I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3026 

To amend the United States Public Housing Act of 1937 to establish a 

predisaster mitigation program to benefit public and assisted housing 

residents, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 24, 2009 

Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To amend the United States Public Housing Act of 1937 

to establish a predisaster mitigation program to benefit 

public and assisted housing residents, 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 ‘‘Hazard Mitigation For 

5 All Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. IN GENERAL. 

2 Title I of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 

3 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 37. HAZARD MITIGATION FOR ALL GRANT PROGRAM. 

6 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purpose of this section is to 

7 provide grant assistance to public housing agencies for ac8 tivities to— 

9 ‘‘(1) protect the lives of residents of public and 

10 assisted housing by mitigating in advance against 

11 natural disasters; and 

12 ‘‘(2) improve the resilience of resident-inhabited 

13 residential structures to withstand storms and other 

14 natural disasters, through restoration, reconstruc15 tion, replacement, or retrofit initiatives in advance of 

16 such storms and disasters. 

17 ‘‘(b) GRANT AUTHORITY.—To the extent amounts for 

18 grants under this section for a fiscal year are made avail19 able in advance in appropriations Acts, the Secretary shall 

20 make grants under this section to public housing agencies 

21 that have submitted applications for such grants which 

22 have been selected pursuant to subsection (h). 

23 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCIES.—A 

24 grant under this section may be provided only to a public 

25 housing agency that— 


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1 ‘‘(1) administers one or more public housing 

2 projects; 

3 ‘‘(2) provides project-based housing assistance 

4 under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 

5 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) for any rental housing 

6 project; 

7 ‘‘(3) administers a program for tenant-based 

8 rental housing assistance under section 8 of the 

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

10 1437f); or 

11 ‘‘(4) administers a program for tenant-based 

12 rental housing assistance for the elderly, persons 

13 with disabilities, or the homeless. 

14 ‘‘(d) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Grants under this sec15 tion may be used only for predisaster activities for hazard 

16 mitigation that benefit residents of the assisted housing 

17 of the public housing agency that is the grantee, which 

18 shall include the following: 

19 ‘‘(1) Improving the strength of roof deck at20 tachments. 

21 ‘‘(2) Creating a secondary water barrier to pre22 vent water intrusion. 

23 ‘‘(3) Installing coverings to reduce leakage in 

24 the event hurricane-force winds remove roof shin25 gles. 


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1 ‘‘(4) Improving the survivability of the roof cov2 ering. 

3 ‘‘(5) Bracing gable-ends in roof framing. 

4 ‘‘(6) Reinforcing roof-to-wall connections. 

5 ‘‘(7) Upgrading exterior wall openings with pro6 tections to resist hurricane-force winds. 

7 ‘‘(8) Replacing storm shutters, exterior doors, 

8 windows, and garage doors. 

9 ‘‘(9) Adding anchor bolts or steel plates be10 tween the property and the foundation. 

11 ‘‘(10) Bracing the inside of any short wood-stud 

12 wall between the top of the foundation wall and the 

13 first floor (known as a cripple wall) with sheathing 

14 for added protection against an earthquake. 

15 ‘‘(11) Any other activities as the Secretary may 

16 determine that improve the storm resilience of as17 sisted housing through restoration, reconstruction, 

18 replacement, or retrofit. 

19 ‘‘(e) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para21 graph (3), each public housing agency that receives 

22 a grant under this section shall provide, from 

23 sources other than a grant under this section, an 

24 amount equal to not less than 25 percent of the 


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1 total funds necessary to complete an activity funded 

2 under this section. 

3 ‘‘(2) SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDS.—For purposes of 

4 paragraph (1), funds from other Federal sources, 

5 funds from any State or local government source, 

6 any private contributions, and any in-kind contribu7 tions available to comply with this subsection shall 

8 be considered funds from sources other than a grant 

9 under this section. 

10 ‘‘(3) ADJUSTMENT.—The Secretary may con11 sider the severity and frequency of storms in the 

12 area for which the public housing agency has juris13 diction in determining the percentage of contribution 

14 required under paragraph (1). 

15 ‘‘(f) REQUIREMENTS.—Amounts from a grant under 

16 this section— 

17 ‘‘(1) shall be used only to provide eligible activi18 ties for real property that is assisted housing; 

19 ‘‘(2) shall be used to provide eligible activities 

20 only for residents of assisted housing whose family 

21 incomes do not exceed 80 percent of the median in22 come for the area; 

23 ‘‘(3) may be used for eligible activities that re24 sult in displacement of assisted residents only if acVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:19 Jun 26, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3026.IH H3026

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1 commodations are provided for such assisted resi2 dents during such period of displacement that are— 

3 ‘‘(A) similar to the existing assisted hous4 ing of the resident; 

5 ‘‘(B) located in a community comparable 

6 to the existing housing of the resident; and 

7 ‘‘(C) a reasonable distance from the exist8 ing housing of the resident. 

9 ‘‘(g) REQUIREMENTS FOR ASSISTANCE TO PRIVATE

10 OWNERS OF ASSISTED HOUSING.—A public housing agen11 cy receiving a grant under this section may not provide 

12 grant amounts to an owner of assisted housing that is not 

13 public housing unless the owner of the assisted housing 

14 agrees to make the assisted housing units that are des15 ignated at the time of the grant award available for occu16 pancy, during the 5-year period beginning upon the initial 

17 receipt of any funds from a grant under this section, 

18 through an occupancy preference, in accordance with rea19 sonable admissions screening criteria developed by the 

20 public housing agency, to families who are eligible for 

21 rental assistance under section 8. 

22 ‘‘(h) APPLICATIONS AND SELECTION CRITERIA.— 

23 ‘‘(1) APPLICATIONS.—The Secretary shall pro24 vide for public housing agencies to submit applica25 tions for a grant under this section through the OfVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:19 Jun 26, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3026.IH H3026

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1 fice of Multifamily Housing Programs and shall re2 quire, to be eligible for a grant for any fiscal year, 

3 that an application be submitted not later than June 

4 30 of the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year of 

5 grant award. Such Office shall establish such appli6 cations in consultation with the Administrator of the 

7 Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

8 ‘‘(2) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The Office of Mul9 tifamily Housing Programs shall establish criteria 

10 for the selection of applications by public housing 

11 agencies for grants under this section, which shall 

12 consider the following factors: 

13 ‘‘(A) The severity and frequency of natural 

14 disasters within the area in which eligible activi15 ties are to be carried out using grant amounts. 

16 ‘‘(B) The size and median age of the as17 sisted resident population within the jurisdic18 tion of the public housing agency applicant. 

19 ‘‘(C) The capability of the public housing 

20 agency applicant to administer the grant funds. 

21 ‘‘(D) The nature and effectiveness of the 

22 eligible activities to be carried out using the 

23 grant amounts. 


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1 ‘‘(E) The long-term viability of the hazard 

2 mitigation improvements for which the grant 

3 amounts will be used. 

4 ‘‘(F) Whether energy efficient methods 

5 (such as energy efficient storm windows) will be 

6 used in the hazard mitigation improvements for 

7 which grant amounts will be used. 

8 ‘‘(G) The efforts the public housing agency 

9 has made to publicize the importance of hazard 

10 mitigation to local owners of assisted housing. 

11 ‘‘(H) The extent of commitment by the 

12 public housing agency to support ongoing non13 Federal hazard mitigation measures. 

14 ‘‘(I) The ability of the public housing agen15 cy to maintain eligible activities funded with 

16 grant amounts. 

17 ‘‘(i) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) COMPETITIVE PROGRAM.—Grants from 

19 amounts made available under this section shall be 

20 awarded on a competitive basis subject to the cri21 teria specified in subsection (h)(2) and regulations 

22 issued by the Secretary. 

23 ‘‘(2) MAXIMUM AMOUNT.—Of any amounts 

24 made available for any fiscal year for grants under 


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1 this section, not more than 15 percent may be pro2 vided to any single public housing agency. 

3 ‘‘(j) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 

4 following definitions shall apply: 

5 ‘‘(1) ASSISTED HOUSING.—The term ‘assisted 

6 housing’ means, with respect to a public housing 

7 agency— 

8 ‘‘(A) any public housing administered by 

9 the agency; 

10 ‘‘(B) any housing for which project-based 

11 rental assistance is provided by the agency; and 

12 ‘‘(C) any housing occupied by a family for 

13 whom the agency provides tenant-based rental 

14 assistance and for rental of which such family 

15 uses such rental assistance. 

16 ‘‘(2) ASSISTED RESIDENT.—The term ‘assisted 

17 resident’ means— 

18 ‘‘(A) a resident of public housing; 

19 ‘‘(B) a resident of assisted housing de20 scribed in paragraph (1)(B) who resides in a 

21 dwelling unit for which such project-based rent22 al assistance is provided; or 

23 ‘‘(C) a family described in paragraph 

24 (1)(C). 


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1 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—The term ‘eligible 

2 activities’ means activities that, pursuant to sub3 section (d), may be funded with amounts from a 

4 grant under this section. 

5 ‘‘(k) FUNDING.—There is authorized to be appro6 priated to carry out this section, $50,000,000 for each of 

7 fiscal years 2010 through 2013, to remain available until 

8 expended. 

9 ‘‘(l) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall issue any 

10 regulations necessary to carry out this section.’’. 

Æ 


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