Representatives Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) and John Katko (R-NY) introduced the “Choice in Affordable Housing Act of 2022” (H.R. 6880) in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 1. The bill would expand access to affordable housing options by removing barriers to landlord participation in HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program.
A companion to the bill introduced by Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) in the U.S. Senate in May 2021 (S.1820, see Memo, 5/24/21), the House bill would reform the HCV program by removing burdensome regulations, incentivizing landlord participation, and allowing more vouchers to be used in higher-opportunity areas. NLIHC endorses the “Choice in Affordable Housing Act” and urges Congress to enact the bill, along with investments to expand rental assistance and strengthen and enforce renter protections, to help ensure that people with the lowest incomes and the most marginalized people have stable, affordable homes.
Landlord participation in the HCV program is essential yet has declined in recent years: an average of 10,000 housing providers left the program each year between 2010 and 2016. The Choice in Affordable Housing Act would invest $500 million to increase voucher holders’ housing choices and improve access to high-opportunity areas by offering incentives to landlords, including signing bonuses to landlords, security deposit assistance, and financial bonuses to public housing agencies (PHAs) that retain dedicated landlord liaisons on staff.
In addition to creating financial incentives, the Choice in Affordable Housing Act would reduce programmatic barriers in the HCV program to help attract and retain landlords. The bill would require HUD to expand its 2016 rule requiring the use of Small Area Fair Market Rents in certain metropolitan areas to increase the value of rental assistance, reduce inspection delays, and refocus HUD’s evaluation of PHAs to promote an increase in the diversity of neighborhoods where vouchers are used.
Read the text of the bill at: https://bit.ly/3LjtIvk
Read a press release about the introduction of the “Choice in Affordable Housing Act” at: https://bit.ly/3kfbq2y