I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1841
To better assist lower income families to obtain decent, safe, and affordable 
housing through the conversion of the section 8 housing choice voucher 
program into a State-administered block grant. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 29, 2003
Mr. NEY (by request) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Financial Services 
A BILL 
To better assist lower income families to obtain decent, safe, 
and affordable housing through the conversion of the 
section 8 housing choice voucher program into a State-
administered block grant.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Housing Assistance for Needy Families Act of 2003’’. 
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—
Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings and purposes. 
Sec. 3. Authority. 
Sec. 4. Definitions. 
Sec. 5. Planning and performance.
Sec. 6. Eligible families. 
Sec. 7. Eligible activities. 
Sec. 8. Amount of assistance. 
Sec. 9. Authorization, allocation and distribution of funds. 
Sec. 10. Environmental review. 
Sec. 11. Inspection of units. 
Sec. 12. Portability. 
Sec. 13. Compliance. 
Sec. 14. Effective date.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
(1) the section 8 tenant-based assistance pro-
gram now provides rental and homeownership assist-
ance to more than 1.8 million families; 
(2) despite this success, during the past several 
years, billions of dollars of funds appropriated for 
tenant-based assistance have remained unspent, and 
as a result, several hundred thousand families have 
not been provided housing assistance made available 
by Congress; 
(3) over 2,600 public housing agencies, half of 
which administer 250 or fewer vouchers, administer 
the tenant-based assistance program through direct 
contracts with the Secretary, and thus the Secretary 
must administer the program through rules and reg-
ulations that apply directly to more than 2,600 enti-
ties throughout the Nation; 
(4) this administrative structure has contrib-
uted to the development of regulatory and statutory 
measures that have made the tenant-based assist-
ance program overly prescriptive and difficult to ad-
minister, with hundreds of pages of regulations and 
guidance; 
(5) the complexity of the tenant-based assist-
ance program, its inability to allow adequate timely 
adjustments to changing local markets, and its mul-
tiplicity of Federal directives, all have contributed to 
several hundred thousand families not being pro-
vided the housing assistance made available by Con-
gress; 
(6) the linkage between housing assistance and 
the government’s role in supporting self-sufficiency 
efforts for low-income families is critical, and this 
role is now largely carried out by the States under 
the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families pro-
gram and other programs; and 
(7) since assuming responsibility for the Tem-
porary Assistance for Needy Families program, and 
with respect to other initiatives, such as the One-
Stop Career Center system under the Workforce In-
vestment Act, States have shown that they can bring 
creative, effective administration to programs for as-
sistance to needy families.
(8) facilitate State and local efforts to reduce 
homelessness. 
SEC. 3. AUTHORITY. 
(a) The Secretary is authorized to make grants to 
States to provide tenant-based rental and homeownership 
housing assistance and to carry out activities related 
thereto in accordance with the provisions of this Act. 
(b) Subject to the availability of appropriations, each 
State receiving a grant under this Act shall, for fiscal 
years 2005 through 2009, provide tenant-based rental and 
homeownership housing assistance to no fewer than the 
average number of families served in such State during 
the 120 day period ending on September 30, 2004 by the 
Housing Choice Voucher program authorized under sec-
tion 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 
U.S.C. 1437f), including those families receiving enhanced 
voucher assistance authorized under such section 8. 
(c) The chief executive officer of any State may, in 
any fiscal year, after receiving a grant under this Act for 
such fiscal year, designate any agency or instrumentality 
of the State to act on behalf of the State with regard to 
the provisions of this Act.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 
(a) The term ‘‘State’’ shall include the several States, 
the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico, the territories and possessions of the United States, 
and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 
(b) The term ‘‘gross monthly income’’ shall include 
income from all sources of each member of the household, 
as determined in accordance with criteria prescribed by 
the State. 
(c) The terms ‘‘elderly families’’, ‘‘disabled families’’, 
and ‘‘Secretary’’ used in this Act shall have the definitions 
accorded such terms by the United States Housing Act 
of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.). 
(d) The term ‘‘tenant-based rental housing assist-
ance’’ means assistance that provides for the eligible fam-
ily to select suitable housing and to move to other suitable 
housing. 
SEC. 5. PLANNING AND PERFORMANCE. 
(a) STATE PLAN.—Prior to the receipt in any fiscal 
year of a grant under this Act, the State shall, as part 
of its comprehensive housing affordability strategy (or any 
consolidated plan incorporating such strategy) under sec-
tion 105 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 
Housing Act, set forth quantifiable objectives related to 
performance measures established by the Secretary under 
subsection (b). 
(b) PERFORMANCE
STANDARDS.—The Secretary 
shall establish performance standards for States receiving
grants under this section as the Secretary determines to 
be appropriate, including budget utilization, financial 
management, number of families served, quality of hous-
ing, reduction of homelessness (including homelessness 
among veterans), improved living conditions for elderly 
and disabled families, the effectiveness of voucher assist-
ance in helping families move toward homeownership and 
self-sufficiency, and the extent to which State or local gov-
ernments remove barriers to affordable housing. 
(c) PERFORMANCE REPORT.—
(1) The Secretary shall require each State to 
submit to the Secretary, at a time and in a form de-
termined by the Secretary, a performance evaluation 
and report to be made available to the public con-
cerning the progress it has made in carrying out its 
plan under subsection (a) and in meeting annual nu-
merical performance targets consistent with the per-
formance standards established under subsection 
(b). Included in the report shall be: 
(A) the number of families and individuals 
receiving tenant-based rental and homeowner-
ship housing assistance under the State pro-
gram including the number of families with 
children, elderly families, and disabled families. 
For each family, information on income,
sources of income, and changes in income and 
employment status; 
(B) the total dollar value of housing assist-
ance received by all families; 
(C) amounts spent on administrative fees; 
(D) information about the neighborhood 
poverty rates in which families reside; and 
(E) other information on the use of Fed-
eral assistance as the Secretary may prescribe. 
(2) SUFFICIENCY OF REPORT.—If a State fails 
to submit a report satisfactory to the Secretary in 
a timely manner, the Secretary may take any nec-
essary compliance actions authorized under section 
13(b) of this Act. 
(d) ALTERNATIVE ADMINISTRATION.—
(1) In fiscal year 2005 and any fiscal years 
thereafter, if any State has not demonstrated to the 
satisfaction of the Secretary that it has the capacity 
to adequately administer grant amounts under this 
Act, the Secretary shall determine how to carry out 
such program in any such State, which may include 
administration of such program by one or more pub-
lic housing agencies or other entities. 
(2) If, pursuant to paragraph (1), grant 
amounts under this Act are administered by one or
more public housing agencies or other entities, all 
provisions under this Act which would otherwise be 
applicable to States administering funds under this 
Act shall be applicable instead to such public hous-
ing agencies or other entities. 
SEC. 6. ELIGIBLE FAMILIES. 
(a) INITIAL ELIGIBILITY.—
(1) To be eligible to receive tenant-based rental 
and homeownership housing assistance under this 
Act, a family that is not assisted under section 8 of 
the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 
1437f) shall have an income that does not exceed 80 
percent of the median income for the area, as deter-
mined by the Secretary with adjustments for smaller 
or larger families, except that the Secretary may es-
tablish income ceilings higher than 80 percent of the 
median for the area for elderly and disabled families. 
(2) NEW ADMISSIONS.—Of the families eligible 
to receive assistance pursuant to subsection (a) and 
initially receiving such assistance under this Act, not 
less than 75 percent of such new admissions in each 
State in any fiscal year shall have incomes that do 
not exceed 30 percent of the area median income, as 
determined by the Secretary with adjustments for 
smaller or larger families. If States are prevented
from achieving this requirement and proof is pro-
vided that this target cannot be met, then States 
may submit waiver requests to the Secretary for ad-
ditional income targeting flexibility for new admis-
sions, however, the Secretary may grant such waiv-
ers only to the extent that not less than 55 percent 
of new admissions in each State in any fiscal year 
shall have incomes that do not exceed 30 percent of 
the area median income. 
(b) CONTINUED ELIGIBILITY.—Subject to subsection 
(d), continued eligibility for housing assistance pursuant 
to this Act shall be determined in accordance with stand-
ards established by or for the State in which the family 
resides. 
(c) PREFERENCES.—Each State receiving a grant 
pursuant to this Act may establish a system for making 
housing assistance pursuant to this Act available on behalf 
of eligible families that provides preference for such assist-
ance to eligible families having certain characteristics, in-
cluding working families; families already receiving assist-
ance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families 
program; individuals at risk of chronic homelessness; fami-
lies affected by the conversion, sale, or demolition of public
housing projects; families leaving structures receiving 
project-based assistance under section 8(o)(13) of the
United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 
1437f(o)(13)); and to veterans of the Armed Forces of the 
United States, especially to homeless veterans. 
(d) GRANDFATHERING PROVISION.—
(1) Any family that is receiving tenant-based 
assistance under section 8 of the United States 
Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) shall, for 
fiscal years 2005 through 2009, continue to receive 
such assistance subject to the terms and conditions 
of such Act, from amounts made available pursuant 
to section 9(c) of this Act. Any family that is receiv-
ing homeownership, project-based certificate, or 
project-based voucher assistance under such section 
8 shall continue to receive such assistance subject to 
the terms and conditions of such Act, from amounts 
made available pursuant to section 9(c) of this Act. 
(2) If the grant received by the State pursuant 
to this Act is insufficient to fund all currently as-
sisted families pursuant to paragraph (1) in the 
amounts specified under current program require-
ments, the State shall make every effort to continue 
to provide assistance to the greatest extent possible 
to the same number of assisted families in the State. 
(e) ANNUAL REVIEW OF FAMILY INCOME.—Each 
State administering a housing assistance grant pursuant
to this Act shall, not less frequently than annually, con-
duct a review of the family income of each family receiving 
such assistance, except that the State shall review the in-
come of elderly families not less frequently than every 
three years. 
SEC. 7. ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES. 
Activities assisted under this Act may include only—
(1) tenant-based rental housing assistance; 
(2) homeownership assistance for first-time 
homebuyers, including monthly homeownership as-
sistance and downpayment assistance as defined in 
section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 
(42 U.S.C. 1437f); 
(3) costs of administering grant amounts under 
this Act, except that such costs shall not exceed 10 
percent of grant amounts provided to the State; and 
(4) other activities, as specified by the Sec-
retary, in support of tenant-based rental housing 
and homeownership assistance activities authorized 
under this section. 
SEC. 8. AMOUNT OF ASSISTANCE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsections (b), (c), 
and (d), any monthly assistance payment for a family re-
ceiving housing assistance pursuant to this Act shall be 
determined by the State administering such assistance.
Except as provided in subsection (b), no family residing 
in a dwelling unit that is assisted with grant amounts 
under this Act will be required at the time of initial leasing 
to pay more than 30 percent of such family’s gross month-
ly income as rent for such dwelling unit (including the 
amount allowed for tenant-paid utilities), or as home-
ownership expenses, where applicable. Families may 
choose to pay more to secure better quality housing. 
(b) MINIMUM RENTAL AMOUNT.—Notwithstanding 
subsection (a) of this section, States shall establish a min-
imum monthly rental amount of $50 per month. Notwith-
standing the preceding sentence, a hardship exemption 
may be granted on a case-by-case basis as determined by 
the State. 
(c) RENT REASONABLENESS.—The rent for dwelling 
units assisted under this Act shall be reasonable and ap-
propriate in comparison with rents charged for non-luxury 
dwelling units in the private, unassisted local market. 
(d) MAXIMUM SUBSIDY.—States shall establish max-
imum subsidy levels for housing assistance under this Act 
that are reasonable and appropriate for the market area. 
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION, ALLOCATION AND DISTRIBUTION 
OF FUNDS. 
(a) The Secretary shall allocate amounts made avail-
able in an appropriations Act as follows:
(1) ALLOCATIONS FOR FISCAL YEARS 2004 AND 
2005.—
(A) For fiscal year 2004, to public housing 
agencies under section 8 of the United States 
Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f), except 
that the Secretary may reallocate to a State, 
from public housing agencies in the same State, 
any amounts made available under such section 
8 that are not being utilized by the end of the 
fiscal year. 
(B) In fiscal year 2005, the Secretary shall 
allocate to each State an amount that bears the 
same ratio to the total amount available for as-
sistance under this Act for such fiscal year that 
the amount allocated in fiscal year 2004 to pub-
lic housing agencies within the State bears to 
the total amount made available under this Act 
for fiscal year 2004. 
(2) BASE ALLOCATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006 
AND SUBSEQUENT FISCAL YEARS.—
(A) The Secretary shall, by regulation 
issued not later than 12 months after the date
of enactment of this Act, establish a formula 
to provide for allocating amounts available for
fiscal year 2006 and subsequent fiscal years for 
block grants to States under this Act. 
(B) In establishing the formula, the Sec-
retary shall consider factors reflecting the need 
of low-income families in each State, including 
the following factors: 
(i) The number of families receiving 
housing assistance under this Act in each 
State; 
(ii) the extent of poverty within the 
State; 
(iii) the cost of housing in the State 
or areas of the State; 
(iv) the performance of the State in 
administering grant amounts under this 
Act; 
(v) the extent to which the State has 
available any funds previously appropriated 
under this Act; and 
(vi) other objectively measurable con-
ditions as the Secretary may specify. 
(C) Subject to subparagraph (D), for fiscal 
years 2006 through 2009, the formula shall 
provide that—
(i) for a fiscal year in which the 
amount appropriated for block grants 
under this Act is equal to or greater than 
the amount appropriated in fiscal year 
2005, the Secretary shall provide each 
State with an allocation that is no less 
than the allocation that the State received 
in fiscal year 2005 adjusted for changes in 
housing costs in the preceding year and for 
the State’s performance in using funds and 
executing the program; or 
(ii) for a fiscal year in which the total 
amount made available to States for assist-
ance under this Act is less than the total 
amount made available to States for fiscal 
year 2005, the amount provided to each 
State for such fiscal year shall not be less 
than the amount that bears the same ratio 
to the total amount available for assistance 
under this Act for such fiscal year that the 
amount provided to the State for fiscal 
year 2005 bears to the total amount made 
available to States for fiscal year 2005 ad-
justed for changes in housing costs in the 
preceding year and for the State’s per-
formance in using funds and executing the 
program. 
(D) Beginning in fiscal year 2005, any 
amounts made available by a time determined 
by the Secretary for housing assistance to any 
State that exceed the amounts being utilized for 
housing assistance by the end of the fiscal year 
shall be identified and shall be retained by the 
State. In calculating the amount of assistance 
to allocate to such State in the following fiscal 
year, the Secretary shall reduce the amount 
that would otherwise be allocated to such State 
pursuant to this paragraph by the identified 
amounts. In such following fiscal year, subject 
to the availability of appropriated amounts, in 
addition to amounts provided under the for-
mula, the Secretary shall allocate an amount at 
least equal to the total amount of the reduc-
tions in assistance made in such fiscal year pur-
suant to this subparagraph to those States that 
have exceeded, as determined by the Secretary, 
the performance standards established by the 
Secretary under section 5(b). 
(b) Subject to the availability of appropriations, the 
Secretary shall allocate additional amounts to each State
for tenant-protection assistance as authorized by section 
8(t) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 
1437f(t)) in fiscal year 2005 and each fiscal year there-
after based on the number of eligible tenants previously 
receiving such assistance in that State. 
(c) There are authorized to be appropriated such 
sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2004 
through 2009. 
SEC. 10. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW. 
For purposes of environmental review, a grant under 
this Act shall be treated as assistance for a special project 
that is subject to section 305(c) of the Multifamily Hous-
ing Property Disposition Reform Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 
3547), and shall be subject to the regulations issued by 
the Secretary to implement such section. 
SEC. 11. INSPECTION OF UNITS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall require with 
respect to any dwelling unit assisted pursuant to this Act 
that the State administering housing assistance pursuant 
to this Act inspect the unit before any assistance payment 
may be made to determine whether the dwelling unit
meets the housing quality standards under subsection (b). 
Such dwelling unit must meet such standards before any 
assistance payment is made.
(b) HOUSING QUALITY STANDARDS.— All dwelling 
units in a State assisted under this Act shall meet all ap-
plicable State and local housing quality standards and 
code requirements, and if there are no such standards or 
code requirements, the housing shall meet the housing 
quality standards established by the Secretary. 
(c) INSPECTIONS.—Each State administering hous-
ing assistance under this Act shall ensure that all occupied 
dwelling units in such State assisted pursuant to this Act 
are maintained in accordance with the standards described 
under subsection (b). Every dwelling unit in the State as-
sisted pursuant to this Act shall be inspected not less than 
once every three years. 
(d) CORRECTIVE ACTIONS.—No assistance payment 
may be made pursuant to this Act for a dwelling unit, 
which fails to meet the standards under subsection (b). 
SEC. 12. PORTABILITY. 
(a) Any family receiving housing assistance pursuant 
to this Act shall receive such assistance to rent an eligible 
dwelling unit within any State in which a program is being 
administered under this Act. 
(b) Assistance for any family moving pursuant to 
subsection (a) shall be administered in accordance with 
the provisions established pursuant to this Act in the State 
to which the family moves.
SEC. 13. COMPLIANCE. 
(a) COMPLIANCE MONITORING.—The Secretary may 
make such reviews and audits as may be necessary or ap-
propriate to determine whether the State has carried out 
the housing assistance activities and objectives set forth 
in its plan under section 5(a) in a timely or effective man-
ner, whether it has carried out those activities and objec-
tives, including certifications, in accordance with the re-
quirements of this Act and other applicable laws, whether 
it has the capacity to continue to undertake these activities 
in a timely and effective manner, and whether it has met 
the performance standards established by the Secretary 
pursuant to section 5(b). 
(b) COMPLIANCE ACTIONS.—In addition to any other 
actions authorized under this or any other Act, if the Sec-
retary finds after reasonable notice and opportunity for 
a hearing that a State receiving a grant under this Act 
has failed to comply substantially with any provision of 
this Act, including any performance standard established 
by the Secretary pursuant to this Act, and until the Sec-
retary is satisfied that there is no longer any such failure 
to comply, the Secretary may—
(1) terminate grant payments under this Act to 
the State and provide for alternative administration 
of such grant amounts;
(2) withhold from the State amounts from the 
total allocation that would otherwise be available to 
the State under this Act; 
(3) reduce the amount of future grants to the 
State by an amount equal to the amount of such 
grants that were not expended in accordance with 
this Act; 
(4) limit the availability of grant amounts pro-
vided to the State to programs and activities under 
this Act not affected by such failure to comply; 
(5) withhold from the State other amounts allo-
cated for the State under other programs adminis-
tered by the Secretary; 
(6) refer the matter to the Attorney General of 
the United States with a recommendation that an 
appropriate civil action be instituted; or 
(7) order other corrective action with respect to 
the State. 
SEC. 14. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
The provisions of this Act shall take effect on the 
date of the enactment of this Act.
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