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 Com-
mittee 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 occu-
pying dwelling units in public housing projects designated
for occupancy by elderly families, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Senior Citizens
Housing Safety Act of 1995’’.
SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON OCCUPANCY IN PUBLIC HOUSING
DESIGNATED FOR ELDERLY FAMILIES.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(a) of the United States
Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437e(a)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘Notwith-
standing any other provision of law’’ and inserting
‘‘Subject only to the provisions of this subsection’’;
(2) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘, except as
provided in paragraph (5)’’ before the period at the
end; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
‘‘(5) LIMITATION ON OCCUPANCY IN PROJECTS
FOR ELDERLY FAMILIES.—
‘‘(A) OCCUPANCY
LIMITATION.—Notwith-
standing any other provision of law, a dwelling
unit in a project (or portion of a project) that
is designated under paragraph (1) for occu-
pancy by only elderly families or by only elderly
and disabled families shall not be occupied by—
‘‘(i) any person with disabilities who
is not an elderly person and whose history
of use of alcohol or drugs constitutes a dis-
ability; or
‘‘(ii) any person who is not an elderly
person and whose history of use of alcohol
or drugs provides reasonable cause for the
agency to believe that the occupancy by
such person may interfere with the health,
safety, or right to peaceful enjoyment of
the premises by other tenants.
‘‘(B) REQUIRED
STATEMENT.—A public
housing agency may not make a dwelling unit
in such a project available for occupancy to any
person or family who is not an elderly family,
unless the agency acquires from the person or
family a signed statement that no person who
will be occupying the unit—
‘‘(i) uses (or has a history of use of)
alcohol, or
‘‘(ii) uses (or has a history of use of)
drugs,
that would interfere with the health, safety, or
right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises by
other tenants.’’.
(b) LEASE PROVISIONS.—Section 6(l) of the United
States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437d(l)) is
amended—
(1) in paragraph (5), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the
end;
(2) by redesignating paragraph (6) as para-
graph (7); and
(3) by inserting after paragraph (5) the follow-
ing new paragraph:
‘‘(6) provide that any occupancy in violation of
the provisions of section 7(a)(5)(A) or the furnishing
of any false or misleading information pursuant to
section 7(a)(5)(B) shall be cause for termination of
tenancy; and’’.
SEC. 3. EVICTION OF NONELDERLY TENANTS HAVING
DRUG OR ALCOHOL USE PROBLEMS FROM
PUBLIC HOUSING DESIGNATED FOR ELDER-
LY FAMILIES.
Section 7(c) of the United States Housing Act of
1937 is amended to read as follows:
‘‘(c) STANDARDS REGARDING EVICTIONS.—
‘‘(1) LIMITATION.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), any tenant who is lawfully residing in a
dwelling unit in a public housing project may not be
evicted or otherwise required to vacate such unit be-
cause of the designation of the project (or a portion
of the project) pursuant to this section or because
of any action taken by the Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development or any public housing agency
pursuant to this section.
‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT
TO
EVICT
NONELDERLY
TENANTS HAVING DRUG OR ALCOHOL USE PROB-
LEMS IN HOUSING DESIGNATED FOR ELDERLY FAMI-
LIES.—The public housing agency administering a
project (or portion of a project) described in sub-
section (a)(5)(A) shall evict any person whose occu-
pancy in the project (or portion of the project) vio-
lates subsection (a)(5)(A).
‘‘(3) REQUIREMENT
TO
EVICT
NONELDERLY
TENANTS FOR 3 INSTANCES OF PROHIBITED ACTIV-
ITY INVOLVING DRUGS OR ALCOHOL.—With respect
to a project (or portion of a project) described in
subsection (a)(5)(A), the public housing agency ad-
ministering the project shall evict any person who is
not an elderly person and who, during occupancy in
the project (or portion thereof), engages on 3 sepa-
rate occasions (occurring after the date of the enact-
ment of the Senior Citizens Housing Safety Act) in
any activity that threatens the health, safety, or
right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises by other
tenants and involves the use of alcohol or drugs.
‘‘(4) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—The provisions
of paragraphs (2) and (3) requiring eviction of a
person may not be construed to require a public
housing agency to evict any other persons who oc-
cupy the same dwelling unit as the person required
to be evicted.’’.
SEC. 4. STANDARDS FOR LEASE TERMINATION AND EXPE-
DITED GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE.
Section 6 of the United States Housing Act of 1937
(42 U.S.C. 1437d) is amended—
(1) in subsection (k), in the first sentence of
the matter following paragraph (6), by striking
‘‘criminal’’ the first place it appears; and
(2) in subsection (l)(5), by striking ‘‘criminal’’
the first place it appears.
Æ