Housing Inspections Accountability Act
Bill: H.R.8476 | Sponsor: Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria (D-NY)
Policy area: Housing and Community Development

Summary:
Housing Inspections Accountability Act
This bill requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to jointly report on failed property inspections of housing projects that receive rental assistance through programs administered by HUD or USDA. HUD and USDA must also make information about failed housing inspections available through a public database.

To require the Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development and 
Agriculture to submit annual reports to the Congress regarding dwelling 
units in assisted housing that fail property inspections, 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 ``Housing Inspections Accountability 
Act''.

SEC. 2. ANNUAL REPORTS AND DATABASE REGARDING FAILED INSPECTIONS.

    (a) Reports.--
            (1) Contents.--Not later than the expiration of the 12-
        month period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act 
        and annually thereafter, the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
        Development and the Secretary of Agriculture shall jointly 
        submit to the Committee on Financial Services of the House of 
        Representatives and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 
        Urban Affairs of the Senate a report--
                    (A) identifying--
                            (i) all inspections of covered properties 
                        conducted during the preceding 12 months that 
                        resulted in a failing or unsatisfactory score 
                        for the property;
                            (ii) the program under which such property 
                        was assisted at the time of the inspection;
                            (iii) the defects and violations identified 
                        by the inspection and the status of remediation 
                        with respect to such defects and violations;
                            (iv) the number of households in such 
                        properties on waiting lists to be moved to a 
                        different unit, the reasons they need a 
                        different unit, the duration that they have 
                        been on such a waiting list, and the typical 
                        duration before a household on such a waiting 
                        list is moved to a different unit or property; 
                        and
                            (v) the number of covered properties with a 
                        failing score that have requested an appeal and 
                        the share of covered properties that were 
                        granted an appeal; and
                    (B) including such other information that either 
                such Secretary considers relevant.
            (2) Requirements.--Each Secretary identified in paragraph 
        (1) shall make the reports submitted pursuant to such paragraph 
        publicly available online and shall ensure that the reports do 
        not include any personally identifiable information.
            (3) Covered property.--For purposes of this subsection, the 
        term ``covered property'' means any housing project that is 
        provided rental assistance under a rental assistance program 
        administered by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
        or the Secretary of Agriculture.
    (b) Database.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than the expiration of the 12-
        month period beginning on the date of the enactment of this 
        Act, the Secretaries identified in subsection (a)(1) shall 
        jointly develop, and make publicly available online, a 
        searchable database that enables the public to search, find, 
        and download data regarding the inspection status and scores of 
        individual housing projects provided rental assistance under a 
        rental assistance program administered by either such 
        Secretary, information regarding defects identified in 
        individual housing projects, and information regarding whether 
        such defects have been resolved.
            (2) Updating.--The Secretaries identified in subsection 
        (a)(1) shall--
                    (A) update the information in the database 
                developed pursuant to paragraph (1) regularly to 
                reflect current information regarding the status and 
                inspection scores for individual housing projects; and
                    (B) ensure that the database is updated with any 
                newly determined score for a project not later than 30 
                days after such score is determined.
            (3) Privacy protection.--The database developed pursuant to 
        paragraph (1) shall not make available any personally 
        identifiable information.
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