Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Building Collapse Prevention Act”.
Building Collapse Prevention Act
A BILL
To require the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish a program to require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to inspect buildings containing covered Federally assisted rental housing, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Inspection of covered Federally assisted rental housing
In general— The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall, not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this section, establish a program under which the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall—
if requested by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development after a qualifying event or a Member of the United States House of Representatives or the United States Senate who’s district contains such building after a qualifying event, inspect any building containing covered Federally assisted rental housing and identify any structural issues that could lead such building to collapse; or
if a building containing covered Federally assisted rental housing collapses, inspect the remains of such building.
Definitions— In this section:
Covered Federally assisted rental housing— The term covered Federally assisted rental housing means a residential dwelling unit that is made available for rental and for which assistance is provided, or that is part of a housing project for which assistance is provided, under any program administered by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development or the Secretary of Agriculture including—
the public housing program under the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.);
the program for rental assistance under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f);
the HOME Investment Partnerships program under title II of the Cranton-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12721 et seq.);
title IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11360 et seq.);
the Housing Trust Fund program under section 1338 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C 4568);
the program for supportive housing for the elderly under section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q);
the program for supportive housing for persons with disabilities under section 811 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013);
the AIDS Housing Opportunities program under subtitle D of title VIII of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12901 et seq.);
the program for Native American housing under the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4101 et seq.);
the program for housing assistance for Native Hawaiians under title VIII of the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4221 et seq.); and
the programs for assistance for rural rental housing under title V of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1471 et seq.).
Qualifying event— The term qualifying event means—
a finding by a local building safety regulator of a violation of a local construction or building safety codes that could cause a building to collapse, or
an issuance of an inspection report by a licensed building inspector that finds structural issues with a building.