A bill modifying the way public housing operates in the United States was launched by two Missouri congressmen early last year, and has become federal law with President Barack Obama's recent signature.
"Since 1965, this is the first major overhaul of housing," U.S. Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City, told a Jefferson City news conference Monday.
The federal Housing and Urban Development department was created in 1965, he noted.
"We won't have any earth-shattering changes like some of the legislation that we've had in this country," Cleaver added. "A lot of this stuff will move silently."
While people may not be able to follow those changes easily, he said, they will make significant improvements in the way the federal government helps low-income and disabled Americans have more affordable housing.
The new law is called the "Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act," and it passed the 435-member U.S. House with 427 "yes" votes and no "noes." It also won unanimous support in the U.S. Senate.
Cleaver is the senior minority party member on the U.S. House Housing and Insurance Committee.
Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, is the chairman.
"We both had a similar vision, to look into the programs and processes of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Rural Housing Service, to see where we could enact common-sense reforms to make both departments work better for all Americans," Luetkemeyer said during the joint news conference in his Jefferson City office.
Both men said the nation has about 4 million public housing units, a number that has stayed fairly steady over the years.
But those properties face an estimated $26 billion in unmet renovations and replacements, Cleaver said, noting the new law will help the public housing authorities begin to address those problems, while saving taxpayers about $300 million over a five-year period.
Luetkemeyer said allowing the public housing authorities more flexibility in moving money from one account to another also should help their operations, especially when taking care of emergencies.
Cleaver noted his family spent about five years in public housing when he was a boy.
The new law corrects a problem that's been around a long time, he said.
"My father tried to get us out of public housing and ended up working three jobs," Cleaver explained. "As my father began to make more money, as his income increased working three jobs, so did the rent. That began to cancel out money he could save to get a house."
Eventually, his father was able to buy a house - and still lives in it, almost 40 years later.
The new law, Cleaver added, "does not punish you for making money trying to create an opportunity for your family. If you have an income increase, you can have that for a year - and then it will be subject to the review of the PHA."
The law is designed to reduce or eliminate inefficient and duplicative regulations that have made rental assistance programs unnecessarily burdensome for new tenants, private owners and marketplace investors in affordable housing, a handout said.
It also streamlines the inspection protocol for rental assistance units, and simplifies the income recertification process for all people receiving the housing benefits.
Jeanette Mott Oxford, head of the Empower Missouri organization, said the new law appears to be a good deal for the poor people she represents.
"It is important to deal with income guidelines because, if they're rooted in the past, there is a penalty for moving on with their lives," she said. "This is a very extensive legislation that opens up something like 60 sections of law.
"So, for there to be a bipartisan agreement on something that has so many moving parts is a remarkable thing."
Luetkemeyer said another important provision involves some people in public housing who really don't need the government's assistance for a place to stay.
"You may have heard the story last summer, of people with high incomes and high assets, who were living in subsidized housing," Luetkemeyer said. "We have a 'fix' in here that solves this problem and allows flexibility for the PHA to allow people to stay under extenuating circumstances - and if they do, they have to pay market rent.
"Otherwise, they have to move on and make room for other people who qualify for this housing."
Both congressmen said the new law could become a model for other proposed changes to the nation's welfare system.