[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 128 (Friday, July 28, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1087]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         INTRODUCTION OF THE HOUSING ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2017

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                            HON. STEVE COHEN

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 28, 2017

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing alongside Rep. Dennis 
Ross of Florida, the Housing Accountability Act of 2017 to hold 
property owners of low-income housing accountable for poor living 
conditions.
  This legislation would require the U.S. Department of Housing and 
Urban Development (HUD) to survey tenants living in subsidized housing 
twice a year about property conditions and management performance and 
create new penalties for property owners who repeatedly fail the tenant 
surveys.
  The Housing Accountability Act comes in the wake of recent local and 
federal investigations that found deplorable living conditions at 
several federally subsidized-housing properties owned by Global 
Ministries Foundation (GMF) in Memphis, Tennessee and Jacksonville, 
Florida.
  For too long, property managers like Global Ministries have taken 
advantage of HUD's lack of effective oversight and over dependence on 
often unreliable third-party property inspections, and as a result 
continue to force our nation's most vulnerable to live in squalor with 
impunity.
  This bill seeks to put an end to these malpractices, hold federally-
subsidized property managers to account, and provide HUD the necessary 
authority and directive to ensure that public housing units are 
suitable homes for all families, children, and hardworking Americans.
  I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this 
bipartisan, bicameral legislation and do right by the American public.

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