---
kind: "section"
citation: "29 U.S.C. § 1823"
title: "29"
title_heading: "Labor"
number: "1823"
heading: "Safety and health of housing"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/29/1823"
units:
  - "Chapter 20 — Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection"
  - "Subchapter II — Migrant Agricultural Worker Protections"
---

# §1823. Safety and health of housing

- (a) **Compliance with substantive Federal and State safety and health standards—** Except as provided in [subsection (c)](#c), each [person](/usc/29/1802.md?p=9) who owns or controls a facility or real property which is used as housing for [migrant agricultural workers](/usc/29/1802.md?p=8-A) shall be responsible for ensuring that the facility or real property complies with substantive Federal and [State](/usc/29/1802.md?p=12) safety and health standards applicable to that housing.
- (b) **Certification that applicable safety and health standards met; posting of certificate of occupancy; retention of certificate and availability for inspection and review; occupancy prior to inspection—**
  - (1) Except as provided in [subsection (c)](#c) and paragraph (2) of this subsection, no facility or real property may be occupied by any [migrant agricultural worker](/usc/29/1802.md?p=8-A) unless either a [State](/usc/29/1802.md?p=12) or local health authority or other appropriate agency has certified that the facility or property meets applicable safety and health standards. No [person](/usc/29/1802.md?p=9) who owns or controls any such facility or property shall permit it to be occupied by any [migrant agricultural worker](/usc/29/1802.md?p=8-A) unless a copy of the certification of occupancy is posted at the site. The receipt and posting of a certificate of occupancy does not relieve any [person](/usc/29/1802.md?p=9) of responsibilities under [subsection (a)](#a). Each such [person](/usc/29/1802.md?p=9) shall retain the original certification for three years and shall make it available for inspection and review in accordance with [section 1862 of this title](/usc/29/1862.md).
  - (2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) of this subsection, if a request for the inspection of a facility or real property is made to the appropriate [State](/usc/29/1802.md?p=12) or local agency at least forty-five days prior to the date on which it is occupied by [migrant agricultural workers](/usc/29/1802.md?p=8-A) and such agency has not conducted an inspection by such date, the facility or property may be so occupied.
- (c) **Applicability to providers of housing on a commercial basis to the general public—** This section does not apply to any [person](/usc/29/1802.md?p=9) who, in the ordinary course of that [person](/usc/29/1802.md?p=9)’s business, regularly provides housing on a commercial basis to the general public and who provides housing to [migrant agricultural workers](/usc/29/1802.md?p=8-A) of the same character and on the same or comparable terms and conditions as is provided to the general public.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 97–470, title II, § 203, Jan. 14, 1983, 96 Stat. 2591.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Section effective 90 days from Jan. 14, 1983, see section 524 of Pub. L. 97–470, set out as a note under section 1801 of this title.