Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Public Housing for the 21st Century Act of 2023”.
Public Housing for the 21st Century Act of 2023
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to identify and make available information regarding best practices utilizing mixed-income, publicly owned housing to increase the supply of affordable housing, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Congressional findings
The Congress finds that—
roughly half of renter households in the United States—more than 21 million—are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent;
the greatest need for affordable housing is among people with extremely low incomes, 73 percent of whom pay more than half of their income on rent;
however, the production of new affordable rental dwelling units is often constrained by the availability of Federal subsidies and too often existing Federal subsidies are not deeply targeted enough to serve households with the greatest needs;
faced with such constraints, State and local public developers are building dwelling units affordable to extremely low-, very low-, low-, and moderate-income households by leveraging local policy tools, reforming zoning and land use restrictions, adopting innovative financing mechanisms, and utilizing market rate units to cross-subsidize below-market, affordable units; and
such mixed-income public housing promotes the financial stability and proper maintenance of housing developments, fosters community diversity and integration, and allows scarce Federal subsidies to be targeted to the most vulnerable households.
Sec. 3 Training and technical assistance regarding mixed-income public housing best practices
In general— Not later than the expiration of the 12-month period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall—
identify best practices and models relevant to developing mixed-income, publicly owned housing to increase the supply of housing dwelling units that are affordable to extremely low-, very low-, low-, and moderate-income households, that provide permanent affordability and that limit Federal subsidies to costs associated with building or preserving units affordable to extremely low-income households;
among such best practices, identify policies that leverage State and local resources and capacities, such as cross-subsidized developments, public land, public land banking, revolving loan funds, anti-speculation taxes, property tax exemptions, community opportunity to purchase statutes, public banking, acquisition pipelines for tax delinquent properties, municipally financed debt, and debt subsidies, among other policies and financing tools or approaches;
identify complementary policies and programs that can address potential displacement pressures and prevent adverse impacts on neighboring low and moderate-income households and communities;
provide guidance on how State and local governments and public developers can leverage Federal financing mechanisms and subsides to maximize the development and preservation of units affordable to extremely low-income households, both within mixed-income public housing and in other kinds of developments;
make available, to State and municipal governments, local planning departments, public housing agencies (as such term is defined in section 3(b) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b))), State housing finance agencies (as such term is defined in section 802(b) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 1440(b))), and local housing finance agencies, information, training, and technical assistance on such best practices and mechanisms; and
make publicly available on the Department’s website such information, materials regarding such training and technical assistance, and case studies of best practices identified.
Updates— The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall monitor mixed-income public housing practices as necessary to ensure that the information, training, and technical assistance made available pursuant to subsection (a) is current and shall update such information, training, and technical assistance in a timely manner.
Authorization of appropriations— There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act.