The Rural Housing Accessibility Act requires underperforming public housing agencies to assist families with housing vouchers from other areas and limits billing initial agencies beyond 12 months.
Joni Ernst
Senator
IA
The Rural Housing Accessibility Act aims to improve housing voucher portability, particularly in rural areas. It requires public housing agencies that are not fully utilizing their funds to accept housing vouchers from other jurisdictions. These agencies must decide whether to absorb the voucher costs or bill the initial agency for a limited time. The bill ensures that families with vouchers receive housing assistance payments and limits the billing period to 12 months.
Housing Voucher Portability Boost: Under-Spending Agencies Must Take In Movers, Absorb Costs After One Year
This bill, the Rural Housing Accessibility Act, targets a specific group of public housing agencies (PHAs): those using less than 95% of their allocated federal housing funds in a year. It mandates these 'covered PHAs' to accept and assist families trying to move into their jurisdiction using a housing voucher from another area (often called 'porting' a voucher). The core change introduced in Section 2 amends the U.S. Housing Act of 1937, aiming to make it easier for families to relocate using their existing housing assistance.
Opening Doors or Shifting Burdens?
Here's the process outlined: when a family with a voucher wants to move into an area served by one of these under-spending PHAs, that agency must help them. The receiving PHA then has a choice: either immediately 'absorb' the cost of the voucher into its own budget or bill the family's original PHA for the assistance payments. However, this billing isn't indefinite. The new rule explicitly prohibits the receiving PHA from billing the initial PHA for more than 12 months. After that year is up, the receiving PHA is required to take over the cost permanently.
The 12-Month Clock and Its Effects
This 12-month limit creates distinct potential impacts. For families, it could theoretically smooth the path to moving to areas managed by these specific PHAs, reducing instances where a receiving agency might be hesitant to take on the cost. However, it's important to note this only applies to PHAs meeting that 'less than 95% budget use' criteria.
For the 'covered' receiving PHAs, it's a mandate to serve incoming families, bringing potential new administrative tasks. The 12-month absorption requirement means they need to anticipate and budget for these costs down the line. It essentially forces them to utilize more of their funding, which might be the goal, but could strain agencies if their under-spending was due to factors other than lack of demand.
For the initial PHAs (where families move from), the financial obligation becomes clearer and time-limited. They know they might be billed for up to a year, but after that, the financial responsibility for the ported voucher shifts entirely. This could represent a long-term cost saving for PHAs that see families move out.