OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Floor Speech

Date: June 4, 2015
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Unemployed and Low-Income Housing and Property

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Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer an amendment that removes the exemption that the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles currently has from the requirement to have a resident of public housing or Section 8 on its governing board.

I am offering this amendment because I have learned that HACoLA is not in compliance with requirements outlined in this exemption, which has directly resulted in a lack of meaningful engagement by residents of the housing authority on important policy issues affecting the effectiveness of the programs that it administers.

In 1998, Congress passed a law requiring that the governing body of a public housing authority must include at least one member who is directly assisted by the housing authority. This provision was an important recognition of the need for the perspective and participation of tenants in the governance of public housing authorities. It is as simple as that.

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