After House passage of the “Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act” (S. 2155) on May 22 by a vote of 258-159, President Donald Trump signed the bill into law on May 24. The Senate previously passed the bill on March 14. The bill includes provisions that could undermine the physical integrity of some public housing developments, putting the health and safety of public housing tenants at risk and destabilizing communities. The bill also incorporates the “Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act” and the “Family Self-Sufficiency Act,” which provide important protections and opportunities for low income renters.
NLIHC sent a letter to the Senate on December 7, 2017, outlining our concerns about the bill. Currently, HUD rules provide a concrete, quantitative measure to evaluate the performance of small public housing agencies (PHAs). The new legislation eliminates that measure and gives HUD discretion on when it designates a small PHA as “troubled.” The bill states that a small PHA may be deemed troubled if HUD determines the PHA has failed to maintain its properties “in a satisfactory physical condition,” but does not define what that entails. Such an unclear and subjective standard could lead to poor outcomes in enforcement and oversight, putting tenants’ health and safety at risk.
Additionally, the bill postpones physical inspections for public housing for three years, unless the small PHA has been deemed troubled under the new, vague definition. Current HUD rules allow only the highest performing small PHAs to receive a physical inspection every three years. Those PHAs categorized as standard or substandard are inspected every two years, and those rated as troubled are inspected every year. S. 2155 would also apply a less rigorous standard for evaluating the physical condition of a small PHA’s properties.
Learn more about the bill at: https://bit.ly/2wYvVut