Fair Housing Protection Act - Amends the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004 to revise the per-unit cost calculation for expiring tenant-based rental assistance contracts under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937.
Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to develop a plan to end section 8 waiting lists.
States that if the Secretary withdraws amounts from the reserve account for any public housing agency, or takes any other action that reduces reserve accounts without agency approval, the Secretary shall: (1) notify the agency of such withdrawal or action; and (2) before the commencement of the quarter of the fiscal year first commencing after such withdrawal or action, replenish the reserve account with the full amount of such withdrawal or reduction. Prohibits a zero balance withdrawal by the Secretary without prior notice to, and written approval from, a public housing agency.
Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987 to authorize additional appropriations for the fair housing initiatives program.
[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4436 Introduced in House (IH)]
108th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4436
To reform and improve certain housing programs of the Department of
Housing and Urban Development.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 20, 2004
Mr. Deutsch (for himself and Mr. Hastings of Florida) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial
Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To reform and improve certain housing programs of the Department of
Housing and Urban Development.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Fair Housing Protection Act''.
SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF PER-UNIT COSTS UNDER SECTION 8 RENTAL HOUSING
ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--Paragraph (1) of the item relating to the Housing
Certificate Fund in title II of the Departments of Veterans Affairs and
Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations
Act, 2004 (division G of Public Law 108-199; 118 Stat. 372) is
amended--
(1) by inserting ``in each calendar quarter'' after ``and
by applying''; and
(2) by inserting ``in the most recent quarter for which the
public housing agency has submitted such actual per unit cost
information to the Secretary'' after ``actual per unit cost''.
(b) Applicability.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall
apply to all expiring section 8 tenant-based annual contributions
contracts renewed pursuant to the paragraph referred to in subsection
(a), whether such renewal occurs before, on, or after the date of the
enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. PLAN TO END WAITING LISTS FOR SECTION 8 RENTAL HOUSING
ASSISTANCE.
(a) Development of Plan.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development shall develop a plan to reduce and eventually eliminate the
delay between the submission by an eligible family to a public housing
agency of an application for rental housing assistance under section 8
of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) and the time
when such assistance is eventually made available on behalf of such a
family. The plan shall--
(1) identify actual affordable housing needs, taking into
consideration needs of eligible families who have not applied
to a public housing agency for housing assistance due to
extensive or closed waiting lists;
(2) provide for elimination of waiting lists over both the
10- and 20-year periods that begin upon the date of the
enactment of this Act;
(3) determine the amount of additional funding and other
resources necessary to eliminate the delay in providing housing
assistance to eligible families and the appropriate programs
and activities to which to devote such resources;
(4) include a strategy for expenditure of additional funds
that sets forth the projected results of such expenditures; and
(5) set forth options for an incentive program to encourage
landlords to participate in the rental housing assistance
program under such section 8.
(b) Report.--Not later than 6 months after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
shall submit a report to the Congress setting forth the plan required
under subsection (a).
SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF SECTION 8 RESERVES.
(a) Notification and Replenishment.--If the Secretary of Housing
and Urban Development withdraws amounts from the reserve account for
any public housing agency, or takes any other action that has the
result of reducing amounts in a reserve account without approval of the
agency, the Secretary shall--
(1) immediately notify the agency of such withdrawal or
action; and
(2) before the commencement of the quarter of the fiscal
year first commencing after such withdrawal or action,
replenish such reserve account with the full amount of such
withdrawal or reduction.
(b) Zero Balance Approval.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development may not withdraw amounts from the reserve account for any
public housing agency, or take any other action that has the result of
reducing amounts in a reserve account, if such withdrawal or action
causes the balance of amounts in the reserve account for a public
housing agency to fall to zero, unless, in advance of such withdrawal
or action, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development notifies the
public housing agency of withdrawal or action and obtains written
approval of such withdrawal or action from such public housing agency.
(c) Quarterly Notification.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development shall, on a quarterly basis, notify each public housing
agency of the balance of amounts in the reserve account for the agency.
(d) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
(1) Public housing agency.--The term ``public housing
agency'' has the meaning given the term in section 3(b) of the
United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)).
(2) Reserve account.--The term ``reserve account'' means,
with respect to a public housing agency, the annual
contributions contract reserve account for the agency for the
tenant-based rental assistance program under section 8 of the
United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) .
SEC. 5. ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR FAIR HOUSING INITIATIVES PROGRAM.
Subsection (g) of section 561 of the Housing and Community
Development Act of 1987 (42 U.S.C. 3616a) is amended by adding after
and below paragraph (4) the following:
``In addition to any other amounts made available to carry out this
section, there is authorized to be appropriated for investigative and
enforcement activities under this section $20,000,000 for each of
fiscal years 2005, 2006, and 2007. ''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity.
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