Know Your Home Act of 2018

To amend the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to provide additional funding under the Community Development Block Grant program for units of general local government to digitize and make available online information regarding violations of housing construction, building, and safety codes, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Know Your Home Act of 2018 2. CDBG eligible activities (a) Eligible activity Subsection (a) of section 105 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 ( 42 U.S.C. 5305(a) (1) in paragraph (25)(D), by striking and (2) in paragraph (26), by striking the period at the end and inserting ; and (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph: (27) payment of costs incurred by a unit of general local government that receives amounts under this title (including pursuant to section 106(d)(1)) for making publicly available online comprehensive information regarding violations during the most recent 3 years of any Federal, State, or local statutes, codes, ordinances, or regulations relating to the construction, safety, quality, health, or cleanliness of residential structures by any structures located in such unit of general local government, which shall include the location of the structure, identity of the owner of the structure, the nature of the violation, the date or dates of the violation, and the date of any rescission of such violation. . (b) Authorization of appropriations Section 103 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 ( 42 U.S.C. 5304 (1) by inserting (a) In general The Secretary (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection: (b) Amounts for establishing online database of housing code violations In addition to amounts authorized to be appropriated under subsection (a), there is authorized to be appropriated $30,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023, for grants under this title, except that amounts made available pursuant to this subsection for a fiscal year may only be used for the eligible activity under section 105(a)(27) and may only be provided to units of general local government whose statements of projected uses of funds under this title prepared in accordance with section 104(a) for a fiscal year provide for such use for such fiscal year. . 3. Requirement for eligibility for CDBG grant amounts Section 104 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 ( 42 U.S.C. 5304 (n) Requirement To collect and make available information regarding housing code violations (1) Requirement No funds made available for fiscal year 2024 or any fiscal year thereafter for grants under this Act may be allocated for, or obligated or expended to, any unit of general local government that fails to collect and make publicly available immediately upon request comprehensive information regarding violations during the most recent 3 years of any Federal, State, or local statutes, codes, ordinances, or regulations relating to the construction, safety, quality, health, or cleanliness of residential structures by any structures located in such unit of general local government, which shall include the location of the structure, identity of the owner of the structure, the nature of the violation, the date or dates of the violation, and the date of any rescission of such violation. (2) Preemption The laws of any State or unit of general local government requiring the filing of a request and other procedures for obtaining information from a State or unit of general local government, or any agency thereof, to obtain such information are preempted to the extent that such laws apply to information regarding the violations described in paragraph (1) and to information regarding violations described in section 105(a)(27). .

Summary: Know Your Home Act of 2018 This bill expands eligible activities under the Community Development Block Grant program to include payment of costs incurred by a local government in digitizing, and publishing online,&nbsp;information regarding violations of laws and regulations related to housing construction and safety. The bill also requires a local government, as a condition of grant eligibility&nbsp;in FY2024 or later,&nbsp;to collect and make publicly available such information upon request.