118 S5087 IS: Tenants’ Right to Organize Act
U.S. Senate
2024-09-18
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II
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 5087
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 18, 2024
Mr. Fetterman (for himself, Ms. Warren, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Sanders, and Ms. Smith) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 to promote the establishment of tenant organizations and provide additional amounts for tenant organizations, and for other purposes.
1.

Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Tenants’ Right to Organize Act”.
2.

Housing choice voucher tenant organizations
Section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(23)

Right to organize
(A)

Definitions
In this paragraph:
(i)

Adverse action
The term adverse action means an action, including the termination or non-renewal of a lease, termination of a subsidy, decreases or delays in services, unplanned increases of the rent or fees, bringing or threats to bring a lawsuit against a lessee for possession, a violation of tenant privacy, or harassment of a tenant and tenant organizers, that is motivated by the good-faith exercise of protected activities described in subparagraph (D).
(ii)

Legitimate tenant organization
The term legitimate tenant organization—
(I)
means an organization of 3 or more families receiving tenant-based rental assistance that—
- (aa)
meets regularly and operates democratically;
- (bb)
is representative of all residents in the organization;
- (cc)
is completely independent of owners, landlords, management, and their representatives; and
- (dd)
has been established for the purpose described in subparagraph (B); and
(II)
includes newly formed resident organizing committees, which do not require specific structures, written by-laws, elections, or resident petitions.
(iii)

Owner
The term owner means any private person or entity, including a landlord, a cooperative, an investor with an ownership share, an agency of the Federal Government, a State housing credit agency, or a public housing agency, who owns and has the legal right to lease or sublease the dwelling unit occupied by a tenant that receives rental assistance.
(iv)

Tenant organizer
The term tenant organizer means a tenant or nontenant who—
(I)
assists tenants in establishing and operating a legitimate tenant organization; and
(II)
is not an employee or representative of current or prospective owners, managers, or their agents.
(B)

Right to organize
Families receiving voucher rental assistance—
(i)
have the right to establish, operate, and participate in a legitimate tenant organization for the purpose of addressing issues related to their living environment, including the terms and conditions of their tenancy and activities related to housing and community development; and
(ii)
may not be retaliated against for asserting the rights described in clause (i).
(C)

Requirements for public housing agencies and owners
(i)

Prohibition on interference and retaliation
Each public housing agency and each owner may not interfere with the right of tenants to establish and operate a legitimate tenant organization or retaliate against any tenant or tenant organizer because of their association with or participation in activities related to a legitimate tenant organization.
(ii)

Public housing agencies
Each public housing agency shall—
(I)
recognize legitimate tenant organizations;
(II)
solicit comments from all legitimate tenant organizations—
- (aa)
if a public housing agency is required to complete an annual public housing agency plan, in alignment with the submission of that plan; or
- (bb)
if a public housing agency is a qualified public housing agency, as described in section 5A(b)(3)(A)(i), not less than once a year;
(III)
after receiving a comment from a legitimate tenant organization—
- (aa)
except as provided in item (bb), not later than 60 days after receiving the comment, meaningfully respond in writing to the comment; and
- (bb)
regarding exigent poor housing conditions, not later than 30 days after receiving the comment, respond in writing to the comment; and
(IV)
seek resident advisory board appointments from legitimate tenant organizations.
(iii)

Owners of units
Each owner shall—
(I)
recognize legitimate tenant organizations; and
(II)
allow tenant organizers to assist tenants in establishing and operating legitimate tenant organizations.
(D)

Protections
(i)

Protected activities
Each public housing agency and each owner shall allow tenants and tenant organizers to conduct the following activities related to the establishment or operation of a legitimate tenant organization:
(I)
Distributing leaflets in lobby areas.
(II)
Placing leaflets at or under tenants’ doors.
(III)
Distributing leaflets in common areas.
(IV)
Initiating contact with tenants.
(V)
Conducting door-to-door surveys of tenants to ascertain interest in establishing a legitimate tenant organization and to offer information about legitimate tenant organizations.
(VI)
Posting information on bulletin boards.
(VII)
Assisting tenants to participate in legitimate tenant organization activities.
(VIII)
Convening regularly scheduled meetings in a space on site and accessible to tenants, in a manner that is fully independent of management representatives. In order to preserve the independence of legitimate tenant organizations, public housing agency staff, owners, landlords, management and their representatives may not attend such meetings unless invited by the legitimate tenant organization to specific meetings to discuss a specific issue or issues.
(IX)
Assisting tenants in creating or appointing tenants to serve on a resident advisory board or resident council.
(X)
Speaking to the public, including the media, elected officials, and government agencies.
(XI)
Other reasonable activities related to the establishment or operation of a legitimate tenant organization.
(ii)

Permission
A public housing agency or owner may not require tenants or tenant organizers to obtain prior permission before engaging in the activities permitted under this paragraph.
(iii)

Presumption
If a public housing agency or owner takes an adverse action against a tenant or tenant organizer that is a member of a legitimate tenant organization during the 180-day period beginning on the date on which the tenant engages in a protected activity under this subparagraph, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the adverse action is an act of retaliation relating to the participation of the tenant in the legitimate tenant organization.
(E)

Notice of right to organize
(i)

Owners
Each owner shall notify shall notify each tenant living at a qualified low-income housing project of the right to organize as described in this paragraph annually.
(ii)

Tenancy addendum
The Secretary shall require each public housing agency to amend the lease addendum to include the right to organize provider for in this paragraph.
(F)

Authorization of appropriations
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such sums as are necessary to carry out this paragraph.”.
3.

LIHTC tenant organizations
(a)

In general
Section 42(g) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
“(10)

LIHTC tenant organizations
(A)

Rights of tenants
In the case of any qualified low-income housing project which is an applicable project, families occupying rent-restricted units in such project shall have the same right as families described in section 8(o)(23)(B)(i) of the United States Housing Act of 1937.
(B)

Responsibilities of owners and state housing credit agencies
In the case of any applicable project, such project shall not be treated as a qualified low-income housing project for purposes of this section unless—
(i)
each owner of such project meets requirements which are the same as the requirements of clauses (i) and (iii) of subparagraph (C) and subparagraph (D) of section 8(o)(23) of the United States Housing Act of 1937, and
(ii)
each State housing credit agency meets requirements which are the same as the requirements of clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (C) and subparagraph (D) of such section.
(C)

Applicable project
For purposes of this paragraph, the term applicable project means—
(i)
any project which is placed in service after the date of enactment of the Tenants’ Right to Organize Act, and
(ii)
any project—
(I)
which was placed in service on or before the date of enactment of such Act, and
(II)
for which the date of enactment of such Act occurred before the end of the compliance period for such project.
(D)

Notice of right to organize
(i)

In general
Each State housing credit agency shall notify each tenant living at a qualified low-income housing project of the right to organize as described in paragraph 10 annually.
(ii)

Tenancy addendum
The Secretary shall require each State housing credit agency—
(I)
that has implemented a standard lease, lease addendum, or other guidance to owners of a qualified low-income housing project, to amend that document to include language affirming lessees’ right to organize provided for in this paragraph; or
(II)
that performs lease-based evaluations of low income-housing tax credit compliance to include in that evaluation a requirement to include a written affirmation of the tenant’s right to organize as provided for in this paragraph.
(E)

Authorization of appropriations
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary such sums as are necessary to carry out this paragraph.”.
(b)

Effective date
The amendment made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.
4.

Enforcement
(a)

In general
Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Office of Public and Indian Housing of the Department of Housing and Urban Development shall, in coordination with the Department of the Treasury, establish a protocol for the enforcement of paragraph (23) of section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)), as added by section 2 of this Act, and paragraph (10) of section 42(g) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as added by section 3 of this Act, that—
(1)
reflects or integrates into existing enforcement protocol for tenants protected under section 202 of the Housing and Community Development Amendments Act of 1978 (12 U.S.C. 1715z–1b), where possible;
(2)
prohibits withholding the tenant-based assistance under such section 8(o) or the denial of the right to occupy an assisted unit or a rent-restricted unit, or any other right or privilege required to be provided as a condition of the tenant-based assistance or the project being treated as a qualified low-income housing project until such complaint is closed;
(3)
creates a mechanism for administrative complaints to be filed, cataloged, and investigated regarding public housing agencies, State housing credit agencies, owners, landlords, management, and their representatives’ alleged violation of their obligation not to interfere with the right of tenants to establish and operate a legitimate tenant organization, which shall—
(A)
provide families remedy when the agency determines a violation of the obligation not to interfere with the right of tenants to establish and operate a legitimate tenant organization;
(B)
include an independent investigation of tenant and advocate allegations of abuse and retaliation;
(C)
keep tenants informed about the progression of any complaint; and
(D)
provide confidentiality if necessary, including in cases where alleged abuse is extreme and targeted; and
(4)
if relevant, appropriately refers complaints related to potential violation of fair housing laws to the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
(b)

Report
The Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Financial Services of the House of Representatives a quarterly report on the enforcement of this section that—
(1)
provides all data at both the property-level and jurisdiction-level; and
(2)
includes—
(A)
the volume of outstanding complaints;
(B)
the average response time to an initial complaint;
(C)
the average time it takes to close a complaint; and
(D)
information about the type of issues reported by tenants that necessitate enforcement action.
5.

Funding for tenant and other participation and capacity building
(a)

Purpose
The purpose of the amendment in subsection (b) is to expand and demonstrate a firm commitment to tenant organizing in Federal housing programs.
(b)

Amendment
Section 514(f)(3)(A) of the Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and Affordability Act of 1997 (42 U.S.C. 1437f note) is amended—
(1)
by striking “not more than” and inserting “not less than”;
(2)
by striking “of low-income” and all that follows through “services” and inserting “and improvement of low-income housing for which project-based rental assistance, public housing subsidies, low-income housing tax credits, Federal or State subsidized loans, enhanced voucher assistance under section 8(t) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(t)), tenant-based voucher assistance, or project-based assistance is provided under section 8 of that Act are provided or proposed”; and
(3)
by inserting after the period at the end the following: “For outreach and training of tenants and technical assistance, the Secretary shall implement a grant program utilizing performance-based outcome measures for eligible costs incurred. Recipients providing capacity building or technical assistance services to tenant groups shall be qualified nonprofit State-wide, countywide, area-wide, or city-wide organizations with demonstrated experience including at least a 2-year recent track record of organizing and providing assistance to tenants, and independence from the owner, a prospective purchaser, or their managing agents. The Secretary may provide assistance and training to grantees in administrative and fiscal management to ensure compliance with applicable Federal requirements. The Secretary shall expedite the provision of funding for the fiscal year in which the Tenants’ Right to Organize Act is enacted and by entering into an interagency agreement for not less than $1,000,000 with the Corporation for National and Community Service to conduct a tenant outreach and training program to eligible housing under this subsection. The Secretary shall also make available flexible grants to qualified nonprofit organizations that do not own eligible multifamily properties, for tenant outreach in underserved areas, and to experienced national or regional nonprofit organizations to provide specialized training or support to grantees assisted under this section. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, funds authorized under this paragraph for any fiscal year shall be available for obligation in subsequent fiscal years. The Secretary shall require each recipient of amounts made available pursuant to this subparagraph to submit to the Secretary quarterly reports detailing the use of such funds and including such information as the Secretary shall require.”.
6.

Increased tenant participation funds for resident councils
In order to expand and demonstrate a firm commitment to tenant organizing in Federal housing programs, not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall provide each resident council, as defined in section 964.100 of title 24, Code of Federal Regulations, $40 per unit per year, to be increased annually to keep pace with inflation.