# 119-hr-1981: Choice in Affordable Housing Act of 2025 119-hr-1981, Choice in Affordable Housing Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Cleaver, Emanuel [D-MO-5] (D-MO); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-08-12). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1981 - As of: 2026-08-12 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: 119-hr-1981 - Congress: 119 - Title: Choice in Affordable Housing Act of 2025 - Status: introduced - Introduced: 2025-03-10 - Sponsor: Rep. Cleaver, Emanuel [D-MO-5] (D-MO) - Cosponsors: 8 - Policy area: Housing and Community Development - Touches household money: yes - Last recorded action: 2026-08-12 ## Summary This bill would create targeted incentives and a new fund to get more landlords to accept Housing Choice Vouchers so voucher households can rent in low-poverty "high-opportunity" neighborhoods. **Boost landlord participation in the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program**. - Families and tenants: Provides program-funded security deposit assistance to lower upfront costs and gives priority to extremely low-income tenants to help them move into higher-opportunity areas. - Landlords and public housing agencies (PHAs): Authorizes one-time landlord incentive payments for eligible units of up to 200 percent of a month's housing assistance payment and bonus payments to PHAs to fund landlord liaisons capped at 150 percent of the average liaison cost. It also creates a pre-approval path and allows some housing quality standards to be met through participation in other HUD programs to speed leasing. - Program design and oversight: Requires designated metropolitan areas to adopt small-area fair market rents within three years and includes a hold-harmless for tenant payments. Establishes the Herschel Lashkowitz Housing Partnership Fund to finance these incentives, and mandates annual HUD reports for 5 years on landlords and assisted units in high-opportunity areas. *This bill would increase federal spending by authorizing $100.0 million annually for fiscal years 2025 through 2029 for the Herschel Lashkowitz Housing Partnership Fund.* ## Cosponsors (8) - Rep. Lawler, Michael [R-NY-17] (R-NY), 2025-03-10T00:00:00.000Z - Rep. Casten, Sean [D-IL-6] (D-IL), 2025-03-10T00:00:00.000Z - Rep. Gooden, Lance [R-TX-5] (R-TX), 2025-03-10T00:00:00.000Z - Rep. Lynch, Stephen F. [D-MA-8] (D-MA), 2025-03-10T00:00:00.000Z - Rep. Ciscomani, Juan [R-AZ-6] (R-AZ), 2025-03-10T00:00:00.000Z - Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1] (R-PA), 2025-09-09T00:00:00.000Z - Rep. Larson, John B. [D-CT-1] (D-CT), 2025-09-09T00:00:00.000Z - Rep. Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D-FL-25] (D-FL), 2026-08-10T00:00:00.000Z ## Provisions PRIA read - Bonus for leasing in low-poverty areas: benefit, medium. If enacted, housing agencies could offer a one-time bonus to owners who lease an eligible unit in a low-poverty tract to a voucher family. The bonus could be up to 200% of the monthly housing assistance payment for that unit. The unit must be in a tract with poverty under 20% and must not have had… - Security deposit help for voucher renters: benefit, medium. Housing agencies could pay all or part of a voucher renter’s security deposit. They would give priority to extremely low-income families. Landlords could file itemized damage claims with the agency, and tenants could respond. Any unused deposit money must go back to the agency when the tenant moves… - Faster voucher leasing with pre-checked units: benefit, low. New landlords could ask for a pre-inspection before a tenant picks the unit. If it passes and a lease is signed within 60 days, that inspection would count. Agencies would share lists of pre-inspected units with selected families. Agencies could also accept inspection results from LIHTC, HOME, or U… - Landlord liaisons at local housing agencies: benefit, low. Housing agencies would get a yearly bonus if they have a dedicated landlord liaison. The bonus could be up to 150% of the local average cost to hire one. Liaisons would recruit and train landlords and run a hotline or online portal for questions. - HUD would update voucher program scoring: benefit, low. HUD would review and update how it scores voucher agencies. The review would focus on timely rent payments to landlords, correct unit tracking, and more leases in low-poverty, integrated areas. This is a planning step and would not change benefits right away. - More ZIP code-based rents with protections: mixed, medium. Within three years, HUD would require more metro areas to use ZIP-code fair market rents for vouchers. The number of metro areas would be at least three times the 2016 rule’s list. Payments could rise in high-cost ZIP codes and fall in lower-cost areas. If a family’s payment standard would drop, th… ## Related bills - 119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act - 119-hr-1269: Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act of 2025 - 119-hr-1684: PAST Act of 2025 - 119-hr-909: Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act of 2025 - 119-hr-1993: 25th Anniversary of 9/11 Commemorative Coin Act - 119-hres-70: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should take all appropriate measures to ensure that the United States Postal Service remains… ## Sources - [119-hr-1981 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1981) ## Related - [119-hr-1262: Mikaela Naylon Give Kids a Chance Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1262) - [119-hr-1269: Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1269) - [119-hr-1684: PAST Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1684) - [119-hr-909: Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-909) - [119-hr-1993: 25th Anniversary of 9/11 Commemorative Coin Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1993) - [119-hres-70: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should take…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hres-70) - [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1981 (as of 2026-08-12).