Housing Temperature Safety Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4203 To require owners of covered federally assisted rental dwelling units to install temperature sensors in such units, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 16, 2023 Mr. TORRES of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services A BILL To require owners of covered federally assisted rental dwell- ing units to install temperature sensors in such units, 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 ‘‘Housing Temperature 4 Safety Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. TEMPERATURE SENSOR PILOT PROGRAM. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 7 temperature sensor 3-year pilot program to provide grants 8 to public housing agencies and owners of covered federally 9 assisted rental dwelling units to install and test the effi- 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4203.IH H4203 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4203 IH cacy of temperature sensors in residential dwelling units 1 to ensure such units remain in compliance with tempera- 2 ture requirements. 3 (b) APPLICATION.—The Secretary shall, not later 4 than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 5 establish eligibility criteria for participation in the pilot 6 program established pursuant to subsection (a) and such 7 criteria shall be designed to ensure— 8 (1) the pilot program includes a diverse range 9 of participants that represent different geographic 10 regions, climate regions, unit sizes and types of 11 housing; and 12 (2) the functionality of the temperature sensors 13 that will be tested, including internet connectivity re- 14 quirements. 15 (c) INSTALLATION.—Each public housing agency or 16 owner of a covered federally assisted rental dwelling unit 17 that receives one or more temperature sensors under this 18 Act shall, after receiving written permission from the resi- 19 dent of a dwelling unit, install such temperature sensor 20 and monitor the data from such temperature sensor. 21 (d) COLLECTION OF COMPLAINT RECORDS.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each public housing agency 23 or owner of a covered federally assisted rental dwell- 24 ing unit that receives one or more temperature sen- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4203.IH H4203 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4203 IH sors under this Act shall collect and retain informa- 1 tion about temperature-related complaints and viola- 2 tions. 3 (2) DEFINITIONS.—The Secretary shall, not 4 later than 180 days after the date of the enactment 5 of this Act, define the terms temperature-related 6 complaints and temperature-related violations for 7 the purposes of this Act. 8 (e) DATA COLLECTION.— 9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Data collected from tem- 10 perature sensors provided to public housing agencies 11 and owners of covered federally assisted rental dwell- 12 ing units under this Act shall be retained until the 13 Secretary notifies the public housing agency or 14 owner that the pilot program and the evaluation of 15 the pilot program are complete. 16 (2) PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMA- 17 TION.—The Secretary shall, not later than 180 days 18 after the date of the enactment of this Act, establish 19 standards for the protection of personally identifi- 20 ably information collected during the pilot program 21 by public housing agencies, owners of federally as- 22 sisted rental dwelling units, and the Secretary. 23 (f) PILOT PROGRAM EVALUATION.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4203.IH H4203 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4203 IH (1) INTERIM EVALUATION.—Not later than 12 1 months after the establishment of the pilot program 2 under this Act, the Secretary shall publicly publish 3 and submit to the Congress a report that— 4 (A) examines the number of temperature- 5 related complaints and violations in federally 6 assisted rental dwelling units with temperature 7 sensors, disaggregated by temperature sensor 8 technology and climate region— 9 (i) that occurred before the installa- 10 tion of such sensor, if known; and 11 (ii) that occurred after the installation 12 of such sensor; and 13 (B) identifies any barriers to full utility of 14 temperature sensor capabilities, including 15 broadband internet access and tenant participa- 16 tion. 17 (2) FINAL EVALUATION.—Not later than 36 18 months after the conclusion of the pilot program es- 19 tablished by the Secretary under this Act, the Sec- 20 retary shall publicly publish and submit to the Con- 21 gress a report that— 22 (A) examines the number of temperature- 23 related complaints and violations in federally 24 assisted rental dwelling units with temperature 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4203.IH H4203 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4203 IH sensors, disaggregated by temperature sensor 1 technology and climate region— 2 (i) that occurred before the installa- 3 tion of such sensor; and 4 (ii) that occurred after the installation 5 of such sensor; 6 (B) identifies any barriers to full utility of 7 temperature sensor capabilities, including 8 broadband internet access and tenant participa- 9 tion; and 10 (C) compare the utility of various tempera- 11 ture sensor technologies based on— 12 (i) climate zones; 13 (ii) cost; 14 (iii) features; and 15 (iv) any other factors identified by the 16 Secretary. 17 (g) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this Act: 18 (1) TEMPERATURE SENSOR.—The term ‘‘tem- 19 perature sensor’’ means an internet capable tem- 20 perature reporting device able to measure ambient 21 air temperature to the tenth degree Fahrenheit and 22 Celsius. 23 (2) COVERED FEDERALLY ASSISTED HOUS- 24 ING.—The term ‘‘covered federally assisted rental 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4203.IH H4203 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4203 IH dwelling unit’’ means a residential dwelling unit that 1 is made available for rental and for which assistance 2 is provided, or that is part of a housing project for 3 which assistance is provided, under— 4 (A) the program for project-based rental 5 assistance under section 8 of the United States 6 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f); 7 (B) the public housing program under the 8 United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 9 1437 et seq.); 10 (C) the program for supportive housing for 11 the elderly under section 202 of the Housing 12 Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q); or 13 (D) the program for supportive housing for 14 persons with disabilities under section 811 of 15 the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 16 Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013). 17 (3) OWNER.—The term ‘‘owner’’ means— 18 (A) with respect to the program for 19 project-based rental assistance under section 8 20 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 21 U.S.C. 1437f), any private person or entity, in- 22 cluding a cooperative, an agency of the Federal 23 Government, or a public housing agency, having 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Jul 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4203.IH H4203 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 4203 IH the legal right to lease or sublease dwelling 1 units; 2 (B) with respect to public housing program 3 under the United States Housing Act of 1937 4 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.), a public housing 5 agency or an owner entity of public housing 6 units as defined in section 905.108 of title 24, 7 Code of Federal Regulations; 8 (C) with respect to the program for sup- 9 portive housing for the elderly under section 10 202 of the Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 11 1701q), a private nonprofit organization as de- 12 fined under section 202(k)(4) of the Housing 13 Act of 1959; and 14 (D) with respect to the program for sup- 15 portive housing for persons with disabilities 16 under section 811 of the Cranston-Gonzalez 17 National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 18 8013), a private nonprofit organization as de- 19 fined under section 811(k)(5) of section 811 of 20 the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 21 Housing Act. 22 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 23 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4203.IH H4203 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 4203 IH (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 1 are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary— 2 (1) such sums as may be necessary for the Sec- 3 retary to provide grants to owners of covered feder- 4 ally assisted rental dwelling units participating in 5 the pilot program established under this Act; 6 (2) such sums as may be necessary for the Sec- 7 retary to administer the pilot program established 8 under this Act; and 9 (3) such sums as may be necessary for the Sec- 10 retary to provide technical assistance to owners of 11 covered federally assisted rental dwelling units that 12 are participating in the pilot program established 13 under this Act. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:43 Jul 22, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4203.IH H4203 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS