HUD Health and Safety Accountability Act

Bill: 117-s-3419
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Rubio, Marco [R-FL]
Introduced: 2021-12-16
Policy area: Housing and Community Development
Latest action: action_date: 2021-12-16
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Summaries:
action_date: 2021-12-16
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>HUD Health and Safety Accountability Act</b></p> <p>This bill requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to make changes to policies and procedures applicable to HUD multifamily housing programs. </p> <p>For example, the bill requires management and occupancy reviews conducted by the Office of Multifamily Housing Programs to include specified graded factors.</p> <p>Additionally, the bill requires changes to (1) local code enforcement response, (2) HUD oversight of individual units that receive Section 8 housing assistance, (3) tenant surveys issued by performance-based contract administrators, and (4) the disclosure of program contact information to tenants.</p>

tv_txt: II 117th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 3419 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES December 16, 2021 Mr. Rubio (for himself and Mr. Scott of Florida ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs A BILL To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to reform policies and issue guidance related to health and safety accountability, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the HUD Health and Safety Accountability Act . 2. Definitions In this Act: (1) Department The term Department means the Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2) Secretary The term Secretary means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 3. Reforms to management and occupancy reviews Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall make the following reforms to management and occupancy reviews conducted by the Office of Multifamily Housing Programs: (1) Form 9843 shall be restructured to include the following as graded factors: (A) Responsiveness of local code violations. (B) Remediation of health and sanitation and structural integrity issues outlined in uniform physical condition standards inspections. (C) Remediation of deficiencies outlined in any demand for corrective actions. (D) Restoration of the resident satisfaction section and inclusion of feedback from tenants to contribute to the grading. (2) Rebalance existing grading methodology to prioritize— (A) health, safety, and sanitation conditions; (B) general physical condition is compliant with contractual standards; and (C) remediation of tenant concerns regarding unit conditions, particularly health, safety, and sanitation. (3) The Performance Based Contract Administrator may formally recommend abatement or cure period for properties and resident units that do not meet contractual or Federal, State, or local standards. (4) Owner-reported notices of local code violations, security and incident reports, and uniform physical condition standards inspection reports from the Department shall be included in the review for the category for overall assessment and score results. (5) During the review, Performance Based Contract Administrators may assess conditions of both occupied (with resident consent) and unoccupied units. (6) If a property that has not received a uniform physical condition standards inspection within 1 year receives an unsatisfactory rating on a review, a uniform physical condition standards inspection shall be automatically required within 120 days. (7) Allows the Secretary to allocate revenue from civil money penalties on owners as a result of housing assistance payment contract violations to fund the reviews and uniform physical condition standards inspections. 4. Reforms to local code enforcement Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue guidance to reform local code enforcement by the Department, including by requiring owners, or designated property managers, of properties receiving project-based rental assistance under section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 ( 42 U.S.C. 1437f(o) ) to— (1) report to the appropriate Performance Based Contract Administrator and regional office of the Department within 14 days of receiving official notice— (A) local code enforcement findings of deficient conditions at properties both generally and at resident units, including— (i) a copy of the official notice; (ii) a summary of the deficiency findings; and (iii) a priority summary of health and safety conditions cited and compliance requirements; and (2) report to the local code enforcement entity that the owner or designated property manager, as applicable, has submitted the information under paragraph (1). 5. Reforms to HUD oversight Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue guidance to— (1) reform the scoring methodology for uniform physical condition standards inspections to prioritize health and safety conditions, including interior unit conditions; (2) require the Secretary to verify in person that owners have taken action to address health and safety deficiencies outlined in a demand for corrective action; (3) requires property owners to report all deficiencies listed in a demand for corrective action to the applicable Performance Based Contract Administrator; and (4) allow for the Department to abate individual units assisted under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 ( 42 U.S.C. 1437f ) from contractual financial payments for exigent health and safety reasons, provided that tenants of such units shall not be required to pay contributions toward rent for during the abatement periods. 6. Reforms to tenant surveys Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall develop a process by which a Performance Based Contract Administrator shall issue tenant surveys, as follows: (1) For properties receiving a uniform physical condition standards inspection score of not less than 60/100 and not more than 80/100, tenant surveys shall be made available to a sampling of not less than 20 percent of residents of each structure under a housing assistance payments contract, and will be required on the next inspection, and ongoing for each inspection until the property receives a score that is more than 80/100. (2) For properties receiving a uniform physical condition standards inspection score of not more than 59/100, tenant surveys shall be made available for 100 percent of tenants of each structure covered under a housing assistance payments contract for the purpose of identifying consistent or persistent problems with the physical condition of the structure or performance of the manager of the structure. (3) The tenant surveys shall be reviewed by the Performance Based Contract Administrator and included as graded factors in uniform physical condition standards inspections, with priority provided for health and safety deficiencies. 7. Contact information Each owner of a property receiving assistance under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 ( 42 U.S.C. 1437f ) shall, on an annual basis, provide to tenants contact information for the applicable— (1) regional office of the Department; (2) local field office of the Department; (3) public housing agency, as defined in section 3(b) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 ( 42 U.S.C. 1437a(b) ); and (4) Performance Based Contract Administrator. 8. Report Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report that— (1) examines the capital reserves of each structure under a housing assistance payment contract under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 ( 42 U.S.C. 1437f ) with a uniform physical condition standards inspection score of 59/100 or below, including the use of funds derived from the housing assistance payment contract for purposes unrelated to the maintenance and capitalization of the structure, and the remediation of health and safety issues outlined in uniform physical condition standards inspections, demands for corrective actions, and notices of default; (2) includes a list of each structure under a housing assistance payment contract under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 ( 42 U.S.C. 1437f ) that has received a demand for corrective action from the Department but has not complied with compliance or remediation requirements; (3) a list of each structure under a housing assistance payment contract under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 ( 42 U.S.C. 1437f ) that has not received a uniform physical condition standards inspection according to the applicable timeline requirements under section 200.857(b) of title 24, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation) during the 5-year period preceding the date of the report, and a detailed explanation for why each such structure was not inspected in according to the applicable timelines; (4) a detailed list of all crimes of violence (as defined in section 16 of title 18, United States Code) that have taken place at each structure under a housing assistance payment contract under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 ( 42 U.S.C. 1437f ) during the 5-year period preceding the date of the report, and recommendations for improving safety and precautionary security efforts to keep tenants safe from crimes of violence; and (5) a detailed list of programmatic recommendations regarding assistance provided under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 ( 42 U.S.C. 1437f ), including— (A) improving health, sanitation, and safety conditions; (B) physical rehabilitation of properties for long-term sustainability; and (C) improving enforcement mechanisms on both property owners and contracted managers to remediate deficiencies.