[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 307 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 307
To authorize additional monies to the Public Housing Capital Fund of
the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 11, 2023
Ms. Velazquez (for herself, Mr. Goldman of New York, Mr. Meeks, Mr.
Torres of New York, Ms. Meng, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Espaillat, Mr.
Nadler, Mr. Bowman, and Ms. Clarke of New York) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial
Services
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
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 (Public Law 75-
412) charges the Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) with providing residents with a decent, safe, and
affordable place to live, including those that 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) Passage of the United States Housing Act of 1937 sought
to address the needs of low-income people through public
housing. At the time of passage of such Act, the Nation's
housing stock was of very poor quality. Public housing was a
significant improvement for those 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 residents' rent contributions.
(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)
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, the number of
public housing units nationally 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)--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 1.2 million units of
public housing across the country receiving Federal funding.
The Nation's largest public housing authority, the New York
City Public 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
billion.
(15) Federal disinvestment in public housing has forced
many residents to live in accelerating substandard living. For
example, the New York City Housing Authority has a capital
repair backlog currently estimated at more than $40 billion.
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 Nation, 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 such as minority
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 our society.
(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
these health issues 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 Americans have a
decent home and suitable living environment, as is HUD's
charge.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is 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 amount
shall remain available until expended and, notwithstanding subsections
(c)(1) and (d)(2) of such section 9, shall be allocated to public
housing agencies based upon the extent of such agencies' capital need,
as determined according to the agencies' most recent Physical Needs
Assessment.
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