Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2019

Mr. Speaker, this piece of legislation is particularly significant to me. I lived in public housing for 5 years. I saw what the possibilities were there. I saw people who did not make it, and I saw people who did made it.

The one thing that I found difficult to accept was the fact that if you lived in public housing, almost every rule made was designed, unintentionally, to keep you in public housing.

My father didn't tell the truth about the fact that he was cleaning up at an office building on Saturday earning some additional money and then serving at parties on the weekends. He had to pretend that that didn't happen because he was saving money trying to get our family in our own home. And it worked. He is watching C-SPAN right now, hearing his son talk about what could have happened.

The essence of this bill was passed as a part of the appropriations package that was signed into law earlier this year. It promotes housing mobility for individuals who rely on housing vouchers.

Under this bill, the Department of Housing and Urban Development would establish a demonstration program to allow interested public housing agencies to form consortia to enhance mobility and provide residents with increased opportunity to move to higher-income communities.

There is something contagious about working around only poor people. If you live in a neighborhood and all you see are people who are struggling, it is easy to come to the conclusion that that is the way life is: that you are just supposed to struggle and that you are just supposed to barely make it. If you don't see the signs of people who are making progress--people who are achieving--you might come to the conclusion that achievement is beyond one's reach.

This was demonstrated with a research project from Harvard economists Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, and Lawrence Katz which indicates that children who move to higher-opportunity neighborhoods increase their chances of success. More specifically, the study found that children who were able to use housing vouchers to move to lower-poverty areas were 32 percent more likely to attend college and earned 31 percent more a year than their counterparts in lower-income neighborhoods.

This bill removes barriers by providing families with the tools to navigate a move from one neighborhood to another. H.R. 1122 will allow more families to thrive by increasing their access to higher performing schools, employment opportunities, fresh and affordably priced foods, and safe playgrounds.

There is something about homeownership or living in a nice neighborhood. Our family was able to move out. My father bought a house in a White neighborhood where we could not live and had it moved at night from the Midwestern Parkway to Gerald Street, where my father lives today. And, my goodness, I wish the world could see what transpired.

My father's yard is in contention with any yard in town for the yard of the summer. We had a water shortage in Texas--we had a drought, a serious drought 38 years ago--and my father would get up at 3 a.m. in the morning to trick the city people who would come out checking to see if anybody was violating the water ordinance by watering his lawn at 2, 3, or 4 a.m. in the morning.

While I am confessing my father broke the law, the truth of the matter is that it pleased me because we had never had a yard in my life until we were able to get out of public housing. So not only does it give the children an opportunity for a higher achievement educationally, but it also does something for the homeowner.

This bill removes barriers, and I am supportive of that.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, friend, and former neighbor, Sean Duffy, who worked with me on this bill. And I also thank the chair and the ranking member of the committee for their continued support.

With this, I am hopeful that we can continue working across the aisle to promote housing opportunity for all of our constituents.

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.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

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.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Cleaver), the chair of the Subcommittee on National Security, International Development and Monetary Policy.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from Missouri.

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.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1122, the Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2019.

As currently administered, housing vouchers often are insufficient in helping American families get access to neighborhoods with greater opportunities. That is why H.R. 1122 is so important.

A strong body of research shows that growing up in a safe, lower- poverty neighborhood with good schools improves children's academic achievement and long-term chances of success, and may reduce intergenerational poverty.

A recent groundbreaking Harvard study found that young children in families who used housing vouchers to move to better neighborhoods fared much better as young adults than similar children who remained in extremely poor neighborhoods.

The Harvard study found that young boys and girls in families who use a voucher to move to lower-poverty neighborhoods were 32 percent more likely to attend college and earned 31 percent more as young adults than their counterparts in families who did not receive an MTO voucher. Girls in families who moved to lower-poverty neighborhoods were also 30 percent less likely to be single parents as adults.

And let us not forget that location also affects adults in many ways, such as access to jobs, the cost of getting to work, the feasibility of balancing child care responsibilities with work schedules, and other basic goods and services.

Voucher mobility is key to enabling families with children to move to safer neighborhoods with less poverty, thereby enhancing their chances of long-

term health and success. H.R. 1122 will provide the foundation for many of these key changes.

I thank Mr. Duffy and Mr. Cleaver for their hard work in looking into this issue and providing evidence-based solutions to affect positive change in families and communities.

Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of H.R. 1122, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reiterate my support for the bill.

I thank Mr. Cleaver for his personal testimony today. It was very compelling. It is a tremendous story of success in the use of these things and how changing our neighborhoods can really be helpful.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on Roll Call Number 119, On motion to suspend the rules and pass 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 to expand access to opportunity areas, I was unavoidably detained and missed the vote.

Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

I was also unavoidably detained for Roll Call Number 120, On motion to suspend the rules and pass H.R. 758, To provide a safe harbor for financial institutions that maintain a customer account or customer transaction at the request of a Federal or State law enforcement agency.

Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Madam Speaker, I missed votes on Monday, March 11. Had I been present, I would have voted as follows:

Roll Call Vote Number 119 (Passage of H.R. 1122, the Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act): YES

Roll Call Vote Number 120 (Passage of H.R. 758, the Cooperate with Law Enforcement Agencies and Watch Act): YES