HR 372 · 114th Congress 2015–2017, ended

Housing Fairness Act of 2015

Introduced Jan 14, 2015 Originated House Sponsor Al Green D-TX

Latest action · Jan 14, 2015 Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

IntroducedJan 14, 2015
Passed HouseNot reached
Passed SenateNot reached
To the PresidentNot reached
Became lawNot reached

Summary

Veterans, Women, Families with Children, Race, and Persons with Disabilities Housing Fairness Act of 2015 or the Housing Fairness Act of 2015

Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to conduct a nationwide testing program to: (1) detect and document differences in the treatment of persons seeking to rent or purchase housing or obtain or refinance a home mortgage loan; (2) measure patterns of adverse treatment because of the race, color, religion, sex, familial status, disability status, or national origin of a renter, home buyer, or borrower; and (3) measure the prevalence of such discriminatory practices across housing and mortgage lending markets.

Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987 to require that only qualified private nonprofit fair housing enforcement organizations receive funds under the fair housing initiatives program for investigations of violations of the rights granted under the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

Requires the design of the national education and outreach program to provide for the development and dissemination of websites and other media outlets among its fair housing media products.

Requires private entities that formulate or carry out programs to prevent or eliminate discriminatory housing practices to be nonprofit in order to be eligible for contracts to establish or support education and outreach programs and to support community-based education and outreach activities.

Requires the Secretary to establish minimum standards for the training of testers of organizations funded with any amounts made available under this Act.

Directs the Secretary to implement a competitive matching grant program to assist public and private nonprofit organizations in: (1) conducting comprehensive studies of the causes and effects of housing discrimination and segregation on education, poverty, and economic development or on veterans and military personnel; and (2) implementing pilot projects that test solutions to help prevent or alleviate housing discrimination and segregation.

Cosponsors 22

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jan 14, 2015 to Jul 14, 2015; 16 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

Seat	Cosponsor		Signed on
D-FL	Alcee L. Hastings	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-CA	Barbara Lee	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-IL	Bobby L. Rush	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-NY	Charles B. Rangel	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-IL	Danny K. Davis	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-WI	Gwen Moore	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-IL	Janice D. Schakowsky	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-CA	Janice Hahn	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-CA	Jared Huffman	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-NY	Jose E. Serrano	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-CA	Judy Chu	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-MN	Keith Ellison	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-CA	Mark Takano	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-CA	Michael M. Honda	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-AZ	Raúl M. Grijalva	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-TX	Ruben Hinojosa	Original	Jan 14, 2015
D-NJ	Donald M. Payne, Jr.		Apr 16, 2015
D-DC	Eleanor Holmes Norton		Apr 16, 2015
D-NY	Gregory W. Meeks		Apr 16, 2015
D-WI	Mark Pocan		Apr 16, 2015
D-MI	Brenda L. Lawrence		Apr 23, 2015
D-LA	Cedric L. Richmond		Jul 14, 2015

Committees 1

Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.

Chamber	Committee	What it did
House	Financial Services Committee	Referred Jan 14, 2015

Actions 2

Everything that happened, newest first.

Jan 14, 2015Introduced in House
Jan 14, 2015Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.

Research

What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.

Constitutional authority

Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following. The Constitutional authority to enact this legislation can be found in: General Welfare Clause (Art. 1 sec. 8 cl. 1) Commerce Clause (Art. 1 sec. 8 cl. 3) Necessary and Proper Clause (Art. 1 sec. 8 cl. 18) Constitutional analysis is a rigorous discipline which goes far beyond the text of the Constitution, and requires knowledge of case law, history, and the tools of constitutional interpretation. While the scope of Congress' powers is an appropriate matter for House debate, the listing of specific textual authorities for routine Congressional legislation about which there is no legitimate constitutional concern is a diminishment of the majesty of our Founding Fathers' vision for our national legislature.

The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the Congressional Record, vol. 161, no. 7, January 14, 2015, page H407.

Related bills 1

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

Bill	Title	Relationship	Latest action
HR 149	Housing Fairness Act of 2017	Reintroduced Bill	Jan 3, 2017

Titles 3

Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.

Official Title as Introduced: To authorize funds to prevent housing discrimination through the use of nationwide testing, to increase funds for the Fair Housing Initiatives Program, and for other purposes.
Short Titles as Introduced: Veterans, Women, Families with Children, Race, and Persons with Disabilities Housing Fairness Act of 2015; Housing Fairness Act of 2015

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Housing and Community Development.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

Jan 14, 2015Introduced in House

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.