I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1619

To amend section 227 of the Housing and Urban-Rural Recovery Act of

1983 to prohibit owners and managers of federally assisted rental housing from preventing elderly residents of such housing from owning or

having household pets in such housing.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 11, 1995

Ms. MOLINARI (for herself, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. WILSON, and Mr. PAXON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

Banking and Financial Services

A BILL

To amend section 227 of the Housing and Urban-Rural

Recovery Act of 1983 to prohibit owners and managers

of federally assisted rental housing from preventing elderly residents of such housing from owning or having

household pets in such housing.

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 ‘‘National Senior Citi5 zens Pet Ownership Protection Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. PET OWNERSHIP.

2 Section 227 of the Housing and Urban-Rural Recov3 ery Act of 1983 (12 U.S.C. 1701r–1) is amended—

4 (1) by striking the section heading and insert5 ing the following new section heading:

6 ‘‘PET OWNERSHIP BY ELDERLY AND DISABLED FAMILIES

7 IN FEDERALLY ASSISTED RENTAL HOUSING’’;

8 (2) by striking subsection (d);

9 (3) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub10 section (d);

11 (4) by inserting after subsection (b) the follow12 ing new subsection:

13 ‘‘(c) PET OWNERSHIP BY ELDERLY FAMILIES IN

14 OTHER FEDERALLY ASSISTED HOUSING.—

15 ‘‘(1) RIGHTS OF TENANTS.—No owner or man16 ager of any other federally assisted rental housing

17 may—

18 ‘‘(A) as a condition of tenancy or other19 wise, prohibit or prevent any tenant in such

20 housing who is an elderly family from owning

21 common household pets or having common

22 household pets living in the dwelling accom23 modations of such tenant in such housing;

24 ‘‘(B) as a condition of tenancy or other25 wise, prohibit or prevent any tenant in such

26 housing who, during such tenancy, was an el-
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1 derly family who owned or had a common

2 household pet living in the dwelling accommoda3 tions of such tenant in such housing from con4 tinuing to own or have the pet in the accom5 modations after the tenant no longer qualifies

6 as an elderly family; or

7 ‘‘(C) restrict or discriminate against any

8 elderly family in connection with admission to,

9 or continued occupancy of, such housing by rea10 son of the ownership of such pets by, or the

11 presence of such pets in the dwelling accom12 modations of, such person.

13 ‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—

14 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of

15 Housing and Urban Development and the Sec16 retary of Agriculture shall each issue such regu17 lations as may be necessary to ensure—

18 ‘‘(i) compliance with the provisions of

19 paragraph (1) with respect to any program

20 of assistance referred to in subsection

21 (e)(3) that is administered by such Sec22 retary; and

23 ‘‘(ii) attaining the goal of providing

24 decent, safe, and sanitary housing for el25 derly families.
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1 ‘‘(B) MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES.—Such

2 regulations shall establish guidelines under

3 which the owner or manager of any other feder4 ally assisted rental housing (i) may prescribe

5 reasonable rules for the keeping of pets in such

6 housing by tenants pursuant to paragraph (1),

7 and (ii) shall consult with the tenants of such

8 housing in prescribing such rules. Such rules

9 may consider factors such as density of tenants,

10 pet size, types of pets, potential financial obli11 gations of tenants, and standards of pet care.’’;

12 (5) in subsection (d) (as so redesignated by

13 paragraph (3))—

14 (A) by inserting ‘‘AUTHORITY TO REMOVE

15 PETS.—’’ after ‘‘(d)’’; and

16 (B) by inserting after ‘‘handicapped’’ the

17 following: ‘‘or of other federally assisted rental

18 housing’’; and

19 (6) by adding at the end the following new sub20 section:

21 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:

22 ‘‘(1) ELDERLY AND DISABLED FAMILIES.—The

23 terms ‘elderly families’ and ‘disabled families’ shall

24 have the meanings given such terms in section

25 3(b)(3) of the United States Housing Act of 1937.
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1 ‘‘(2) FEDERALLY ASSISTED RENTAL HOUSING

2 FOR THE ELDERLY OR DISABLED.—The term ‘feder3 ally assisted rental housing for the elderly or dis4 abled’ means any rental housing project that is as5 sisted under—

6 ‘‘(A) section 202 of the Housing Act of

7 1959;

8 ‘‘(B) section 811 of the Cranston-Gonzalez

9 National Affordable Housing Act; or

10 ‘‘(C) the United States Housing Act of

11 1937, the National Housing Act, or title V of

12 the Housing Act of 1949, and is designated for

13 occupancy by elderly or disabled families or by

14 elderly or handicapped families.

15 ‘‘(3) OTHER FEDERALLY ASSISTED RENTAL

16 HOUSING.—The term ‘other federally assisted rental

17 housing’ means any—

18 ‘‘(A) public housing project (as such term

19 is defined in section 3(b) of the United States

20 Housing Act of 1937);

21 ‘‘(B) housing for which project-based as22 sistance is provided under section 8 of the

23 United States Housing Act of 1937;

24 ‘‘(C) housing financed by a loan or mort25 gage insured under section 221(d)(3) of the
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1 National Housing Act that bears interest at a

2 rate determined under the proviso of section

3 221(d)(5) of such Act;

4 ‘‘(D) housing insured, assisted, or held by

5 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop6 ment or a State or State agency under section

7 236 of the National Housing Act;

8 ‘‘(E) housing constructed or substantially

9 rehabilitated pursuant to assistance provided

10 under section 8(b)(2) of the United States

11 Housing Act of 1937, as in effect before Octo12 ber 1, 1983, that is assisted under a contract

13 for assistance under such section; and

14 ‘‘(F) rental housing project assisted under

15 title V of the Housing Act of 1949.’’.

16 SEC. 3. REGULATIONS AND EFFECTIVE DATE.

17 (a) REGULATIONS.—Not later than the expiration of

18 the 12-month period beginning on the date of the enact19 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban

20 Development and the Secretary of Agriculture shall each

21 issue any regulations necessary to carry out section 227

22 of the Housing and Urban-Rural Recovery Act of 1983,

23 as amended by section 2 of this Act.

24 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 227 of the Housing

25 and Urban-Rural Recovery Act of 1983, as amended by
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1 section 2 of this Act, shall take effect upon the earlier

2 of—

3 (1) the effective date of the regulations issued

4 under subsection (a); or

5 (2) the expiration of the 18-month period begin6 ning on the date of the enactment of this Act.

7 After the enactment of this Act and before the effective

8 date under the preceding sentence, the provisions of such

9 section 227 shall continue to apply as if the amendments

10 made section 2 of this Act had not been enacted.

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