I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 921
To encourage gainful employment among the residents of public housing,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 13, 1995
Ms. WATERS (for herself and Mr. BISHOP) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services
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
and having a common identity and management, as
determined by the public housing agency; a project
need not contain buildings or sets of buildings hav-
ing the same project number assigned by the Sec-
retary or all of the buildings or sets of buildings
having the same such number.’’.
SEC. 3. EARNED INCOME EXCLUSIONS.
Section 3(b)(5) of the United States Housing Act of
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)(5)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (C)—
(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ before ‘‘(ii)’’; and
(B) by inserting before the semicolon at
the end the following; ‘‘; and (iii) to the extent
documented, the amount actually paid by the
family for health insurance coverage for any
members of the family residing in the household
who, at the time, are not receiving or approved
to receive any assistance for health care from
the Federal Government or any State govern-
ment’’;
(2) by striking subparagraph (E) and inserting
the following new subparagraph:
‘‘(E) in the case of an elderly family, 10 per-
cent of the earned income of the family, and, in the
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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