Public Housing Emergency Response Act
Bill: H.R.235 | Sponsor: Rep. Velazquez, Nydia M. (D-NY)
Policy area: Housing and Community Development

Summary:
Public Housing Emergency Response Act
This bill authorizes additional assistance from the Public Housing Capital Fund to public housing agencies based upon capital need as determined by the agencies' most recent Physical Needs Assessment.

To authorize additional monies to the Public Housing Capital Fund of 
    the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Public Housing Emergency Response 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Housing is a foundational determinant of health and has 
        been recognized as such since the early days of public health.
            (2) Poor housing conditions contribute to a broad range of 
        infectious diseases, chronic diseases, injuries, childhood 
        development complications, nutrition issues, and mental health 
        challenges.
            (3) The United States Housing Act of 1937 (Public Law 75-
        412) charges the Department of Housing and Urban Development 
        (HUD) with providing residents with a decent, safe, and 
        affordable place to live, including those that live in public 
        housing.
            (4) While public housing is a federally created program 
        overseen by HUD, the properties are owned and managed at the 
        local level by quasi-governmental public housing authorities 
        under contract with the Federal Government.
            (5) Thus, the public housing program is governed in part by 
        Federal rules and regulations and in part by policies enacted 
        at the local level.
            (6) Passage of the United States Housing Act of 1937 sought 
        to address the needs of low-income people through public 
        housing. At the time of passage of such Act, the Nation's 
        housing stock was of very poor quality. Public housing was a 
        significant improvement for those who had access to it.
            (7) However, over the years the living conditions in public 
        housing began to deteriorate as the operational needs of the 
        units and costs necessary to remedy major capital deficiencies 
        began to outpace the level of funding provided by the Federal 
        Government and the residents' rent contributions.
            (8) By 1990, no significant investment in housing 
        affordable to the lowest-income individuals had been made by 
        the Federal Government in more than 30 years.
            (9) In 1998, the enactment of the Quality Housing and Work 
        Responsibility Act of 1998 (title V of Public Law 105-276) 
        prohibited public housing authorities from using any Federal 
        capital funding or operating funding to develop net new 
        housing.
            (10) More than a decade after the enactment of the Quality 
        Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998, the number of 
        public housing units nationally began to steadily decline, as 
        more units were torn down than rebuilt.
            (11) With the exception of an infusion of funding from the 
        economic stimulus legislation in 2009--the American Recovery 
        and Reinvestment Act (Public Law 111-5)--Federal capital 
        funding has remained relatively level for more than a decade, 
        despite an increasing backlog in unmet capital needs.
            (12) Today, there are approximately 1.2 million units of 
        public housing across the country receiving Federal funding. 
        The Nation's largest public housing authority, the New York 
        City Public Housing Authority, houses approximately 362,000 
        residents in 302 developments across New York City.
            (13) The Public Housing Capital Fund of the Department of 
        Housing and Urban Development remains the primary source of 
        funding public housing authorities rely on to address necessary 
        infrastructure upgrades and repairs.
            (14) As of October 2019, the national public housing 
        capital repairs backlog was estimated to stand at more than $70 
        billion.
            (15) Federal disinvestment in public housing has forced 
        many residents to live in accelerating substandard living. For 
        example, the New York City Housing Authority has a capital 
        repair backlog currently estimated at more than $40 billion. 
        New York City Housing Authority residents suffer from a 
        consistent lack of hot water, insufficient heat during the 
        winter months, rodent and insect infestations, broken 
        elevators, and widespread and recurring lead and mold problems.
            (16) Substandard housing conditions, such as poor 
        ventilation, pest infestations, and water leaks, are directly 
        associated with the development and exacerbation of respiratory 
        diseases like asthma.
            (17) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has 
        made clear that no level of lead poisoning is safe. Lead 
        poisoning can result in irreversible brain damage and affects 
        every major bodily system. At high levels, lead poisoning can 
        cause anemia, multi-organ damage, seizures, coma, and death in 
        children. Even with the lowest levels of lead exposure, 
        children experience physical, cognitive, and neurobehavioral 
        impairment as well as lower IQ levels, lower class standing in 
        high school, greater absenteeism, lower vocabulary and 
        grammatical-reasoning scores, and poorer hand-eye coordination 
        relative to other children.
            (18) Exposure to cold indoor temperatures is associated 
        with increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
            (19) Due to its aging infrastructure, the living conditions 
        in public housing are causing severe health consequences for 
        public housing residents throughout the Nation, including 
        asthma, respiratory illness, and elevated blood lead levels.
            (20) For example, one leading study found that children 
        living in public housing have higher odds of asthma than 
        children living in all types of private housing, even after 
        adjusting for individual risk factors such as minority 
        ethnicity and race, living in a low-income household, and 
        living in a low-income community.
            (21) The rise of the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a new 
        level of risk into our society.
            (22) Poor housing conditions have been linked with worse 
        health outcomes and infectious disease spread. One leading 
        study found that counties with a higher percentage of 
        households with poor housing had a higher incidence of, and 
        mortality associated with, COVID-19 and recommended targeted 
        health policies to support individuals living in poor housing 
        conditions in order to mitigate adverse outcomes associated 
        with COVID-19.
            (23) This is a fixable public health crisis. Federal 
        disinvestment in public housing has consequences and aging 
        infrastructure is, in many cases, the root cause of many of 
        these health issues for residents.
            (24) Therefore, it is necessary to reinvest in public 
        housing, provide the money needed to fulfill outstanding 
        capital needs, and to again ensure that all Americans have a 
        decent home and suitable living environment, as is HUD's 
        charge.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated for assistance from the 
Public Housing Capital Fund under section 9(d) of the United States 
Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437g(d)) $70,000,000,000, which amount 
shall remain available until expended and, notwithstanding subsections 
(c)(1) and (d)(2) of such section 9, shall be allocated to public 
housing agencies based upon the extent of such agencies' capital need, 
as determined according to the agencies' most recent Physical Needs 
Assessment.
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