3.0.0 2076 2022-11-01T13:50:42Z 2022-11-01T13:50:42Z Senate S 2019-07-10 116 ssbk00 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Senate Standing Referred to 2019-07-10T17:55:34Z Fair Chance at Housing Act of 2018 116 3685 HR 2019-07-10 Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services. Related bill CRS 2019-07-10 ssbk00 Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. IntroReferral 2019-07-10 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress H001075 Sen. Harris, Kamala D. [D-CA] Kamala Harris D CA D. N B001288 Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ] Cory Booker D NJ 2019-07-10 True Housing and Community Development Administrative law and regulatory procedures Advisory bodies Criminal justice information and records Drug, alcohol, tobacco use Evidence and witnesses Government information and archives Housing discrimination Housing industry and standards Judicial review and appeals Landlord and tenant Low- and moderate-income housing Public housing Housing and Community Development 00 2019-07-10 Introduced in Senate 2020-09-11T14:41:07Z Fair Chance at Housing Act of 2019

This bill limits the authority of public housing agencies (PHAs) to deny or terminate federally assisted housing based on criminal conduct by the applicant or tenant. 

Specifically, PHAs may deny or terminate assistance based only on criminal conduct that threatens the health or safety of other tenants or the employees or owner of the PHA, excluding misdemeanors and certain other lesser criminal offenses. Furthermore, with respect to applicants, a denial may be based only on a felony conviction other than a conviction for a drug offense for which the individual served less than 10 years.

Before denying or terminating assistance based on criminal conduct, a PHA must conduct an individualized review and consider specified factors, including evidence of rehabilitation. PHAs must also give the household an opportunity to remove the culpable member before proceeding with the denial or termination.

Additionally, PHAs may not drug test applicants or tenants as a condition of assistance.

Under current law, PHAs must deny, and may terminate, federally assisted housing upon a determination that any household member is illegally using a controlled substance. Current law also allows PHAs to take such actions if there is reasonable cause to believe that a household member's illegal use of a controlled substance or abuse of alcohol may interfere with the health, safety, or right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises by other residents. Further, tenants evicted on the basis of drug-related criminal activity are not eligible under current law for federally assisted housing for three years, unless the tenant successfully completes a rehabilitation program.

]]> Fair Chance at Housing Act of 2019 Display Title Fair Chance at Housing Act of 2019 Short Title(s) as Introduced Fair Chance at Housing Act of 2019 Introduced in Senate IS Official Title as Introduced A bill to reform the screening and eviction policies for Federal housing assistance in order to provide fair access to housing, and for other purposes. Introduced in Senate IS Introduced in Senate 2019-07-10T04:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-116s2076is/xml/BILLS-116s2076is.xml 2019-07-10 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.