108TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 23
AN ACT
To amend the Housing and Community Development Act
of 1974 to authorize communities to use community de-
velopment block grant funds for construction of tornado-
safe shelters in manufactured home parks.
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 ‘‘Tornado Shelters Act’’.
SEC. 2. CDBG ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.
Section 105(a) of the Housing and Community De-
velopment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (22), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the
end;
(2) in paragraph (23), by striking the period at
the end and inserting a semicolon; and
(3) by inserting after paragraph (23) the fol-
lowing new paragraph:
‘‘(24) the construction or improvement of tor-
nado-safe shelters for residents of manufactured
housing, and the provision of assistance (including
loans and grants) to nonprofit and for-profit entities
(including owners of manufactured housing parks)
for such construction or improvement, except that—
‘‘(A) a shelter assisted with amounts pro-
vided pursuant to this paragraph may be lo-
cated only in a neighborhood (including a man-
ufactured housing park) that—
‘‘(i) contains not less than 20 manu-
factured housing units that are within such
proximity to the shelter that the shelter is
available to the residents of such units in
the event of a tornado;
‘‘(ii) consists predominantly of per-
sons of low and moderate income; and
‘‘(iii) is located within a State in
which a tornado has occurred during the
fiscal year for which the amounts to be
used under this paragraph were made
available or any of the 3 preceding fiscal
years, as determined by the Secretary after
consultation with the Director of the Fed-
eral Emergency Management Agency;
‘‘(B) such a shelter shall comply with
standards for construction and safety as the
Secretary, after consultation with the Director
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency,
shall provide to ensure protection from torna-
does;
‘‘(C) such a shelter shall be of a size suffi-
cient to accommodate, at a single time, all occu-
pants of manufactured housing units located
within the neighborhood in which the shelter is
located; and
‘‘(D) amounts may not be used for a shel-
ter as provided under this paragraph unless
there is located, within the neighborhood in
which the shelter is located (or, in the case of
a shelter located in a manufactured housing
park, within 1,500 feet of such park), a warn-
ing siren that is operated in accordance with
such local, regional, or national disaster warn-
ing programs or systems as the Secretary, after
consultation with the Director of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, considers ap-
propriate to ensure adequate notice of occu-
pants of manufactured housing located in such
neighborhood or park of a tornado; and’’.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
In addition to any amounts otherwise made available
for grants under title I of the Housing and Community
Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.), there
is authorized to be appropriated for assistance only for
activities pursuant to section 105(a)(24) of such Act
$5,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.
Passed the House of Representatives July 21, 2003.
Attest:
Clerk.