SB 108-10: Social Housing Act (Passed)

[WD]

AN ACT
To provide for the construction of social housing

Be it enacted by the Senate of the Republic of Atlasia assembled

Section 1. Title

1. This act may be cited as the Social Housing Act.

Section 2

(A) National Housing Construction Program.—

(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 8 of the Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

“(1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be appropriated $95,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2033 for annual contribution contracts for assistance to cover the development costs for new public housing units that meet the following requirements:

“(2) REQUIREMENTS.—

“(A) PUBLIC HOUSING.—All units funded with amounts made available pursuant to this subsection shall comply with and be operated in compliance with all requirements applicable to public housing and the requirements of this subsection.

“(B) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development shall issue regulations to ensure, to the extent practicable, that units funded with amounts made available pursuant to this subsection comply with the following:

“(i) USE.—Notwithstanding any provision of this Act, such units shall be operated as public housing during the entire useful life of such dwelling units and may not be sold or otherwise alienated by the public housing agency receiving such amounts during such useful life.

“(ii) LOCATION AND ACCESSIBILITY.—Such units shall be located in a manner that complies with standards set by the Secretary to ensure proper integration of housing and public transit and ensure that residents of such units have access to sufficient transportation options. Standards should ensure that such units should be integrated with public transit and vehicle alternatives such as walking and biking and should accommodate differences between a transit hub in a town or reservation compared with a large city.

“(iii) ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS.—Such units shall comply with such standards as the established to ensure such units are designed, built, and operated according to the highest possible environmental standard, with a focus on minimizing energy costs and achieving carbon neutrality.

'' (iv) CONTRACTION REQUIREMENTS.--Where possible, the Department of Housing and Urban Development must use contractors and require the use of materials local to the location of social housing units providing this can be done at no extra cost or no lower standard as defined in clause iii of this section.

“(iv) TENANCY RESTRICTIONS.—A public housing agency receiving assistance made available pursuant to this subsection shall not refuse to rent a unit developed with such assistance or otherwise discriminate in the rental of such a dwelling unit based on an individual’s criminal record or immigration status.

“(v) ANTI-DISCRIMINATION.—A public housing agency receiving assistance made available pursuant to this subsection shall not refuse to rent a unit developed with such assistance or otherwise discriminate in the rental of such a dwelling unit because of the sexual orientation or gender identity of any person.

“(vi) AFFIRMATIVELY FURTHERING FAIR HOUSING.—A public housing agency receiving assistance made available pursuant to this subsection shall comply with the final rule entitled ‘Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing’ (80 Fed. Reg. 42272 (July 16, 2015)).

''(C) ALLOCATION.-- The Department shall invite states and municipalities to submit applications for social housing construction in locations under their jurisdiction.

Sponsor: Beesley

The gentleman from New Jersey is recognized

[beesley]

This bill will spur the construction of new social housing, a key part of the social safety net overlooked in Atlasia. New social housing will not only provide housing for those who need it, particularly in areas with shortages of affordable housing, but residents will benefit from the security of such housing compared to private rental. The Department will allocate funding for new homes based on an application basis with no further cost to municipalities than what is already outlined in the bill.

[WD]

This is an excellent proposal, and I look forward to supporting it.

[Mr. Reactionary]

I wish to propose the following minor amendments:

AN ACT
To provide for the construction of social housing

Be it enacted by the Senate of the Republic of Atlasia assembled

Section 1. Title

1. This act may be cited as the Social Housing Act.

Section 2

(A) National Housing Construction Program.—

(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 8 of the Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

“(1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be appropriated $95,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2033 for annual contribution contracts for assistance to cover the development costs for new public low-income housing units that meet the following requirements:

“(2) REQUIREMENTS.—

“(A) PUBLIC LOW-INCOME HOUSING.—All units funded with amounts made available pursuant to this subsection shall comply with and be operated in compliance with all requirements applicable to public low-income  housing and the requirements of this subsection.

“(B) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Internal Affairs shall issue regulations to ensure, to the extent practicable, that units funded with amounts made available pursuant to this subsection comply with the following:

“(i) USE.—Notwithstanding any provision of this Act, such units shall be operated as public low-income  housing during the entire useful life of such dwelling units and may not be sold or otherwise alienated by the public housing agency receiving such amounts during such useful life without first recording restrictive covenants binding future owners to the requirements of this act and regulations promulgated thereunder.

“(ii) LOCATION AND ACCESSIBILITY.—Such units shall be located in a manner that complies with standards set by the Secretary to ensure proper integration of housing and public transit and ensure that residents of such units have access to sufficient transportation options. Standards should ensure that such units should be integrated with public transit and vehicle alternatives such as walking and biking and should accommodate differences between a transit hub in a town or reservation compared with a large city.

“(iii) ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS.—Such units shall comply with NEPA and such standards as the established to ensure such units are designed, built, and operated according to the highest possible environmental standard, with a focus on minimizing energy costs and achieving carbon neutrality.

'' (iv) CONTRACTION REQUIREMENTS.--Where possible, the Department of Housing and Urban Development must use contractors and require the use of materials local to the location of social the housing units providing this can be done at no unreasonable extra cost or no lower standard as defined in clause iii of this section.

“(iv) TENANCY RESTRICTIONS.—A public low-income  housing agency receiving assistance made available pursuant to this subsection shall not refuse to rent a unit developed with such assistance or otherwise discriminate in the rental of such a dwelling unit based on an individual’s criminal record or immigration status.

“(v) ANTI-DISCRIMINATION.—A public low-income  housing agency receiving assistance made available pursuant to this subsection shall not refuse to rent a unit developed with such assistance or otherwise discriminate in the rental of such a dwelling unit because of the race, color, ethnicity, age, disability status, family status, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity of any person.

“(vi) AFFIRMATIVELY FURTHERING FAIR HOUSING APPLICABILITY OF EXISTING LAW.— A public low-income  housing agency receiving assistance made available pursuant to this subsection shall comply with the final rule entitled ‘Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing’ (80 Fed. Reg. 42272 (July 16, 2015)). all other existing federal laws and regulations governing low-income housing and fair housing.

''(C) ALLOCATION.-- The Department shall invite Community Housing Development Organizations (CHDOs), regions, states, and municipalities to submit applications for social low-income housing construction in locations under their jurisdiction.

[Mr. Reactionary]

The proposed amendment does a few things.

By way of background, irl I do HUD compliance for my hometown's low-income housing programs.

The amendment allows participation by Regions as well as CHDOs which are non-profits like Habitat for Humanity for localities that refuse to participate so that nowhere gets left out.

It allows ownership transfers contingent on the new owner continuing the low-income housing activities subject to identical rules. That way if a government backs out or cuts off funding the program can continue uninterrupted.

Since HUD is part of DoIA in-game it clarifies the managing Department.

It expands the fair housing protections to other protected classes.

It expands the buy-local provision.

And instead of singling out 1 of hundreds of laws and regs that the housing must comply with it clarifies that all existing laws and regs must be complied with. Otherwise someone could argue we exempted the unlisted rules.

While I prefer programs to help low-income persons obtain their own private housing, I did not do anything in the amendment to change the goal of the bill to prioritize social housing.

[beesley]

I appreciate the constructive comments made by Mr. R and I will consider them. I urge other Senators not to object to the amendment for the next few hours while I do so.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Just to expound a bit on the "all applicable laws" part, Im trapped on a zoom and pulled up one of our public housing authority agreements with HUD and there is like 25 pages of required boilerplate, including subjecting us to federal laws on:

- Contract bids and appeals
- persons banned from contracts
- eligible contractors
- Conflicts of Interest and antikickback rules
- Limits on high salaries and bonuses
- ban on religious purposes
- lead abatement
- NEPA/TSCA
- permits
- Labor rules on hours/wages/davis bacon/apprentices
- equal opportunity employment
- affirmative fair housing
- Historic Resources survey
- ADA and architectural barriers
- minority business rules
- FOIA/ Document retention
- contractor warranties
- fire code compliance
- federal inspections/audits
- Energy efficiency
- indoor smoking ban
- Flood Control
- Covenants for resale or recapture
- warranties
- indemnification
- insurance minimums
- contract damages
- Assignability/subcontracts
- Tax Credits
- cessation of an entitys existence.

As you see, there are a lot of laws just in the contracts. more in the laws and regs. I know in game we prohibited public housing from discriminating against gun owners.

And just realized, this amendment is already up so i wont add this now, but if agreed to id probably add accepting federal funds, to that provision as well since things like the copeland antikickback act and FOIA are more about federal money than purely low-income housing regs.

A bit more on the covenants, to fulfill the sponsor's desire to keep the housing as social this only allows for "resale" covenants, wherein if the property is not being used for low-income housing it must be transferred to a new owner for that purpose period. IRL there are also "recapture" covenants where the property can be sold to anyone for any purpose if the federal money is recaptured and refunded. While that flexibility is nice, that is NOT allowed under this amendment keeping the funded housing as low-income period. Im not trying to undermine the sponsor's intended goal of prioritizing social housing.

[WD]

24 hours to object

[beesley]

I encourage Senators not to object.

[WD]

Amendment is adopted

[Mr. Reactionary]

My only other amendment is what I mentioned above, inserting: accepting federal funds, in section 2(B)(vi) prior to "low-income housing and fair housing." To ensure that all the federal laws and regs still apply. Then Im done with amendments. Thanks.

[beesley]

Motion for a vote on Mr. R's second amendment.

[Joseph Cao]

Motion for a vote on Mr. R's second amendment.

Just to be clear, is that an objection?

[beesley]

Motion for a vote on Mr. R's second amendment.

Just to be clear, is that an objection?

Nope. I confused myself after seeing that it had stalled. In that case, I presume the amendment has been adopted.

[Joseph Cao]

Motion for a vote on Mr. R's second amendment.

Just to be clear, is that an objection?

Nope. I confused myself after seeing that it had stalled. In that case, I presume the amendment has been adopted.

Well, since it wasn’t said for whatever reason, 24 hours to object to Mr. R’s amendment.

Also presuming the sponsor considers it friendly.

[beesley]

Just to be clear, I support Mr. R's amendment.

[WD]

Motion for a vote on Mr. R's second amendment.

Just to be clear, is that an objection?

Nope. I confused myself after seeing that it had stalled. In that case, I presume the amendment has been adopted.

Well, since it wasn’t said for whatever reason, 24 hours to object to Mr. R’s amendment.

Also presuming the sponsor considers it friendly.

My apologies. I assumed the amendment was coming later as actual amended text (such as in the first amendment).

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

“(ii) LOCATION AND ACCESSIBILITY.—Such units shall be located in a manner that complies with standards set by the Secretary to ensure proper integration of housing and public transit and ensure that residents of such units have access to sufficient transportation options. Standards should ensure that such units should be integrated with public transit and vehicle alternatives such as walking and biking and should accommodate differences between a transit hub in a town or reservation compared with a large city.

One of the biggest problems facing such projects is local opposition from nimbys and zoning restrictions, how can we ensure that the shovels will actually hit the dirt on these projects and not be tied up in court/red tape?

[WD]

Mr. R’s amendment is adopted

[Dr. MB]

I'd like to motion for a final vote here!

[WD]

Opening a final vote in 24 hours

[Deep Dixieland Senator, Muad'dib (OSR MSR)]

Objection to final vote

[WD]

A vote on cloture is now open. Please vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Aye

[WD]

Aye