H.R. 6361 (112th): Vulnerable Veterans Housing Reform Act of 2012

Introduced:
Sep 10, 2012 (112th Congress, 2011–2013)
Sponsor:
Rep. Joseph Heck [R-NV3]
Status:
Died (Passed House)
See Instead:
This bill was re-introduced as H.R. 825 on Feb 26, 2013. See H.R. 825 for current action on this subject.

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.

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Status

This bill was introduced in a previous session of Congress and was passed by the House on September 19, 2012 but was never passed by the Senate.

Progress
Introduced Sep 10, 2012
Referred to Committee Sep 10, 2012
Reported by Committee Sep 12, 2012
Passed House Sep 19, 2012
Cosponsors
7 cosponsors (4R, 3D) (show)
Committees

House Financial Services

Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

To exclude from consideration as income under the United States Housing Act of 1937 payments of pension made under section 1521 of title 38, United States Code, to veterans who are in need of regular aid and attendance, and for other purposes.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Sep 20, 2012.
15 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

9/19/2012--Passed House amended.
Vulnerable Veterans Housing Reform Act of 2012 - Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to exclude as family income for Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) housing assistance purposes any Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) payments made to veterans in need of regular aid and attendance for expenses related to such aid and attendance.
Prohibits, in determining the monthly rental assistance payment for low-income families, the amount for tenant-paid utilities from exceeding the appropriate utility allowance for that family unit size as determined by the public housing agency (agency), regardless of the size of the unit leased by the family.
Requires the agency, upon request by a family that includes a person with disabilities, an elderly family, or a family that includes a person less than 18 years old, to approve a higher utility, except that, in the case of a family with a disabled person, the agency shall approve the higher amount only when needed as a reasonable accommodation to make the unit accessible to and usable by that person.
Directs the HUD Secretary to regularly publish data regarding local utility consumption and costs in order to establish appropriate allowances for tenant-paid utilities for assisted families.
Directs the VA Secretary to establish a pilot program to award grants to nonprofit organizations that primarily serve veterans or low-income individuals.
Requires such grants to be used to rehabilitate and modify the primary residence of disabled or low-income veterans.
Limits grant amounts to $1 million per organization.
Requires such Secretary to direct the oversight of grant fund use.
Requires a minimum of 50% matching funds by participating organizations.
Requires an annual pilot program report from such Secretary to Congress. Authorizes appropriations.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/112/2/hr6361.

Background

H.R. 6361 is designed to reform how HUD provides housing assistance for disabled veterans, improve utility subsidy calculations, and award grants to non-profits for the rehabilitation of disabled or low-income veterans housing.

Summary

H.R. 6361 would modify certain formulas for calculating subsidies to families that receive federal housing assistance.

Specifically, the bill would exclude in-home aid and attendance care benefits paid to severely disabled veterans for their service connected disabilities from the income calculation the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) uses to determine public housing or Section 8 rental assistance payments.  This income exclusion would prevent HUD from treating these disability payments as income that could pay for housing since the payments are only provided to cover for necessities like assistance with bathing, feeding, and dressing.  

The bill would also eliminate the over-subsidy of Section 8 utility allowances by instructing public housing authorities (PHAs) to calculate payments based on family size instead of dwelling size.  Section 8 housing vouchers are awarded based on the size of family to be housed, but recipients can up-size to a larger dwelling if they pay the difference in the rents out of pocket (i.e. a one-person voucher can be used to rent a 2-bedroom apartment).  However, since PHAs calculate utility allowances based on dwelling size, tenants in those up-sized dwellings get larger utility allowance subsidies than intended.  Section 3 eliminates that over-subsidy for all voucher holders except the elderly, the disabled, and families with children under 18, and also allows individuals affected by the change to petition for a hardship waiver from the change.  The bill would also require HUD to publish utility consumption data on a regular basis for PHAs to use in calculating utility costs.

The bill would also award grants to qualified non-profit organizations to rehabilitate and modify the primary residences of disabled or low-income veterans.  (Some examples in the bill of eligible uses of grant awards include installing wheelchair ramps, widening exterior and interior doors, and accommodating the functional limitations that result from having a disability.) 

Cost

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that implementing H.R. 6361 would reduce discretionary spending by $270 million over the 2013-2017 period.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)