Green New Deal for Public Housing Act

Green New Deal for Public Housing Act

This bill addresses energy efficiency and workforce development in the context of public housing.

Specifically, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) must award grants to public housing agencies (PHAs) and other eligible entities under a variety of new programs, including programs for

• facilitating workforce development and high-income employment transition;
  
• conducting physical needs assessments and subsequent energy efficiency retrofits; and
  
• making upgrades, replacements, and improvements for energy efficiency, building electrification, and water quality upgrades.

Recipients of these grants must provide relocation assistance for residents who are displaced during construction and must ensure that they can return to their homes once retrofitting is completed.

A certain percentage of the employment positions generated by these grant programs and other specified federal grant programs must be filled by low-income individuals, and a specified percentage of certain contracts associated with these programs must be awarded to businesses owned by residents of public housing.

The bill also repeals a provision that prohibits a PHA from using HUD funds to construct or operate new public housing units if doing so would result in the PHA owning or operating more units than it did on October 1, 1999.