[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4440 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4440
To authorize additional monies to the Public Housing Capital Fund of
the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 3, 2024
Ms. Warren (for herself, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Booker, Mr. Durbin, Ms.
Smith, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Markey, and Mr. Murphy) introduced
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee
on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize additional monies to the Public Housing Capital Fund of
the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Public Housing Emergency Response
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Housing is a foundational determinant of health and has
been recognized as such since the early days of public health.
(2) Poor housing conditions contribute to a broad range of
infectious diseases, chronic diseases, injuries, childhood
development complications, nutrition issues, and mental health
challenges.
(3) The United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437
et seq.) charges the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (referred to in this section as ``HUD'') with
providing individuals with a decent, safe, and affordable place
to live, including individuals who live in public housing.
(4) While public housing is a federally created program
overseen by HUD, the properties are owned and managed at the
local level by quasi-governmental public housing authorities
under contract with the Federal Government.
(5) Thus, the public housing program is governed in part by
Federal rules and regulations and in part by policies enacted
at the local level.
(6) In enacting the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42
U.S.C. 1437 et seq.), Congress sought to address the needs of
low-income individuals through public housing. At the time of
enactment of that Act, the housing stock of the United States
was of very poor quality. Public housing was a significant
improvement for individuals who had access to it.
(7) However, over the years the living conditions in public
housing began to deteriorate as the operational needs of the
units and costs necessary to remedy major capital deficiencies
began to outpace the level of funding provided by the Federal
Government and the rent contributions of residents.
(8) By 1990, no significant investment in housing
affordable to the lowest-income individuals had been made by
the Federal Government in more than 30 years.
(9) In 1998, the enactment of the Quality Housing and Work
Responsibility Act of 1998 (title V of Public Law 105-276; 112
Stat. 2518) prohibited public housing authorities from using
any Federal capital funding or operating funding to develop net
new housing.
(10) More than a decade after the enactment of the Quality
Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 (title V of Public
Law 105-276; 112 Stat. 2518), the number of public housing
units in the United States began to steadily decline, as more
units were torn down than rebuilt.
(11) With the exception of an infusion of funding from the
economic stimulus legislation in 2009--the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act (Public Law 111-5; 123 Stat. 115)--Federal
capital funding has remained relatively level for more than a
decade, despite an increasing backlog in unmet capital needs.
(12) Today, there are approximately 1,200,000 units of
public housing across the United States receiving Federal
funding. The largest public housing authority in the United
States, the New York City Housing Authority, houses
approximately 362,000 residents in 302 developments across New
York City.
(13) The Public Housing Capital Fund of the Department of
Housing and Urban Development remains the primary source of
funding public housing authorities rely on to address necessary
infrastructure upgrades and repairs.
(14) As of October 2019, the national public housing
capital repairs backlog was estimated to stand at more than
$70,000,000,000.
(15) Federal disinvestment in public housing has forced
many residents to live in accelerating substandard living
conditions. For example, the New York City Housing Authority
has a capital repair backlog currently estimated at more than
$40,000,000,000. New York City Housing Authority residents
suffer from a consistent lack of hot water, insufficient heat
during the winter months, rodent and insect infestations,
broken elevators, and widespread and recurring lead and mold
problems.
(16) Substandard housing conditions, such as poor
ventilation, pest infestations, and water leaks, are directly
associated with the development and exacerbation of respiratory
diseases like asthma.
(17) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has
made clear that no level of lead poisoning is safe. Lead
poisoning can result in irreversible brain damage and affects
every major bodily system. At high levels, lead poisoning can
cause anemia, multi-organ damage, seizures, coma, and death in
children. Even with the lowest levels of lead exposure,
children experience physical, cognitive, and neurobehavioral
impairment, as well as lower IQ levels, lower class standing in
high school, greater absenteeism, lower vocabulary and
grammatical-reasoning scores, and poorer hand-eye coordination
relative to other children.
(18) Exposure to cold indoor temperatures is associated
with increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
(19) Due to its aging infrastructure, the living conditions
in public housing are causing severe health consequences for
public housing residents throughout the United States,
including asthma, respiratory illness, and elevated blood lead
levels.
(20) For example, one leading study found that children
living in public housing have higher odds of asthma than
children living in all types of private housing, even after
adjusting for individual risk factors, including ethnicity and
race, living in a low-income household, and living in a low-
income community.
(21) The rise of the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a new
level of risk into society in the United States.
(22) Poor housing conditions have been linked with worse
health outcomes and infectious disease spread. One leading
study found that counties with a higher percentage of
households with poor housing had a higher incidence of, and
mortality associated with, COVID-19 and recommended targeted
health policies to support individuals living in poor housing
conditions in order to mitigate adverse outcomes associated
with COVID-19.
(23) This is a fixable public health crisis. Federal
disinvestment in public housing has consequences, and aging
infrastructure is, in many cases, the root cause of many of the
health issues described in this section for residents.
(24) Therefore, it is necessary to reinvest in public
housing, provide the money needed to fulfill outstanding
capital needs, and to again ensure that all people of the
United States have a decent home and suitable living
environment, as is the charge of HUD.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated for assistance from the
Public Housing Capital Fund under section 9(d) of the United States
Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437g(d)) $70,000,000,000, which--
(1) shall remain available until expended; and
(2) notwithstanding subsections (c)(1) and (d)(2) of such
section 9, shall be allocated to public housing agencies based
on the extent of the capital needs of those public housing
agencies, as determined according to the most recent physical
needs assessment required under section 905.300(a) of title 24,
Code of Federal Regulations, of each public housing agency.
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