Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2019

Floor Speech

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Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1122) to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to carry out a housing choice voucher mobility demonstration to encourage families receiving such voucher assistance to move to lower-poverty areas and expand access to opportunity areas.

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Mr. Speaker, rigorous studies have demonstrated that giving a low- income family an opportunity to move to a lower-poverty neighborhood can have a profound impact, particularly for children.

For example, one study found that young boys and girls in families that used a voucher to move to lower-poverty neighborhoods were 32 percent more likely to attend college and earned 31 percent more, or nearly $3,500 a year, compared to their counterparts in families who did not receive a voucher.

Unfortunately, families with housing choice vouchers who want to move to a better neighborhood can face significant challenges, particularly if it involves moving from one public housing agency jurisdiction to another. In fact, data shows that only one in eight families with children with a housing choice voucher use their vouchers to live in lower-poverty areas.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1122 would help reduce barriers to mobility by establishing a demonstration program that would enable and incentivize public housing agencies to come together to come up with a regional plan to increase mobility across their jurisdictions.

This is a bipartisan proposal that was included in HUD budget requests under the Obama administration. Further, $25 million in funding for this demonstration was included in fiscal year 2019 funding bill for HUD programs, and a version of this bill passed the House last Congress 368 to 19.

This demonstration will not only provide thousands of families with opportunities to move to better neighborhoods, but it will also lay the foundation for how successful outcomes can be replicated at a larger scale across the country.

I congratulate the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Cleaver) and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Duffy) for introducing this initiative.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to vote "yes'' on H.R. 1122, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that we were able to work in a bipartisan manner on this initiative. This bill shows that we can foster new ideas and help improve services and flexibility for our citizens who are receiving housing assistance.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Luetkemeyer) for his engagement on the bill, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important piece of legislation.

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Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

The yeas and nays were ordered.

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