[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 553 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 553
To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to reform
policies and issue guidance related to health and safety
accountability, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 28, 2023
Mr. Rubio (for himself and Mr. Scott of Florida) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to reform
policies and issue guidance related to health and safety
accountability, 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 ``HUD Health and Safety Accountability
Act of 2023''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Department.--The term ``Department'' means the
Department of Housing and Urban Development.
(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development.
SEC. 3. REFORMS TO MANAGEMENT AND OCCUPANCY REVIEWS.
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act,
the Secretary shall make the following reforms to management and
occupancy reviews conducted by the Office of Multifamily Housing
Programs:
(1) Form 9843 shall be restructured to include the
following as graded factors:
(A) Responsiveness of local code violations.
(B) Remediation of health and sanitation and
structural integrity issues outlined in uniform
physical condition standards inspections.
(C) Remediation of deficiencies outlined in any
demand for corrective actions.
(D) Restoration of the resident satisfaction
section and inclusion of feedback from tenants to
contribute to the grading.
(2) Rebalance existing grading methodology to prioritize--
(A) health, safety, and sanitation conditions;
(B) general physical condition is compliant with
contractual standards; and
(C) remediation of tenant concerns regarding unit
conditions, particularly health, safety, and
sanitation.
(3) The Performance Based Contract Administrator may
formally recommend abatement or cure period for properties and
resident units that do not meet contractual or Federal, State,
or local standards.
(4) Owner-reported notices of local code violations,
security and incident reports, and uniform physical condition
standards inspection reports from the Department shall be
included in the review for the category for overall assessment
and score results.
(5) During the review, Performance Based Contract
Administrators may assess conditions of both occupied (with
resident consent) and unoccupied units.
(6) If a property that has not received a uniform physical
condition standards inspection within 1 year receives an
``unsatisfactory'' rating on a review, a uniform physical
condition standards inspection shall be automatically required
within 120 days.
(7) Allows the Secretary to allocate revenue from civil
money penalties on owners as a result of housing assistance
payment contract violations to fund the reviews and uniform
physical condition standards inspections.
SEC. 4. REFORMS TO LOCAL CODE ENFORCEMENT.
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act,
the Secretary shall issue guidance to reform local code enforcement by
the Department, including by requiring owners, or designated property
managers, of properties receiving project-based rental assistance under
section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C.
1437f(o)) to--
(1) report to the appropriate Performance Based Contract
Administrator and regional office of the Department within 14
days of receiving official notice--
(A) local code enforcement findings of deficient
conditions at properties both generally and at resident
units, including--
(i) a copy of the official notice;
(ii) a summary of the deficiency findings;
and
(iii) a priority summary of health and
safety conditions cited and compliance
requirements; and
(2) report to the local code enforcement entity that the
owner or designated property manager, as applicable, has
submitted the information under paragraph (1).
SEC. 5. REFORMS TO HUD OVERSIGHT.
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act,
the Secretary shall issue guidance to--
(1) reform the scoring methodology for uniform physical
condition standards inspections to prioritize health and safety
conditions, including interior unit conditions;
(2) require the Secretary to verify in person that owners
have taken action to address health and safety deficiencies
outlined in a demand for corrective action;
(3) requires property owners to report all deficiencies
listed in a demand for corrective action to the applicable
Performance Based Contract Administrator; and
(4) allow for the Department to abate individual units
assisted under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) from contractual financial payments for
exigent health and safety reasons, provided that tenants of
such units shall not be required to pay contributions toward
rent for during the abatement periods.
SEC. 6. REFORMS TO TENANT SURVEYS.
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act,
the Secretary shall develop a process by which a Performance Based
Contract Administrator shall issue tenant surveys, as follows:
(1) For properties receiving a uniform physical condition
standards inspection score of not less than 60/100 and not more
than 80/100, tenant surveys shall be made available to a
sampling of not less than 20 percent of residents of each
structure under a housing assistance payments contract, and
will be required on the next inspection, and ongoing for each
inspection until the property receives a score that is more
than 80/100.
(2) For properties receiving a uniform physical condition
standards inspection score of not more than 59/100, tenant
surveys shall be made available for 100 percent of tenants of
each structure covered under a housing assistance payments
contract for the purpose of identifying consistent or
persistent problems with the physical condition of the
structure or performance of the manager of the structure.
(3) The tenant surveys shall be reviewed by the Performance
Based Contract Administrator and included as graded factors in
uniform physical condition standards inspections, with priority
provided for health and safety deficiencies.
SEC. 7. CONTACT INFORMATION.
Each owner of a property receiving assistance under section 8 of
the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) shall, on an
annual basis, provide to tenants contact information for the
applicable--
(1) regional office of the Department;
(2) local field office of the Department;
(3) public housing agency, as defined in section 3(b) of
the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)); and
(4) Performance Based Contract Administrator.
SEC. 8. REPORT.
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Secretary shall submit to Congress a report that--
(1) examines the capital reserves of each structure under a
housing assistance payment contract under section 8 of the
United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) with a
uniform physical condition standards inspection score of 59/100
or below, including the use of funds derived from the housing
assistance payment contract for purposes unrelated to the
maintenance and capitalization of the structure, and the
remediation of health and safety issues outlined in uniform
physical condition standards inspections, demands for
corrective actions, and notices of default;
(2) includes a list of each structure under a housing
assistance payment contract under section 8 of the United
States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) that has received
a demand for corrective action from the Department but has not
complied with compliance or remediation requirements;
(3) a list of each structure under a housing assistance
payment contract under section 8 of the United States Housing
Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) that has not received a uniform
physical condition standards inspection according to the
applicable timeline requirements under section 200.857(b) of
title 24, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor
regulation) during the 5-year period preceding the date of the
report, and a detailed explanation for why each such structure
was not inspected in according to the applicable timelines;
(4) a detailed list of all crimes of violence (as defined
in section 16 of title 18, United States Code) that have taken
place at each structure under a housing assistance payment
contract under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) during the 5-year period preceding the
date of the report, and recommendations for improving safety
and precautionary security efforts to keep tenants safe from
crimes of violence; and
(5) a detailed list of programmatic recommendations
regarding assistance provided under section 8 of the United
States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f), including--
(A) improving health, sanitation, and safety
conditions;
(B) physical rehabilitation of properties for long-
term sustainability; and
(C) improving enforcement mechanisms on both
property owners and contracted managers to remediate
deficiencies.
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