[StBernard] FSC Website Update- Press Release

[Westley Annis]

House Overwhelmingly Passes Section 8 Voucher Reform Act of 2007

 

Washington, DC - The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed
H.R. 1851, the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act of 2007, with a bipartisan vote
of 333 to 83, to reform the Section 8 funding formula to make it more
efficient and revise the rent calculation process for Section 8 and public
housing to expand work incentives and reduce administrative costs.  In
addition, the bill will increase flexibility to use vouchers for
homeownership, amend voucher targeting rules to increase voucher
opportunities for lower income working families in rural areas, and
authorize an expansion in the number of families receiving vouchers by
20,000 a year for each of the next five years.  The measure now moves to the
Senate for consideration.

"This is a program we can all be proud of.  This bill addresses many of
those problems and will return much-needed stability to the Section 8
program and the 2 million low-income families who rely upon it," said Rep.
Waters (D-CA).  "We are reestablishing a program that changes lives by
providing clean, safe, and affordable housing, improve the health of
families, introduce better educational opportunities for children in school,
improve communities, and strengthen the face of the nation's affordable
housing landscape." 

"At last, we have a bill that brings this country's Section 8 Housing Choice
Voucher Program into the 21st Century," said Rep. Biggert (R-IL), an
original cosponsor of the bill.  "Besides providing more flexibility at the
local level, where it's needed most, this bill will expand and enhance the
programs that help public housing recipients move to self-sufficiency and to
homeownership."

"I'm especially pleased that we addressed the special needs of seniors and
people with disabilities," continued Biggert, Ranking Member of the House
Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity.  "In
all, there is much to like in this bill, and that's why it received
overwhelmingly strong bipartisan support."

    The House also voted to adopt Rep. Water's manager's amendment, to allow
flexibility in rent setting while maintaining statutory affordability
requirements, increase the level of permitted voucher reserves in the first
year of the transition under the funding formula change, spell-out
responsibilities for HUD to provide uniform translation of documents under
the Administration's Limited English Proficiency (LEP) requirements, and
make modifications to inspection and Housing Innovation Program (HIP)
provisions in the bill.

 

 SUMMARY OF H.R. 1851

The Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA) makes a number of changes to the
Section 8 voucher and project-based and public housing programs to expand
rental assistance opportunities, improve program efficiencies, and encourage
family self-sufficiency:

*        Voucher Funding Formula.  The bill reforms the Section 8 voucher
funding allocation formula in order to increase the number of families
receiving vouchers, by eliminating inefficiencies that have resulted in $1.4
billion in unused funds and through incentives for housing agencies to use
funds to assist more families.  The bill protects housing agencies adversely
affected by formula changes, by allowing them to retain and use voucher
reserves during the transition period to maintain the number of families
being assisted.  

*        Incremental Section 8 Housing Vouchers.  The bill authorizes 20,000
incremental vouchers in each of the next 5 years, for a total of 100,000 new
vouchers.

*        Self-Sufficiency.  The bill includes a number of provisions to
encourage economic self-sufficiency for low income voucher and public
housing families, including (a) income disregards to reduce rent
disincentives related to increases in earned income, (b) targeting changes
to make it easier for low income working families in rural areas to receive
a voucher, (c) an improved funding mechanism for family self-sufficiency
coordinators, who help families find employment, (d) income exemptions for
adult full time student dependents and for education savings accounts, (e)
helping low income families improve their credit score by allowing reporting
of voucher and public housing rent payments. 

*        Homeownership.  The bill permits housing agencies to let a family
use a housing voucher as a down payment on a first-time home purchase.  The
bill corrects statutory impediments to use of a voucher for purchase of a
manufactured home on leased land. 

*        Simplification.  The bill changes rent calculation,
recertification, and inspection rules for the voucher, public housing, and
project-based Section 8 programs, to reduce costs and compliance burdens for
public housing agencies, landlords, and families.  These changes are made
while maintaining rules that target scarce resources to those families most
in need and while maintaining rent calculation rules that ensure that rents
are affordable.  

*        Tenant Protections.  The bill makes a number of changes for the
benefit of federally assisted families, including provisions to preserve
voucher families' ability to move to other areas, to address excessive
voucher rent burdens, to provide for more accurate fair market rent
calculations, and to protect voucher holders in units that are in need of
repair.

*        Housing Innovation Program.  The bill expands and renames the
Moving to Work Program, which gives a limited number of housing agencies
flexibility to experiment with development and rent policies, and
strengthens the program's evaluation process. 

*        Project-Basing of Vouchers.   The bill includes changes to make it
easier for housing agencies to attach vouchers to housing units - an
important option in tight rental markets and in developing supportive
housing for seniors, disabled persons and homeless persons.  

 

Please click on the following link for a copy of a summary of the Managers
Amendment:
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/financialsvcs_dem/sevra-ma-summary.pdf
<http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/financialsvcs_dem/sevra-ma-summary.pdf

> 


 

 

http://financialservices.house.gov/