Duffy introduces bipartisan bill to support Americans receiving housing vouchers

U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI), ranking member of the U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance, seeks to break the generational cycle of poverty for low-income Americans who need improved access to available employment opportunities.

“People deserve the chance to relocate to areas with more opportunity and greater economic freedom,” Rep. Duffy said on Feb. 8 when he introduced the bipartisan Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2019, H.R. 1122, with bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO).

“I’d like to thank Emanuel Cleaver for continuing to partner with me to tackle this major contributor to generational poverty,” Rep. Duffy added.

H.R. 1122 would authorize the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to hold a housing choice voucher mobility demonstration project designed to encourage families receiving such voucher assistance to move to lower-poverty areas and expand access to opportunity areas, according to the congressional record.

“This piece of legislation is all about expanding opportunities for low-income families that have been left behind,” Rep. Cleaver said last week. “As a former resident of public housing, I know firsthand that these individuals are desperately seeking greater access to employment opportunities.”

Rep. Cleaver said that by permitting people to relocate to low-poverty areas that have better job prospects, “we can help end the cycle of poverty that has ensnared far too many American families for too long.”

H.R. 1122 has been referred to the House Financial Services Committee for consideration.
During the 115th Congress, Rep. Duffy sponsored the same-named bill, H.R. 5793, which he introduced in May 2018 with Rep. Cleaver. H.R. 5793 overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House of Representatives but did not advance in the U.S. Senate.

Likewise, the Senate was reviewing its version of the bill, S. 2945, also introduced in May 2018 by U.S. Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), which stalled in the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.

“This bill is about as bipartisan as it gets,” said Rep. Cleaver. “We’re confident it will again pass through the House and when it does, we call on the Senate to take it up for a vote.”