I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H.R. 117

To amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 to prevent persons having

drug or alcohol use problems from occupying dwelling units in public

housing projects designated for occupancy by elderly families, and for

other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 4, 1995

Mr. BLUTE (for himself, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. CANADY, Mr.

FRANKS of Connecticut, Mr. HANCOCK, Mr. HERGER, Mr. HUTCHINSON,

Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. JOHNSTON of Florida, Mr. KLUG, Mr.

LIVINGSTON, Mr. MARTINEZ, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. PETRI, Mr. QUINN, and

Mr. ROYCE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Banking and Financial Services

A BILL

To amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 to prevent

persons having drug or alcohol use problems from occupying dwelling units in public housing projects designated

for occupancy by elderly families, and for other purposes.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Senior Citizens

5 Housing Safety Act of 1995’’.
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1 SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON OCCUPANCY IN PUBLIC HOUSING

2 DESIGNATED FOR ELDERLY FAMILIES.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(a) of the United States

4 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437e(a)) is amended—

5 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘Notwith6 standing any other provision of law’’ and inserting

7 ‘‘Subject only to the provisions of this subsection’’;

8 (2) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘, except as

9 provided in paragraph (5)’’ before the period at the

10 end; and

11 (3) by adding at the end the following new

12 paragraph:

13 ‘‘(5) LIMITATION ON OCCUPANCY IN PROJECTS

14 FOR ELDERLY FAMILIES.—

15 ‘‘(A) OCCUPANCY LIMITATION.—Notwith16 standing any other provision of law, a dwelling

17 unit in a project (or portion of a project) that

18 is designated under paragraph (1) for occu19 pancy by only elderly families or by only elderly

20 and disabled families shall not be occupied by—

21 ‘‘(i) any person with disabilities who

22 is not an elderly person and whose history

23 of use of alcohol or drugs constitutes a dis24 ability; or

25 ‘‘(ii) any person who is not an elderly

26 person and whose history of use of alcohol
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1 or drugs provides reasonable cause for the

2 agency to believe that the occupancy by

3 such person may interfere with the health,

4 safety, or right to peaceful enjoyment of

5 the premises by other tenants.

6 ‘‘(B) REQUIRED STATEMENT.—A public

7 housing agency may not make a dwelling unit

8 in such a project available for occupancy to any

9 person or family who is not an elderly family,

10 unless the agency acquires from the person or

11 family a signed statement that no person who

12 will be occupying the unit—

13 ‘‘(i) uses (or has a history of use of)

14 alcohol, or

15 ‘‘(ii) uses (or has a history of use of)

16 drugs,

17 that would interfere with the health, safety, or

18 right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises by

19 other tenants.’’.

20 (b) LEASE PROVISIONS.—Section 6(l) of the United

21 States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437d(l)) is

22 amended—

23 (1) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

24 end;
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1 (2) by redesignating paragraph (6) as para2 graph (7); and

3 (3) by inserting after paragraph (5) the follow4 ing new paragraph:

5 ‘‘(6) provide that any occupancy in violation of

6 the provisions of section 7(a)(5)(A) or the furnishing

7 of any false or misleading information pursuant to

8 section 7(a)(5)(B) shall be cause for termination of

9 tenancy; and’’.

10 SEC. 3. EVICTION OF NONELDERLY TENANTS HAVING

11 DRUG OR ALCOHOL USE PROBLEMS FROM

12 PUBLIC HOUSING DESIGNATED FOR ELDER13 LY FAMILIES.

14 Section 7(c) of the United States Housing Act of

15 1937 is amended to read as follows:

16 ‘‘(c) STANDARDS REGARDING EVICTIONS.—

17 ‘‘(1) LIMITATION.—Except as provided in para18 graph (2), any tenant who is lawfully residing in a

19 dwelling unit in a public housing project may not be

20 evicted or otherwise required to vacate such unit be21 cause of the designation of the project (or a portion

22 of the project) pursuant to this section or because

23 of any action taken by the Secretary of Housing and

24 Urban Development or any public housing agency

25 pursuant to this section.
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1 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT TO EVICT NONELDERLY

2 TENANTS HAVING DRUG OR ALCOHOL USE PROB3 LEMS IN HOUSING DESIGNATED FOR ELDERLY FAMI4 LIES.—The public housing agency administering a

5 project (or portion of a project) described in sub6 section (a)(5)(A) shall evict any person whose occu7 pancy in the project (or portion of the project) vio8 lates subsection (a)(5)(A).

9 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENT TO EVICT NONELDERLY

10 TENANTS FOR 3 INSTANCES OF PROHIBITED ACTIV11 ITY INVOLVING DRUGS OR ALCOHOL.—With respect

12 to a project (or portion of a project) described in

13 subsection (a)(5)(A), the public housing agency ad14 ministering the project shall evict any person who is

15 not an elderly person and who, during occupancy in

16 the project (or portion thereof), engages on 3 sepa17 rate occasions (occurring after the date of the enact18 ment of the Senior Citizens Housing Safety Act) in

19 any activity that threatens the health, safety, or

20 right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises by other

21 tenants and involves the use of alcohol or drugs.

22 ‘‘(4) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—The provisions

23 of paragraphs (2) and (3) requiring eviction of a

24 person may not be construed to require a public

25 housing agency to evict any other persons who oc-
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1 cupy the same dwelling unit as the person required

2 to be evicted.’’.

3 SEC. 4. STANDARDS FOR LEASE TERMINATION AND EXPE4 DITED GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE.

5 Section 6 of the United States Housing Act of 1937

6 (42 U.S.C. 1437d) is amended—

7 (1) in subsection (k), in the first sentence of

8 the matter following paragraph (6), by striking

9 ‘‘criminal’’ the first place it appears; and

10 (2) in subsection (l)(5), by striking ‘‘criminal’’

11 the first place it appears.

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