I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 6905 

To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish 

a program to require the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

to inspect buildings containing covered Federally assisted rental housing, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 22, 2023 

Mr. TORRES of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee 

on Science, Space, and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 

to establish a program to require the National Institute 

of Standards and Technology to inspect buildings containing covered Federally assisted rental housing, 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 ‘‘Building Collapse Pre5 vention Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. INSPECTION OF COVERED FEDERALLY ASSISTED 

2 RENTAL HOUSING. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 

4 Urban Development shall, not later than 1 year after the 

5 date of the enactment of this section, establish a program 

6 under which the National Institute of Standards and 

7 Technology shall— 

8 (1) if requested by the Secretary of Housing 

9 and Urban Development after a qualifying event or 

10 a Member of the United States House of Represent11 atives or the United States Senate who’s district 

12 contains such building after a qualifying event, in13 spect any building containing covered Federally as14 sisted rental housing and identify any structural 

15 issues that could lead such building to collapse; or 

16 (2) if a building containing covered Federally 

17 assisted rental housing collapses, inspect the remains 

18 of such building. 

19 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

20 (1) COVERED FEDERALLY ASSISTED RENTAL

21 HOUSING.—The term ‘‘covered Federally assisted 

22 rental housing’’ means a residential dwelling unit 

23 that is made available for rental and for which as24 sistance is provided, or that is part of a housing 

25 project for which assistance is provided, under any 

26 program administered by the Secretary of Housing 

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1 and Urban Development or the Secretary of Agri2 culture including— 

3 (A) the public housing program under the 

4 United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 

5 1437 et seq.); 

6 (B) the program for rental assistance 

7 under section 8 of the United States Housing 

8 Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f); 

9 (C) the HOME Investment Partnerships 

10 program under title II of the Cranton-Gonzalez 

11 National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 

12 12721 et seq.); 

13 (D) title IV of the McKinney-Vento Home14 less Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360 et seq.); 

15 (E) the Housing Trust Fund program 

16 under section 1338 of the Housing and Com17 munity Development Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C 

18 4568); 

19 (F) the program for supportive housing for 

20 the elderly under section 202 of the Housing 

21 Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q); 

22 (G) the program for supportive housing for 

23 persons with disabilities under section 811 of 

24 the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 

25 Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013); 

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1 (H) the AIDS Housing Opportunities pro2 gram under subtitle D of title VIII of the Cran3 ston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act 

4 (42 U.S.C. 12901 et seq.); 

5 (I) the program for Native American hous6 ing under the Native American Housing Assist7 ance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 

8 U.S.C. 4101 et seq.); 

9 (J) the program for housing assistance for 

10 Native Hawaiians under title VIII of the Native 

11 American Housing Assistance and Self-Deter12 mination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4221 et seq.); 

13 and 

14 (K) the programs for assistance for rural 

15 rental housing under title V of the Housing Act 

16 of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1471 et seq.). 

17 (2) QUALIFYING EVENT.—The term ‘‘qualifying 

18 event’’ means— 

19 (A) a finding by a local building safety 

20 regulator of a violation of a local construction 

21 or building safety codes that could cause a 

22 building to collapse, or 

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1 (B) an issuance of an inspection report by 

2 a licensed building inspector that finds struc3 tural issues with a building. 

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