Public Housing Fire Safety Act

This bill aims to make public housing safer from fires by adding more sprinkler systems. It tells HUD to check whether public housing buildings have sprinklers during their regular inspections and to deliver a full report to Congress within three years, including ideas to improve fire safety in certain “exempted” projects. It also creates a competitive grant program so public housing agencies can install automatic sprinklers in those exempted projects. The money cannot be used to add sprinklers to rebuilt multifamily properties defined elsewhere in law.

The bill sets aside $25 million a year, from 2025 through 2034, to help pay for these sprinkler upgrades through the Capital Fund. It does not require agencies to install sprinklers in exempted projects; it offers funding to encourage it.

• Who is affected: People living in public housing, public housing agencies, and HUD inspectors.
• What changes: HUD must track and report which buildings have sprinklers; a new grant program helps add sprinklers in certain projects; funds can’t be used for rebuilt multifamily properties as defined in law.
• When: HUD’s report is due within three years of the bill becoming law; grant funding is authorized each year from 2025 to 2034.