I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1619
To amend section 227 of the Housing and Urban-Rural Recovery Act of
1983 to prohibit owners and managers of federally assisted rental hous-
ing from preventing elderly residents of such housing from owning or
having household pets in such housing.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 11, 1995
Ms. MOLINARI (for herself, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. WILSON, and Mr. PAXON) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Banking and Financial Services
A BILL
To amend section 227 of the Housing and Urban-Rural
Recovery Act of 1983 to prohibit owners and managers
of federally assisted rental housing from preventing el-
derly residents of such housing from owning or having
household pets in such housing.
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 ‘‘National Senior Citi-
zens Pet Ownership Protection Act’’.
SEC. 2. PET OWNERSHIP.
Section 227 of the Housing and Urban-Rural Recov-
ery Act of 1983 (12 U.S.C. 1701r–1) is amended—
(1) by striking the section heading and insert-
ing the following new section heading:
‘‘PET OWNERSHIP BY ELDERLY AND DISABLED FAMILIES
IN FEDERALLY ASSISTED RENTAL HOUSING’’;
(2) by striking subsection (d);
(3) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub-
section (d);
(4) by inserting after subsection (b) the follow-
ing new subsection:
‘‘(c) PET OWNERSHIP BY ELDERLY FAMILIES IN
OTHER FEDERALLY ASSISTED HOUSING.—
‘‘(1) RIGHTS OF TENANTS.—No owner or man-
ager of any other federally assisted rental housing
may—
‘‘(A) as a condition of tenancy or other-
wise, prohibit or prevent any tenant in such
housing who is an elderly family from owning
common household pets or having common
household pets living in the dwelling accom-
modations of such tenant in such housing;
‘‘(B) as a condition of tenancy or other-
wise, prohibit or prevent any tenant in such
housing who, during such tenancy, was an el-
derly family who owned or had a common
household pet living in the dwelling accommoda-
tions of such tenant in such housing from con-
tinuing to own or have the pet in the accom-
modations after the tenant no longer qualifies
as an elderly family; or
‘‘(C) restrict or discriminate against any
elderly family in connection with admission to,
or continued occupancy of, such housing by rea-
son of the ownership of such pets by, or the
presence of such pets in the dwelling accom-
modations of, such person.
‘‘(2) REGULATIONS.—
‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development and the Sec-
retary of Agriculture shall each issue such regu-
lations as may be necessary to ensure—
‘‘(i) compliance with the provisions of
paragraph (1) with respect to any program
of assistance referred to in subsection
(e)(3) that is administered by such Sec-
retary; and
‘‘(ii) attaining the goal of providing
decent, safe, and sanitary housing for el-
derly families.
‘‘(B) MANAGEMENT
GUIDELINES.—Such
regulations shall establish guidelines under
which the owner or manager of any other feder-
ally assisted rental housing (i) may prescribe
reasonable rules for the keeping of pets in such
housing by tenants pursuant to paragraph (1),
and (ii) shall consult with the tenants of such
housing in prescribing such rules. Such rules
may consider factors such as density of tenants,
pet size, types of pets, potential financial obli-
gations of tenants, and standards of pet care.’’;
(5) in subsection (d) (as so redesignated by
paragraph (3))—
(A) by inserting ‘‘AUTHORITY TO REMOVE
PETS.—’’ after ‘‘(d)’’; and
(B) by inserting after ‘‘handicapped’’ the
following: ‘‘or of other federally assisted rental
housing’’; and
(6) by adding at the end the following new sub-
section:
‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:
‘‘(1) ELDERLY AND DISABLED FAMILIES.—The
terms ‘elderly families’ and ‘disabled families’ shall
have the meanings given such terms in section
3(b)(3) of the United States Housing Act of 1937.