[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 553 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 553

  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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 28, 2023

    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.

    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 ``HUD Health and Safety Accountability 
Act of 2023''.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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).

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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.
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