I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2145
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 18, 1993
Mrs. MALONEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs
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 who are elderly families,
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.
‘‘(2) FEDERALLY ASSISTED RENTAL HOUSING
FOR THE ELDERLY OR DISABLED.—The term ‘feder-
ally assisted rental housing for the elderly or dis-
abled’ means any rental housing project that is as-
sisted under—
‘‘(A) section 202 of the Housing Act of
1959;
‘‘(B) section 811 of the Cranston-Gonzalez
National Affordable Housing Act; or
‘‘(C) the United States Housing Act of
1937, the National Housing Act, or title V of
the Housing Act of 1949, and is designated for
occupancy by elderly or disabled families or by
elderly or handicapped families.
‘‘(3) OTHER
FEDERALLY
ASSISTED
RENTAL
HOUSING.—The term ‘other federally assisted rental
housing’ means any—
‘‘(A) public housing project (as such term
is defined in section 3(b) of the United States
Housing Act of 1937);
‘‘(B) housing for which project-based as-
sistance is provided under section 8 of the Unit-
ed States Housing Act of 1937;
‘‘(C) housing financed by a loan or mort-
gage insured under section 221(d)(3) of the
National Housing Act that bears interest at a
rate determined under the proviso of section
221(d)(5) of such Act;
‘‘(D) housing insured, assisted, or held by
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment or a State or State agency under section
236 of the National Housing Act;
‘‘(E) housing constructed or substantially
rehabilitated pursuant to assistance provided
under section 8(b)(2) of the United States
Housing Act of 1937, as in effect before Octo-
ber 1, 1983, that is assisted under a contract
for assistance under such section; and
‘‘(F) rental housing project assisted under
title V of the Housing Act of 1949.’’.
SEC. 3. REGULATIONS AND EFFECTIVE DATE.
(a) REGULATIONS.—Not later than the expiration of
the 12-month period beginning on the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development and the Secretary of Agriculture shall each
issue any regulations necessary to carry out section 227
of the Housing and Urban-Rural Recovery Act of 1983,
as amended by section 2 of this Act.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 227 of the Housing
and Urban-Rural Recovery Act of 1983, as amended by
section 2 of this Act, shall take effect upon the earlier
of—
(1) the effective date of the regulations issued
under subsection (a); or
(2) the expiration of the 18-month period begin-
ning on the date of the enactment of this Act.
After the enactment of this Act and before the effective
date under the preceding sentence, the provisions of such
section 227 shall continue to apply as if the amendments
made section 2 of this Act had not been enacted.
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