Public Housing Emergency Response Act
Bill: S.679 | Sponsor: Sen. Warren, Elizabeth (D-MA)
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 (42 U.S.C. 1437 
        et seq.) charges the Department of Housing and Urban 
        Development (referred to in this section as ``HUD'') with 
        providing individuals with a decent, safe, and affordable place 
        to live, including individuals who 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) In enacting the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 
        U.S.C. 1437 et seq.), Congress sought to address the needs of 
        low-income individuals through public housing. At the time of 
        enactment of that Act, the housing stock of the United States 
        was of very poor quality. Public housing was a significant 
        improvement for individuals 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 rent contributions of residents.
            (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; 112 
        Stat. 2518) 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 (title V of Public 
        Law 105-276; 112 Stat. 2518), the number of public housing 
        units in the United States 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; 123 Stat. 115)--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 1,200,000 units of 
        public housing across the United States receiving Federal 
        funding. The largest public housing authority in the United 
        States, the New York City 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 
        $70,000,000,000.
            (15) Federal disinvestment in public housing has forced 
        many residents to live in accelerating substandard living 
        conditions. For example, the New York City Housing Authority 
        has a capital repair backlog currently estimated at more than 
        $40,000,000,000. 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 United States, 
        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, including 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 society in the United States.
            (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 the 
        health issues described in this section 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 people of the 
        United States have a decent home and suitable living 
        environment, as is the charge of HUD.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are 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--
            (1) shall remain available until expended; and
            (2) notwithstanding subsections (c)(1) and (d)(2) of such 
        section 9, shall be allocated to public housing agencies based 
        on the extent of the capital needs of those public housing 
        agencies, as determined according to the most recent physical 
        needs assessment required under section 905.300(a) of title 24, 
        Code of Federal Regulations, of each public housing agency.
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