respect to such new rules and 
policy changes— 
‘‘(I) a description of the effect 
such rules and changes will have on 
the operation of the agency as com-
pared to the preceding year and as 
compared to the operations of the 
agency other than under the program 
under this section; 
‘‘(II) a description of the extent 
to which such rules and changes 
helped to achieve the annual goals 
identified in the public housing agen-
cy’s application pursuant to sub-
section (d)(1)(E) and, in the case of 
any such goals not achieved, a de-
scription of the extent to which such 
goals were not achieved and the rea-
sons for such failure; and 
‘‘(III) whether the adoption of 
such new rules and policy changes re-
quired an adjustment in the annual 
goals identified in the public housing 
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agency’s application pursuant to sub-
section (d)(1); 
‘‘(ii) a plan for all capital assets and 
anticipated construction and rehabilitation 
activities of the agency in the upcoming 
year and a description of whether and how 
such activities are authorized and assisted 
under the program under this section; and 
‘‘(iii) assurances satisfactory to the 
Secretary that such plan will conform with 
all applicable provisions of the Civil Rights 
Act of 1964, the Fair Housing Act, the 
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Ameri-
cans with Disabilities Act of 1990. 
‘‘(4) PUBLIC AND RESIDENT PARTICIPATION.— 
‘‘(A) NOTIFICATION OF RESIDENTS.—Each 
agency shall annually hold a meeting to notify 
all assisted families participating in the pro-
gram of the agency of the contents of the report 
under paragraph (2) for such year and budget 
plan under paragraph (3) for such year and im-
pacts on such assisted families. Any agency 
that assists in the aggregate, more than 50,000 
families or assists families in multiple counties 
shall hold as many meetings as necessary to 
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provide each assisted family a good-faith oppor-
tunity to attend such a meeting. 
‘‘(B) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Each annual re-
port under paragraph (2) and annual plan 
under paragraph (3) shall— 
‘‘(i) be made available for inspection 
and public comment 30 days before the 
meeting required by subparagraph (A) re-
garding such plan or report; and 
‘‘(ii) be approved in a public meeting 
of the board of directors or other gov-
erning body of the agency before submis-
sion to the Secretary. 
‘‘(C) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Each annual 
report under paragraph (2) and annual plan 
under paragraph (3) shall, upon submission to 
the Secretary, be made publicly available and 
shall include all comments provided pursuant to 
subparagraph (B).’’; 
(9) in subsection (h)— 
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘dem-
onstration’’ and inserting ‘‘program under this 
section’’; and 
(B) by striking paragraph (2) and insert-
ing the following: 
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‘‘(2) REVIEW.—The Secretary shall annually 
review the activities of each public housing agency 
participating in the program under this section and, 
based on such review and the information submitted 
by the agency pursuant to subsection (g), deter-
mine— 
‘‘(A) the impact and effectiveness of the 
agency’s program and activities in achieving 
each of the purposes of the program specified 
in subsection (a), including an assessment of 
such impact and effectiveness using the com-
mon set of budget metrics established pursuant 
to subsection (d)(1)(D); 
‘‘(B) the progress of the agency toward 
meeting the goals identified in the agency’s ap-
plication pursuant to subsection (d)(1)(E), 
using the metrics identified in the agency’s ap-
plication pursuant to such subsection; and 
‘‘(C) the extent of compliance by the agen-
cy with the requirements of the program under 
this section and, in determining such extent of 
compliance, shall take into consideration the 
unique characteristics of the agency. 
‘‘(3) VERIFICATION OF ACCURACY.—In assess-
ing information submitted by public housing agen-
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cies pursuant to subsection (g) and in reviewing 
such information and making determinations pursu-
ant to paragraph (2) of this subsection, the Sec-
retary shall carry out control activities and proce-
dures designed to verify the accuracy of such infor-
mation, which shall include auditing a representative 
sample of such information using standard statis-
tical methods. 
‘‘(4) CONTINUED
PARTICIPATION.—The Sec-
retary shall not terminate the participation of any 
public housing agency in the program under this 
section unless the Secretary finds that the agency— 
‘‘(A) is in material default of the condi-
tions and obligations under the agreement en-
tered into between the agency and the Secretary 
providing for such participation; 
‘‘(B) as demonstrated in its reports under 
subsection (g)(2) and its annual budget plans 
under subsection (g)(3), has persistently failed 
to meet the goals identified in its application, 
and the reasons or circumstances specified in 
the agency’s reports and plans for such failure 
are not sufficient to justify the continued fail-
ure; 
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