Public Housing Gateway Act of 1988

Public Housing Gateway Act of 1988 - Authorizes the Secretary of Labor (the Secretary) to make gateway program grants to public housing agencies to use public housing in the provision of employment training and services to economically disadvantaged public housing residents who are not more than 25 years of age.

Requires that such grants be made with the advice and participation of the Gateway Task Force established under this Act.

Requires public housing agencies to meet specified requirements to receive such grants.

Requires that the following training and services be made available to eligible individuals by public housing agencies through the gateway program they must establish when they receive such a grant: (1) information on training, education, or services offered by the agency; (2) literacy training and bilingual training; (3) remedial education and training in basic skills (including communication skills, arithmetic, and problem-solving); (4) development of work habits and other personal management skills; and (5) free child care to facilitate participation in training and other services. Requires that such child care: (1) be designed to employ and train economically disadvantaged residents of the public housing project involved; and (2) include daytime care for children not attending school and adult dependents, after-school care, and irregular, periodic, and evening care.

Specifies additional training and services which may be offered by public housing agencies as part of their gateway grant programs to eligible individuals who are qualified through literacy training, training in basic and employment skills, and support services, subject to certain limitations.

Requires that participants in gateway program training and services be: (1) residents of public housing; (2) not more than 25 years of age; (3) economically disadvantaged; and (4) educationally disadvantaged (either having encountered barriers to employment because of a deficiency in a basic skill or, if over 16 years of age or beyond the age of compulsory school attendance, not having a certificate of graduation from a secondary school and not having achieved an equivalent educational level.

Limits mandatory child care services to: (1) participants in gateway program training or services during participation; (2) unemployed former participants who have successfully completed the program, for a specified period; and (3) employed former participants who have successfully completed the program, during the 12-month period beginning with commencement of employment in a position not funded under this Act. Requires agencies to assure that child care services provided under this Act comply with applicable State and local laws.

Permits support services to continue for up to 18 months to any individual after termination of participation in program training or services only if the individual has completed the training or services.

Requires public housing agencies receiving such grants to attempt to employ qualified residents of the public housing project involved in positions relating to the administration and delivery of training and services under gateway programs.

Prohibits consideration of earnings of and benefits to any individual resulting from participation in gateway training and services as income for public assistance or rent limitation purposes during specified periods of participation or post-participation employment.

Provides that the use of the facilities of a recipient public housing agency in the provision of gateway training or services shall have no effect on the amount of operating assistance to such agency under specified provisions of the United States Housing Act.

Establishes an interagency task force, to be known as the Gateway Task Force (the Task Force), to advise and assist the Secretary in carrying out this Act. Directs the Secretary to provide the Task Force with necessary information and facilities.

Directs the Secretaries of Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Education, and Health and Human Services to each appoint members of the Task Force.

Terminates the Task Force five years after its first regularly called meeting, not including an initial organizational meeting.

Directs the Secretary to review at least annually compliance with this Act by public housing agencies receiving gateway program grants. Directs the Task Force to: (1) review gateway programs at least annually to determine their merits in enhancing the employability of public housing residents; (2) advise the Secretary of such determinations; and (3) make recommendations regarding the grant program and the various training and services. Sets forth procedures for withholding grant payments in cases of agency noncompliance. Directs the Secretary to transmit to the President and the Congress: (1) annual reports on Task Force activities and recommendations; and (2) a final report, by the date of Task Force termination, on Task Force findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

Directs the Secretary to issue regulations to carry out this Act.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989.