108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 23

AN ACT

To amend the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to authorize communities to

use community development block grant fundsfor construction of tornado-safe shelters in manufactured home parks.

108TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 23

AN ACT

To amend the Housing and Community Development Act

of 1974 to authorize communities to use community development block grant funds for construction of tornadosafe shelters in manufactured home parks.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tornado Shelters Act’’.

3 SEC. 2. CDBG ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.

4 Section 105(a) of the Housing and Community De5 velopment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)) is amended—

6 (1) in paragraph (22), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

7 end;

8 (2) in paragraph (23), by striking the period at

9 the end and inserting a semicolon; and

10 (3) by inserting after paragraph (23) the fol11 lowing new paragraph:

12 ‘‘(24) the construction or improvement of tor13 nado-safe shelters for residents of manufactured

14 housing, and the provision of assistance (including

15 loans and grants) to nonprofit and for-profit entities

16 (including owners of manufactured housing parks)

17 for such construction or improvement, except that—

18 ‘‘(A) a shelter assisted with amounts pro19 vided pursuant to this paragraph may be lo20 cated only in a neighborhood (including a man21 ufactured housing park) that—

22 ‘‘(i) contains not less than 20 manu23 factured housing units that are within such

24 proximity to the shelter that the shelter is

25 available to the residents of such units in

26 the event of a tornado;
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1 ‘‘(ii) consists predominantly of per2 sons of low and moderate income; and

3 ‘‘(iii) is located within a State in

4 which a tornado has occurred during the

5 fiscal year for which the amounts to be

6 used under this paragraph were made

7 available or any of the 3 preceding fiscal

8 years, as determined by the Secretary after

9 consultation with the Director of the Fed10 eral Emergency Management Agency;

11 ‘‘(B) such a shelter shall comply with

12 standards for construction and safety as the

13 Secretary, after consultation with the Director

14 of the Federal Emergency Management Agency,

15 shall provide to ensure protection from torna16 does;

17 ‘‘(C) such a shelter shall be of a size suffi18 cient to accommodate, at a single time, all occu19 pants of manufactured housing units located

20 within the neighborhood in which the shelter is

21 located; and

22 ‘‘(D) amounts may not be used for a shel23 ter as provided under this paragraph unless

24 there is located, within the neighborhood in

25 which the shelter is located (or, in the case of
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1 a shelter located in a manufactured housing

2 park, within 1,500 feet of such park), a warn3 ing siren that is operated in accordance with

4 such local, regional, or national disaster warn5 ing programs or systems as the Secretary, after

6 consultation with the Director of the Federal

7 Emergency Management Agency, considers ap8 propriate to ensure adequate notice of occu9 pants of manufactured housing located in such

10 neighborhood or park of a tornado; and’’.

11 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

12 In addition to any amounts otherwise made available

13 for grants under title I of the Housing and Community

14 Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.), there

15 is authorized to be appropriated for assistance only for

16 activities pursuant to section 105(a)(24) of such Act

17 $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.

Passed the House of Representatives July 21, 2003.

Attest:

Clerk.