What This Bill Does
This bill requires the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to reform policies and issue guidance related to health and safety accountability in rental housing that receives federal assistance. The bill focuses on improving how HUD reviews apartment buildings, enforces local building codes, oversees property owners and managers, and listens to tenant concerns about living conditions.
Who It Affects
- The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
- Owners of apartment buildings receiving federal rental assistance
- Property managers of assisted housing
- Tenants living in federally-assisted rental housing
- Performance Based Contract Administrators (people hired to monitor apartment buildings)
- Local code enforcement agencies
Key Provisions
- HUD must restructure its inspection form (Form 9843) to grade apartment buildings on how quickly they fix code violations, how well they address health and sanitation problems, how they respond to tenant feedback, and how they fix tenant complaints (Sec. 3)
- Property owners must report any local building code violations to HUD within 14 days of receiving an official notice, including copies of the notice and a summary of problems found (Sec. 4)
- HUD must change how it scores physical condition inspections to prioritize health and safety conditions inside individual apartments (Sec. 5)
- HUD must conduct tenant surveys at apartment buildings with lower inspection scores, with all tenants surveyed if the building scores 59/100 or below (Sec. 6)
- Property owners must provide tenants with contact information annually for HUD's regional office, local field office, and the person monitoring their building (Sec. 7)
What Changes
If this bill becomes law, apartment buildings receiving federal rent assistance will face stricter inspections focused on health and safety. HUD must complete new policies within 180 days. Property owners will have to report building code violations faster. Tenants will be surveyed about building conditions more often. HUD staff must visit buildings in person to verify that owners fixed serious health and safety problems. HUD must submit a report to Congress within one year examining buildings with poor inspection scores, including details about crime, unremedied problems, and missed inspections.
Important Definitions
- Department: The Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Secretary: The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Effective Date
Not specified in bill text
II
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 Representa-
1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘HUD Health and Safe-
4
ty Accountability Act of 2023’’.
5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
6
In this Act:
7
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(1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’
1
means the Department of Housing and Urban De-
2
velopment.
3
(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
4
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
5
SEC. 3. REFORMS TO MANAGEMENT AND OCCUPANCY RE-
6
VIEWS.
7
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment
8
of this Act, the Secretary shall make the following reforms
9
to management and occupancy reviews conducted by the
10
Office of Multifamily Housing Programs:
11
(1) Form 9843 shall be restructured to include
12
the following as graded factors:
13
(A) Responsiveness of local code violations.
14
(B) Remediation of health and sanitation
15
and structural integrity issues outlined in uni-
16
form physical condition standards inspections.
17
(C) Remediation of deficiencies outlined in
18
any demand for corrective actions.
19
(D) Restoration of the resident satisfaction
20
section and inclusion of feedback from tenants
21
to contribute to the grading.
22
(2) Rebalance existing grading methodology to
23
prioritize—
24
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(A) health, safety, and sanitation condi-
1
tions;
2
(B) general physical condition is compliant
3
with contractual standards; and
4
(C) remediation of tenant concerns regard-
5
ing unit conditions, particularly health, safety,
6
and sanitation.
7
(3) The Performance Based Contract Adminis-
8
trator may formally recommend abatement or cure
9
period for properties and resident units that do not
10
meet contractual or Federal, State, or local stand-
11
ards.
12
(4) Owner-reported notices of local code viola-
13
tions, security and incident reports, and uniform
14
physical condition standards inspection reports from
15
the Department shall be included in the review for
16
the category for overall assessment and score re-
17
sults.
18
(5) During the review, Performance Based Con-
19
tract Administrators may assess conditions of both
20
occupied (with resident consent) and unoccupied
21
units.
22
(6) If a property that has not received a uni-
23
form physical condition standards inspection within
24
1 year receives an ‘‘unsatisfactory’’ rating on a re-
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view, a uniform physical condition standards inspec-
1
tion shall be automatically required within 120 days.
2
(7) Allows the Secretary to allocate revenue
3
from civil money penalties on owners as a result of
4
housing assistance payment contract violations to
5
fund the reviews and uniform physical condition
6
standards inspections.
7
SEC. 4. REFORMS TO LOCAL CODE ENFORCEMENT.
8
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment
9
of this Act, the Secretary shall issue guidance to reform
10
local code enforcement by the Department, including by
11
requiring owners, or designated property managers, of
12
properties receiving project-based rental assistance under
13
section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937
14
(42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) to—
15
(1) report to the appropriate Performance
16
Based Contract Administrator and regional office of
17
the Department within 14 days of receiving official
18
notice—
19
(A) local code enforcement findings of defi-
20
cient conditions at properties both generally
21
and at resident units, including—
22
(i) a copy of the official notice;
23
(ii) a summary of the deficiency find-
24
ings; and
25
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(iii) a priority summary of health and
1
safety conditions cited and compliance re-
2
quirements; and
3
(2) report to the local code enforcement entity
4
that the owner or designated property manager, as
5
applicable, has submitted the information under
6
paragraph (1).
7
SEC. 5. REFORMS TO HUD OVERSIGHT.
8
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment
9
of this Act, the Secretary shall issue guidance to—
10
(1) reform the scoring methodology for uniform
11
physical condition standards inspections to prioritize
12
health and safety conditions, including interior unit
13
conditions;
14
(2) require the Secretary to verify in person
15
that owners have taken action to address health and
16
safety deficiencies outlined in a demand for correc-
17
tive action;
18
(3) requires property owners to report all defi-
19
ciencies listed in a demand for corrective action to
20
the applicable Performance Based Contract Admin-
21
istrator; and
22
(4) allow for the Department to abate indi-
23
vidual units assisted under section 8 of the United
24
States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) from
25
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contractual financial payments for exigent health
1
and safety reasons, provided that tenants of such
2
units shall not be required to pay contributions to-
3
ward rent for during the abatement periods.
4
SEC. 6. REFORMS TO TENANT SURVEYS.
5
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment
6
of this Act, the Secretary shall develop a process by which
7
a Performance Based Contract Administrator shall issue
8
tenant surveys, as follows:
9
(1) For properties receiving a uniform physical
10
condition standards inspection score of not less than
11
60/100 and not more than 80/100, tenant surveys
12
shall be made available to a sampling of not less
13
than 20 percent of residents of each structure under
14
a housing assistance payments contract, and will be
15
required on the next inspection, and ongoing for
16
each inspection until the property receives a score
17
that is more than 80/100.
18
(2) For properties receiving a uniform physical
19
condition standards inspection score of not more
20
than 59/100, tenant surveys shall be made available
21
for 100 percent of tenants of each structure covered
22
under a housing assistance payments contract for
23
the purpose of identifying consistent or persistent
24
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•S 553 IS
problems with the physical condition of the structure
1
or performance of the manager of the structure.
2
(3) The tenant surveys shall be reviewed by the
3
Performance Based Contract Administrator and in-
4
cluded as graded factors in uniform physical condi-
5
tion standards inspections, with priority provided for
6
health and safety deficiencies.
7
SEC. 7. CONTACT INFORMATION.
8
Each owner of a property receiving assistance under
9
section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42
10
U.S.C. 1437f) shall, on an annual basis, provide to tenants
11
contact information for the applicable—
12
(1) regional office of the Department;
13
(2) local field office of the Department;
14
(3) public housing agency, as defined in section
15
3(b) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42
16
U.S.C. 1437a(b)); and
17
(4) Performance Based Contract Administrator.
18
SEC. 8. REPORT.
19
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment
20
of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a re-
21
port that—
22
(1) examines the capital reserves of each struc-
23
ture under a housing assistance payment contract
24
under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of
25
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1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) with a uniform physical
1
condition standards inspection score of 59/100 or
2
below, including the use of funds derived from the
3
housing assistance payment contract for purposes
4
unrelated to the maintenance and capitalization of
5
the structure, and the remediation of health and
6
safety issues outlined in uniform physical condition
7
standards inspections, demands for corrective ac-
8
tions, and notices of default;
9
(2) includes a list of each structure under a
10
housing assistance payment contract under section 8
11
of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42
12
U.S.C. 1437f) that has received a demand for cor-
13
rective action from the Department but has not
14
complied with compliance or remediation require-
15
ments;
16
(3) a list of each structure under a housing as-
17
sistance payment contract under section 8 of the
18
United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C.
19
1437f) that has not received a uniform physical con-
20
dition standards inspection according to the applica-
21
ble timeline requirements under section 200.857(b)
22
of title 24, Code of Federal Regulations (or any suc-
23
cessor regulation) during the 5-year period preceding
24
the date of the report, and a detailed explanation for
25
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•S 553 IS
why each such structure was not inspected in ac-
1
cording to the applicable timelines;
2
(4) a detailed list of all crimes of violence (as
3
defined in section 16 of title 18, United States
4
Code) that have taken place at each structure under
5
a housing assistance payment contract under section
6
8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42
7
U.S.C. 1437f) during the 5-year period preceding
8
the date of the report, and recommendations for im-
9
proving safety and precautionary security efforts to
10
keep tenants safe from crimes of violence; and
11
(5) a detailed list of programmatic rec-
12
ommendations regarding assistance provided under
13
section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937
14
(42 U.S.C. 1437f), including—
15
(A) improving health, sanitation, and safe-
16
ty conditions;
17
(B) physical rehabilitation of properties for
18
long-term sustainability; and
19
(C) improving enforcement mechanisms on
20
both property owners and contracted managers
21
to remediate deficiencies.
22
Æ
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