In a rare unanimous vote, the U.S. House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 3700, the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA), which would make various reforms to rental housing assistance programs, including streamlining Housing Choice Voucher program inspections, simplifying the requirements for project-based vouchers, and providing public housing agencies (PHAs) greater flexibility to transfer funding between their operating and capital funds.
HOTMA would also limit assistance for public housing tenants who have incomes greater than 120 percent of area median income for two consecutive years.
The House approved the following 12 amendments to the bill during floor consideration, most of which faced no opposition:
The House rejected amendments by Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Representative Al Green (D-TX), which both dealt with inadequate credit ratings among HUD-assisted tenants. Currently, there is no Senate companion legislation for HOTMA.