[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 117 Introduced in House (IH)]

  1st Session
                                 H.R. 117

   To amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 to prevent persons 
 having drug or alcohol use problems from occupying dwelling units in 
 public housing projects designated for occupancy by elderly families, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 4, 1995

   Mr. Blute (for himself, Mr. Bachus, Mr. Bereuter, Mr. Canady, Mr. 
 Franks of Connecticut, Mr. Hancock, Mr. Herger, Mr. Hutchinson, Mrs. 
    Johnson of Connecticut, Mr. Johnston of Florida, Mr. Klug, Mr. 
  Livingston, Mr. Martinez, Mr. McHugh, Mr. Petri, Mr. Quinn, and Mr. 
    Royce) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
              Committee on Banking and Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 to prevent persons 
 having drug or alcohol use problems from occupying dwelling units in 
 public housing projects designated for occupancy by elderly families, 
                        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 ``Senior Citizens Housing Safety Act 
of 1995''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON OCCUPANCY IN PUBLIC HOUSING DESIGNATED FOR 
              ELDERLY FAMILIES.

    (a) In General.--Section 7(a) of the United States Housing Act of 
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437e(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``Notwithstanding any 
        other provision of law'' and inserting ``Subject only to the 
        provisions of this subsection'';
            (2) in paragraph (4), by inserting ``, except as provided 
        in paragraph (5)'' before the period at the end; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(5) Limitation on occupancy in projects for elderly 
        families.--
                    ``(A) Occupancy limitation.--Notwithstanding any 
                other provision of law, a dwelling unit in a project 
                (or portion of a project) that is designated under 
                paragraph (1) for occupancy by only elderly families or 
                by only elderly and disabled families shall not be 
                occupied by--
                            ``(i) any person with disabilities who is 
                        not an elderly person and whose history of use 
                        of alcohol or drugs constitutes a disability; 
                        or
                            ``(ii) any person who is not an elderly 
                        person and whose history of use of alcohol or 
                        drugs provides reasonable cause for the agency 
                        to believe that the occupancy by such person 
                        may interfere with the health, safety, or right 
                        to peaceful enjoyment of the premises by other 
                        tenants.
                    ``(B) Required statement.--A public housing agency 
                may not make a dwelling unit in such a project 
                available for occupancy to any person or family who is 
                not an elderly family, unless the agency acquires from 
                the person or family a signed statement that no person 
                who will be occupying the unit--
                            ``(i) uses (or has a history of use of) 
                        alcohol, or
                            ``(ii) uses (or has a history of use of) 
                        drugs,
                that would interfere with the health, safety, or right 
                to peaceful enjoyment of the premises by other 
                tenants.''.
    (b) Lease Provisions.--Section 6(l) of the United States Housing 
Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437d(l)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (5), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (6) as paragraph (7); and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (5) the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(6) provide that any occupancy in violation of the 
        provisions of section 7(a)(5)(A) or the furnishing of any false 
        or misleading information pursuant to section 7(a)(5)(B) shall 
        be cause for termination of tenancy; and''.

SEC. 3. EVICTION OF NONELDERLY TENANTS HAVING DRUG OR ALCOHOL USE 
              PROBLEMS FROM PUBLIC HOUSING DESIGNATED FOR ELDERLY 
              FAMILIES.

    Section 7(c) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 is amended to 
read as follows:
    ``(c) Standards Regarding Evictions.--
            ``(1) Limitation.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), any 
        tenant who is lawfully residing in a dwelling unit in a public 
        housing project may not be evicted or otherwise required to 
        vacate such unit because of the designation of the project (or 
        a portion of the project) pursuant to this section or because 
        of any action taken by the Secretary of Housing and Urban 
        Development or any public housing agency pursuant to this 
        section.
            ``(2) Requirement to evict nonelderly tenants having drug 
        or alcohol use problems in housing designated for elderly 
        families.--The public housing agency administering a project 
        (or portion of a project) described in subsection (a)(5)(A) 
        shall evict any person whose occupancy in the project (or 
        portion of the project) violates subsection (a)(5)(A).
            ``(3) Requirement to evict nonelderly tenants for 3 
        instances of prohibited activity involving drugs or alcohol.--
        With respect to a project (or portion of a project) described 
        in subsection (a)(5)(A), the public housing agency 
        administering the project shall evict any person who is not an 
        elderly person and who, during occupancy in the project (or 
        portion thereof), engages on 3 separate occasions (occurring 
        after the date of the enactment of the Senior Citizens Housing 
        Safety Act) in any activity that threatens the health, safety, 
        or right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises by other tenants 
        and involves the use of alcohol or drugs.
            ``(4) Rule of construction.--The provisions of paragraphs 
        (2) and (3) requiring eviction of a person may not be construed 
        to require a public housing agency to evict any other persons 
        who occupy the same dwelling unit as the person required to be 
        evicted.''.

SEC. 4. STANDARDS FOR LEASE TERMINATION AND EXPEDITED GRIEVANCE 
              PROCEDURE.

    Section 6 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 
1437d) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (k), in the first sentence of the matter 
        following paragraph (6), by striking ``criminal'' the first 
        place it appears; and
            (2) in subsection (l)(5), by striking ``criminal'' the 
        first place it appears.
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