MOVING TO WORK DEMONSTRATION

EXCERPT FROM DEPARTMENTS OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1996 (AS CONTAINED IN SECTION 101(e) OF OMNIBUS CONSOLIDATED RESCISSIONS AND APPROPRIATIONS ACT OF 1996)

[Public Law 104-134; 110 Stat. 1321-281; 42 U.S.C. 1437f note] PUBLIC HOUSING/SECTION 8 MOVING TO WORK DEMONSTRATION

SEC. 204. [42 U.S.C. 1437f note] (a) PURPOSE.-The purpose of this demonstration is to give public housing agencies and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development the flexibility to design and test various approaches for providing and administering housing assistance that: reduce cost and achieve greater cost effectiveness in Federal expenditures; give incentives to families with children where the head of household is working, seeking work, or is preparing for work by participating in job training, educational programs, or programs that assist people to obtain employment and become economically self-sufficient; and increase housing choices for low-income families.

(b) PROGRAM AUTHORITY.-The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall conduct a demonstration program under this section beginning in fiscal year 1996 under which up to 30 public housing agencies (including Indian housing authorities) administering the public or Indian housing program and the section 8 housing assistance payments program may be selected by the Secretary to participate. The Secretary shall provide training and technical assistance during the demonstration and conduct detailed evaluations of up to 15 such agencies in an effort to identify replicable program models promoting the purpose of the demonstration. Under the demonstration, notwithstanding any provision of the United States Housing Act of 1937 except as provided in subsection (e), an agency may combine operating assistance provided under section 9 of the United States Housing Act of 1937, modernization assistance provided under section 14 of such Act, and assistance provided under section 8 of such Act for the certificate and voucher programs, to provide housing assistance for lowincome families, as defined in section 3(b)(2) of the United States Housing Act of 1937, and services to facilitate the transition to work on such terms and conditions as the agency may propose and the Secretary may approve.

(c) APPLICATION.-An application to participate in the demonstration

(1) shall request authority to combine assistance under sections 8, 9, and 14 of the United States Housing Act of 1937;

(2) shall be submitted only after the public housing agency provides for citizen participation through a public hearing and, if appropriate, other means;

(3) shall include a plan developed by the agency that takes into account comments from the public hearing and any other public comments on the proposed program, and comments from current and prospective residents who would be affected, and that includes criteria for

(A) families to be assisted, which shall require that at least 75 percent of the families assisted by participating demonstration public housing authorities shall be very low-income families, as defined in section 3(b)(2) of the United States Housing Act of 1937;

(B) establishing a reasonable rent policy, which shall be designed to encourage employment and self-sufficiency by participating families, consistent with the purpose of this demonstration, such as by excluding some or all of a family's earned income for purposes of determining rent;

(C) continuing to assist substantially the same total number of eligible low-income families as would have been served had the amounts not been combined;

(D) maintaining a comparable mix of families (by family size) as would have been provided had the amounts not been used under the demonstration; and

(E) assuring that housing assisted under the demonstration program meets housing quality standards established or approved by the Secretary; and

(4) may request assistance for training and technical assistance to assist with design of the demonstration and to participate in a detailed evaluation.

(d) SELECTION.-In selecting among applications, the Secretary shall take into account the potential of each agency to plan and carry out a program under the demonstration, the relative performance by an agency under the public housing management assessment program under section 6(j) of the United States Housing Act of 1937, and other appropriate factors as determined by the Secretary.

(e) APPLICABILITY OF 1937 ACT PROVISIONS.

(1) Section 18 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 shall continue to apply to public housing notwithstanding any use of the housing under this demonstration.

(2) Section 12 of such Act shall apply to housing assisted under the demonstration, other than housing assisted solely due to occupancy by families receiving tenant-based assistance. (f) EFFECT ON SECTION 8, OPERATING SUBSIDIES, AND COMPREHENSIVE GRANT PROGRAM ALLOCATIONS.-The amount of assistance received under section 8, section 9, or pursuant to section 14 by a public housing agency participating in the demonstration under this part shall not be diminished by its participation.

(g) RECORDS, REPORTS, AND AUDITS.

(1) KEEPING OF RECORDS.-Each agency shall keep such records as the Secretary may prescribe as reasonably necessary to disclose the amounts and the disposition of amounts under

this demonstration, to ensure compliance with the requirements of this section, and to measure performance.

(2) REPORTS.-Each agency shall submit to the Secretary a report, or series of reports, in a form and at a time specified by the Secretary. Each report shall

(A) document the use of funds made available under this section;

(B) provide such data as the Secretary may request to assist the Secretary in assessing the demonstration; and

(C) describe and analyze the effect of assisted activities in addressing the objectives of this part.

(3) ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS BY THE SECRETARY.-The Secretary shall have access for the purpose of audit and examination to any books, documents, papers, and records that are pertinent to assistance in connection with, and the requirements of, this section.

(4) ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS BY THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL. The Comptroller General of the United States, or any of the duly authorized representatives of the Comptroller General, shall have access for the purpose of audit and examination to any books, documents, papers, and records that are pertinent to assistance in connection with, and the requirements of, this section.

(h) EVALUATION AND REPORT.—

(1) CONSULTATION WITH PHA AND FAMILY REPRESENTATIVES.-In making assessments throughout the demonstration, the Secretary shall consult with representatives of public housing agencies and residents.

(2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.-Not later than 180 days after the end of the third year of the demonstration, the Secretary shall submit to the Congress a report evaluating the programs carried out under the demonstration. The report shall also include findings and recommendations for any appropriate legislative action.

(i) FUNDING FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND EVALUATION.From amounts appropriated for assistance under section 14 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 for fiscal years 1996, 1997, and 1998, the Secretary may use up to a total of $5,000,000

(1) to provide, directly or by contract, training and technical assistance

(A) to public housing agencies that express an interest to apply for training and technical assistance pursuant to subsection (c)(4), to assist them in designing programs to be proposed for the demonstration; and

(B) to up to 10 agencies selected to receive training and technical assistance pursuant to subsection (c)(4), to assist them in implementing the approved program; and (2) to conduct detailed evaluations of the activities of the public housing agencies under paragraph (1)(B), directly or by contract.

(j) CAPITAL AND OPERATING FUND ASSISTANCE.-With respect to any public housing agency participating in the demonstration under this section that receives assistance from the Capital or Operating Fund under section 9 of the United States Housing Act of

1937 (as amended by the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998), for purposes of this section

(1) any reference to assistance under section 9 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 shall be considered to refer also to assistance provided from the Operating Fund under section 9(e) of such Act (as so amended); and

(2) any reference to assistance under section 14 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 shall be considered to refer also to assistance provided from the Capital Fund under section 9(d) of such Act (as so amended).

SECTION 8 ADMINISTRATIVE FEES

EXCERPT FROM DEPARTMENTS OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1997

[Public Law 104-204; 110 Stat. 2893; 42 U.S.C. 1437f note]

SEC. 202. [42 U.S.C. 1437f note] ADMINISTRATIVE FEES.-Notwithstanding section 8(q) of the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended

(a) The Secretary shall establish fees for the cost of administering the certificate, voucher and moderate rehabilitation programs.

(1)(A) For fiscal year 1997, the fee for each month for which a dwelling unit is covered by an assistance contract shall be 7.5 percent of the base amount, adjusted as provided herein, in the case of an agency that, on an annual basis, is administering a program of no more than 600 units, and 7 percent of the base amount, adjusted as provided herein, for each additional unit above 600.

(B) The base amount shall be the higher of

(i) the fair market rental for fiscal year 1993 for a 2bedroom existing rental dwelling unit in the market area of the agency; and

(ii) such fair market rental for fiscal year 1994, but not more than 103.5 percent of the amount determined under clause (i).

(C) The base amount shall be adjusted to reflect changes in the wage data or other objectively measurable data that reflect the costs of administering the program during fiscal year 1996; except that the Secretary may require that the base amount be not less than a minimum amount and not more than a maximum amount.

(2) For subsequent fiscal years, the Secretary shall publish a notice in the Federal Register, for each geographic area, establishing the amount of the fee that would apply for the agencies administering the program, based on changes in wage data or other objectively measurable data that reflect the cost of administering the program, as determined by the Secretary.

(3) The Secretary may increase the fee if necessary to reflect higher costs of administering small programs and programs operating over large geographic areas.

(4) The Secretary may decrease the fee for PHA-owned units.

(b) Beginning in fiscal year 1997 and thereafter, the Secretary shall also establish reasonable fees (as determined by the Secretary) for