Base Commander Housing Oversight Act

Base Commander Housing Oversight Act

This bill establishes remedies against a lessor of military housing who fails to operate according to the contract.

Specifically, the Department of Defense may withhold a payment, require the lessor to reimburse tenants for personal property damage, or require the lessor to pay tenant moving expenses.

A service member may report maintenance issues to a superior in the chain of command or to an Inspector General.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1403 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1403

    To amend title 10, United States Code, to require the lessor of 
      housing, acquired or constructed under the Military Housing 
      Privatization Initiative and that is located on a military 
     installation, to operate and maintain such housing to certain 
                   standards, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 27, 2019

  Mr. Crist introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend title 10, United States Code, to require the lessor of 
      housing, acquired or constructed under the Military Housing 
      Privatization Initiative and that is located on a military 
     installation, to operate and maintain such housing to certain 
                   standards, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Base Commander Housing Oversight 
Act''.

SEC. 2. MAINTENANCE OF MHPI HOUSING.

    (a) In General.--Subchapter IV of chapter 169 of title 10, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``Sec. 2887. Maintenance of units
    ``(a) In General.--Each contract between the Secretary and a lessor 
of covered housing shall require the following:
            ``(1) The lessor shall operate and maintain the covered 
        housing to standards established in the contract.
            ``(2) If the commander of the military installation on 
        which the covered housing is located determines that the lessor 
        has breached the contract by failing to operate and maintain 
        the covered housing to standards under paragraph (1), the 
        commander may elect from remedies including the following:
                    ``(A) Withholding any payment to the lessor under 
                the contract.
                    ``(B) Requiring the lessor to reimburse tenants of 
                the covered housing for private property of such 
                tenants damaged due to such failure of the lessor.
                    ``(C) Requiring the lessor to pay moving expenses 
                of tenants who vacate the covered housing due to such 
                failure of the lessor.
    ``(b) Covered Housing Defined.--In this section, the term `covered 
housing' means housing--
            ``(1) acquired or constructed under the alternative 
        authority of this subchapter; and
            ``(2) that is located on a military installation.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning 
of such subchapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to 
section 2886 the following new item:

``2887. Maintenance of units.''.
    (c) Reporting Maintenance Issues.--
            (1) In general.--A member of the Armed Forces who resides 
        in covered housing may report maintenance issues regarding such 
        covered housing to a superior in the chain of command or an 
        Inspector General.
            (2) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    (A) The term ``covered housing'' has the meaning 
                given that term in section 2887 of title 10, United 
                States Code, as added by subsection (a).
                    (B) The term ``Inspector General'' has the meaning 
                given that term in section 1034(j) of title 10, United 
                States Code.
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