Better Military Housing Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2811 To improve oversight of privatized military housing provided by the Depart- ment of Defense to members of the Armed Forces and their families, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 16, 2019 Mr. PANETTA (for himself, Mr. HUDSON, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Mr. CAR- TER of Texas, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. HECK, Ms. ESHOO, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. TAYLOR, and Mr. WALTZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services A BILL To improve oversight of privatized military housing provided by the Department of Defense to members of the Armed Forces and their families, 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 ‘‘Better Military Hous- 4 ing Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. OVERSIGHT OF PRIVATIZED MILITARY HOUSING. 6 (a) ENHANCING HEALTH, SAFETY, AND QUALITY OF 7 PRIVATIZED MILITARY HOUSING.— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2811.IH H2811 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2811 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 1 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec- 2 retary of Defense shall develop and implement a 3 plan to address health, safety, and quality issues at 4 privatized military housing. 5 (2) NEW PROCESSES, POSITIONS, AND OF- 6 FICES.—The plan developed and implemented under 7 paragraph (1) may include new processes for report- 8 ing challenges, as well as proposals for new positions 9 or offices responsible for oversight of privatized mili- 10 tary housing contracts. 11 (3) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall con- 12 sult with the Secretaries of the military depart- 13 ments, members of the Armed Forces and their fam- 14 ilies, and organizations that support members of the 15 Armed Forces and their families in the development 16 of the plan under paragraph (1). 17 (4) REQUIREMENTS FOR NEW PROCESSES.— 18 (A) IN GENERAL.—At a minimum, the new 19 processes included in the plan under paragraph 20 (1) shall include the following elements: 21 (i) Ensuring that members of the 22 Armed Forces and their families may re- 23 port concerns regarding privatized military 24 housing without concern of reprisal from 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2811.IH H2811 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2811 IH the military chain of command or the land- 1 lord of such housing, which may include— 2 (I) establishing a confidential 3 hotline; or 4 (II) providing access to military 5 housing advocates who will maintain 6 confidentiality. 7 (ii) Ensuring military leadership from 8 installation commanders to the Secretaries 9 of the military departments are regularly 10 updated on outstanding issues at priva- 11 tized military housing facilities, including 12 the time landlords are taking to resolve 13 work order requests and respond to queries 14 by tenants regarding work orders. 15 (iii) To the extent practicable, estab- 16 lishing standardized metrics throughout 17 the Department of Defense for evaluating 18 housing health risks, quality, and safety. 19 (iv) To the extent practicable, estab- 20 lishing common provisions that could be in- 21 corporated into tenancy agreements for 22 privatized military housing throughout the 23 Department. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2811.IH H2811 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2811 IH (v) Improvements in carrying out 1 oversight of privatized military housing 2 contracts, which may include aligning in- 3 centive fee payments to health, safety, and 4 quality metrics. 5 (vi) Improvements in training for the 6 offices of installation commanders and 7 housing offices concerning responsibilities, 8 authorities, and processes related to over- 9 sight of privatized military housing. 10 (B) ADDITIONAL RESOURCES.—To the ex- 11 tent the new processes included in the plan 12 under paragraph (1) require additional re- 13 sources, the Secretary shall request such re- 14 sources in the following fiscal year budget. 15 (5) REPORT AND BRIEFING.—Not later than 16 one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 17 the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the 18 military departments shall— 19 (A) submit to the congressional defense 20 committees a report on the processes developed 21 under the plan under paragraph (1) and any re- 22 sources needed to implement outstanding ele- 23 ments of such plan; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2811.IH H2811 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2811 IH (B) brief the congressional defense com- 1 mittees on such processes developed and such 2 resources needed. 3 (b) INFORMATION FOR TENANTS AND LAND- 4 LORDS.—Upon a tenant entering into a tenancy agree- 5 ment for a housing unit provided by the Department of 6 Defense under a privatized military housing contract, the 7 Secretary of Defense shall provide to the tenant informa- 8 tion on— 9 (1) the rights of tenants, including recourse and 10 actions, to include a ‘‘Tenants Bill of Rights’’; 11 (2) the expectations of the Department regard- 12 ing reporting by tenants of maintenance, health, or 13 safety issues relating to the housing unit; 14 (3) the expectations of the Department regard- 15 ing the maintaining by landlords of certain stand- 16 ards relating to the condition, health, and safety of 17 the housing unit; 18 (4) a clear and comprehensive accounting of the 19 rights and responsibilities of tenants and landlords 20 relating to maintenance of the housing unit; and 21 (5) a comprehensive maintenance, repair, and 22 remediation history of the housing unit. 23 (c) INSPECTOR GENERAL OVERSIGHT INSPECTIONS 24 OF PRIVATIZED MILITARY HOUSING.—Not later than one 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2811.IH H2811 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2811 IH year after the date of the enactment of this Act, and not 1 less frequently than annually thereafter, the Inspector 2 General of the Department of Defense shall— 3 (1) conduct an inspection of the oversight by 4 the Department of privatized military housing at not 5 fewer than 15 randomly selected installations of the 6 Department; and 7 (2) publish on a website of the Department 8 available to the public a summary of the results of 9 those inspections. 10 (d) STUDY ON POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENTS FOR 11 PRIVATIZED MILITARY HOUSING.— 12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense 13 shall conduct a study on ways to improve privatized 14 military housing and the oversight and execution of 15 privatized military housing contracts to improve 16 housing conditions for members of the Armed 17 Forces and their families who are stationed at in- 18 stallations of the Department of Defense. 19 (2) ELEMENTS.—The study required by para- 20 graph (1) shall include an assessment of policy op- 21 tions for the Department to achieve the following ob- 22 jectives: 23 (A) The use of privatized military housing 24 contracts of shorter duration. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2811.IH H2811 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2811 IH (B) The use of market incentives or other 1 means to increase the availability of privatized 2 military housing options for tenants on or out- 3 side of an installation, including the use of two 4 or more landlords at a single installation, and 5 including possibilities for increased housing op- 6 tions in communities where few options cur- 7 rently exist. 8 (C) The use of technology applications to 9 simplify, streamline, and improve transparency 10 in the privatized military housing work order 11 system. 12 (D) The creation of a Special Housing Ad- 13 vocate— 14 (i) to provide counsel to tenants of 15 privatized military housing; and 16 (ii) to independently represent the in- 17 terests of tenants before those of landlords. 18 (E) Such other potential improvements to 19 privatized military housing as the Secretary 20 considers appropriate. 21 (3) PARTNERSHIP.—The Secretary shall enter 22 into a partnership with a Federally funded research 23 and development center to conduct the study under 24 paragraph (1). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2811.IH H2811 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2811 IH (4) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the 1 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 2 shall submit to the congressional defense committees 3 a report on the findings of the study under para- 4 graph (1). 5 (e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 (1) CONGRESSIONAL DEFENSE COMMITTEES.— 7 The term ‘‘congressional defense committees’’ has 8 the meaning given that term in section 101(16) of 9 title 10, United States Code. 10 (2) LANDLORD.—The term ‘‘landlord’’ means 11 an eligible entity or lessor who owns, manages, or is 12 otherwise responsible for a housing unit under a 13 privatized military housing contract. 14 (3) PRIVATIZED MILITARY HOUSING.—The 15 term ‘‘privatized military housing’’ means housing 16 provided under subchapter IV of chapter 169 of title 17 10, United States Code. 18 (4) PRIVATIZED MILITARY HOUSING CON- 19 TRACT.—The term ‘‘privatized military housing con- 20 tract’’ means a ground lease and all associated docu- 21 mentation between the Secretary of a military de- 22 partment and a landlord to provide privatized mili- 23 tary housing. 24 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2811.IH H2811 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS