I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9587 
To promote the establishment of resident organizations and provide additional 
amounts for tenant organizations, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 15, 2022 
Mr. LEVIN of Michigan introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committee 
on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To promote the establishment of resident organizations and 
provide additional amounts for tenant organizations, 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 ‘‘Tenants’ Right to Or-
ganize Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of the Congress that tenants receiving 
tenant-based rental assistance have the right to ‘‘decent, 
safe, stable and sanitary housing’’. 
SEC. 3. HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER TENANT ORGANIZA-
TIONS. 
Section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘(22) RIGHT TO ORGANIZE.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Tenants receiving ten-
ant-based rental assistance have the right to es-
tablish, operate, and participate in a resident 
organization for the purpose of addressing 
issues related to their living environment, which 
includes the terms and conditions of their ten-
ancy as well as activities related to housing and 
community development and may not be retali-
ated against for asserting these rights. 
‘‘(B) REQUIRED ENGAGEMENT.— 
‘‘(i) PUBLIC
HOUSING
AGENCIES.— 
Each public housing agency shall— 
‘‘(I) recognize legitimate resident 
organizations; 
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‘‘(II) solicit comments from all 
resident organizations not less than 
once each year; and 
‘‘(III) not later than 60 days 
after receiving a comment from a resi-
dent organization, meaningfully re-
spond in writing to such comment. 
‘‘(ii) 
OWNERS
OF
UNITS.—Each 
owner— 
‘‘(I) shall recognize legitimate 
resident organizations; and 
‘‘(II) may not retaliate with re-
spect to any tenant because of their 
association with a legitimate resident 
organization. 
‘‘(C) PROTECTIONS.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Each public hous-
ing agency and each owner may not inter-
fere with the right of tenants to establish 
and operate a tenant organization. 
‘‘(ii) PROTECTED
ACTIVITIES.—Each 
public housing agency and each owner 
shall allow tenants and tenant organizers 
to conduct the following activities related 
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resentatives. In order to preserve the 
independence of tenant organizations, 
management representatives may not 
attend such meetings unless invited by 
the tenant organization to specific 
meetings to discuss a specific issue or 
issues. 
‘‘(iii) PERMISSION.—A public housing 
agency or owner may not require tenants 
or tenant organizers to obtain prior per-
mission before engaging in the activities 
permitted under this paragraph. 
‘‘(iv) 
PRESUMPTION.—If 
a 
public 
housing agency or owner takes an adverse 
action against a tenant that is a member 
of a tenant organization there shall be a 
rebuttable presumption that such adverse 
action is an act of retaliation relating to 
the participation of the tenant in the ten-
ant organization. 
‘‘(D) ENFORCEMENT PROTOCOL.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary 
shall, not later than 1 year after the date 
of the enactment of this paragraph, estab-
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lish a protocol for the enforcement of this 
paragraph and such protocol shall— 
‘‘(I) include an independent in-
vestigation of tenant and advocate al-
legations of abuse and retaliation; 
‘‘(II) provide a mechanism for 
administrative complaints to be made 
and cataloged; 
‘‘(III) keep tenants informed 
about the progression of any com-
plaint; 
‘‘(IV) prohibit the withholding of 
tenant-based rental assistance from 
any tenant that makes a complaint, 
until such complaint is closed; and 
‘‘(V) 
provide 
confidentiality 
where necessary, including in cases 
where alleged abuse is extreme and 
targeted. 
‘‘(ii) REPORT.—The Secretary shall, 
each quarter submit to Committee on Fi-
nancial Services of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Committee on Bank-
ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs, a report 
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with respect to the enforcement of this 
paragraph that— 
‘‘(I) provides all data at both the 
property-level and jurisdiction-level; 
and 
‘‘(II) includes information with 
respect to— 
‘‘(aa) the volume of out-
standing complaints; 
‘‘(bb) the average response 
time for initial complaint; and 
‘‘(cc) the average time it 
takes to close a complaint. 
‘‘(iii) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA-
TIONS.—There are authorized to be appro-
priated, to the Secretary, such sums as are 
necessary to carry out this paragraph. 
‘‘(E) NOTICE OF RIGHT TO ORGANIZE.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Each public hous-
ing agency shall notify each tenant receiv-
ing tenant-based rental assistance of the 
right to organize described in subpara-
graph (A) annually during the recertifi-
cation process. 
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‘‘(ii) 
TENANCY
ADDENDUM.—The 
Secretary shall update the most recent 
Tenancy Addendum for the Section 8 Ten-
ant-Based 
Assistance 
Housing 
Choice 
Voucher Program to describe the right to 
organize provided for in this subsection. 
‘‘(F) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 
‘‘(i) TENANT ORGANIZER.—The term 
‘tenant organizer’ means a tenant or non- 
tenant who assists tenants in establishing 
and operating a tenant organization, and 
who is not an employee or representative of 
current or prospective owners, managers, 
or their agents. 
‘‘(ii) LEGITIMATE TENANT ORGANIZA-
TION.—The term ‘legitimate tenant organi-
zation’ means an organization of 3 more 
tenants receiving tenant-based rental as-
sistance that has been established for the 
purpose described in subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(iii) 
OWNER.—The 
term 
owner 
means a person who owns a dwelling unit 
occupied by a tenant that receives rental 
assistance.’’. 
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SEC. 4. LIHTC TENANT ORGANIZATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 42(g) of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 
following new paragraph: 
‘‘(10) LIHTC TENANT ORGANIZATIONS.— 
‘‘(A) RIGHTS
OF
TENANTS.—Tenants of 
rent-restricted units in any qualified low-income 
housing project shall have the same right as 
tenants described in section 8(o)(22)(A) of the 
United States Housing Act of 1937. 
‘‘(B) RESPONSIBILITIES OF OWNERS AND 
STATE HOUSING CREDIT AGENCIES.—A project 
shall not be treated as a qualified low-income 
housing project for purposes of this section un-
less— 
‘‘(i) each owner of such project meets 
requirements which are the same as the re-
quirements of subparagraphs (B)(ii) and 
(C) of section 8(o)(22) of the United 
States Housing Act of 1937, and 
‘‘(ii) each State housing credit agency 
meets requirements which are the same as 
the requirements of subparagraph (B)(i) 
and (C) of such section. 
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‘‘(C) 
ENFORCEMENT
PROTOCOL.—The 
Secretary, after consultation with the Secretary 
of Housing and Urban Development, shall— 
‘‘(i) establish a protocol for the en-
forcement of this paragraph which is the 
same as the protocol established under sec-
tion 8(o)(22)(D)(i) of the United States 
Housing Act of 1937, except that, for pur-
poses of this subparagraph, the reference 
in such section to ‘tenant-based rental as-
sistance’ shall be treated as a reference to 
the right of the tenant to occupy a rent-re-
stricted unit and to any other right or 
privilege required to be provided to such 
tenant as a condition of the project being 
treated as a qualified low-income housing 
project, and 
‘‘(ii) submit each quarter to the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means of the House 
of Representatives and the Committee on 
Finance of the Senate a report containing 
the 
information 
described 
in 
section 
8(o)(22)(D)(ii) of the United States Hous-
ing Act of 1937 with respect to the en-
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forcement of this paragraph with respect 
to qualified low-income housing projects. 
‘‘(D) NOTICE OF RIGHT TO ORGANIZE.— 
Each State housing credit agency shall annually 
notify each owner and tenant of a rent-re-
stricted unit of a qualified low-income housing 
project of the right to organize referred to in 
subparagraph (A).’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 5. FUNDING FOR TENANT AND OTHER PARTICIPATION 
AND CAPACITY BUILDING. 
Paragraph (3) of section 514(f) of the Multifamily 
Assisted Housing Reform and Affordability Act of 1997 
(42 U.S.C. 1437f note) is amended— 
(1) in subparagraph (A)— 
(A) in the first sentence— 
(i) by striking ‘‘not more than’’ and 
inserting ‘‘not less than’’; 
(ii) by striking ‘‘of low-income housing 
for which project-based rental assistance is 
provided at below market rent levels and 
may not be renewed, (including transfer of 
developments to tenant groups, nonprofit 
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organizations, and public entities), for ten-
ant services’’ and inserting the following: 
‘‘and improvement of low-income housing 
for which project-based rental assistance, 
public housing subsidies, low-income hous-
ing tax credits, Federal or State subsidized 
loans, enhanced vouchers under section 
8(t), or project-based vouchers under sec-
tion 8(o) are provided or proposed’’; and 
(iii) 
in 
the 
second 
parenthetical 
clause, by inserting before the closing pa-
renthesis 
the 
following: 
‘‘, 
and 
predevelopment assistance to enable such 
transfers’’; and 
(B) by inserting after the period at the end 
the following: ‘‘For outreach and training of 
tenants and technical assistance, the Secretary 
shall implement a grant program utilizing per-
formance-based outcome measures for eligible 
costs incurred. Recipients providing capacity 
building or technical assistance services to ten-
ant groups shall be qualified nonprofit State- 
wide, countywide, area-wide, or city-wide orga-
nizations with demonstrated experience includ-
ing at least a two-year recent track record of 
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organizing and providing assistance to tenants, 
and independence from the owner, a prospective 
purchaser, or their managing agents. The Sec-
retary may provide assistance and training to 
grantees in administrative and fiscal manage-
ment to ensure compliance with applicable Fed-
eral requirements. The Secretary shall expedite 
the provision of funding for the fiscal year in 
which the date of the enactment of this Act oc-
curs and by entering into an interagency agree-
ment for not less than $1,000,000 with the 
Corporation for National and Community Serv-
ice to conduct a tenant outreach and training 
program to eligible housing under this sub-
section. The Secretary shall also make available 
flexible grants to qualified nonprofit organiza-
tions that do not own eligible multifamily prop-
erties, for tenant outreach in underserved areas, 
and to experienced national or regional non-
profit organizations to provide specialized train-
ing or support to grantees assisted under this 
section. Notwithstanding any other provision of 
law, funds authorized under this paragraph for 
any fiscal year shall be available for obligation 
in subsequent fiscal years. The Secretary shall 
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require each recipient of amounts made avail-
able pursuant to this subparagraph to submit 
to the Secretary reports, on a quarterly basis, 
detailing the use of such funds and including 
such information as the Secretary shall re-
quire.’’. 
SEC. 6. CLARIFICATION OF TENANT PARTICIPATION IN 
MULTI-FAMILY PROJECTS. 
Section 202(a) of the Housing and Community De-
velopment Amendments of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 1715z–1b(a)) 
is amended by striking ‘‘under 147f of title 42’’ and in-
serting ‘‘under section 147f of title 42, including a project 
assisted under section 8(o)(13) of the Housing Act of 
1937’’. 
SEC. 7. RULEMAKING. 
The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
shall, not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment 
of this section, issue a rule revising section 964.150 of 
title 24, Code of Federal Regulations, to permit housing 
agencies to fund $25 per unit per year for units rep-
resented by duly elected resident councils for resident serv-
ices. 
Æ 
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