Grants for providing safe residential temperatures in all federally assisted dwellings

(a) Authority The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (in this section referred to as the Secretary), in consultation with the NIHHIS, shall carry out a program under this section to make grants to public housing agencies and owners of covered federally assisted rental dwelling units to enable covered federally assisted rental dwelling units to comply with the safe residential temperature standards established pursuant to section 303(b). (b) Eligible activities Amounts from a grant under the program under this section may be used only for costs of acquiring and installing air conditioning or other means or mechanisms that meet such standards as the Secretary shall establish regarding cooling capacity, safety, reliability, and energy efficiency, for covered federally assisted rental dwelling units that were constructed before the date of the enactment of this Act, to enable such dwelling units to comply with the safe residential temperature standards established pursuant to section 303(b) in a manner provided for in the plan set forth in the report under section 303(a). (c) Applications The Secretary shall provide for public housing agencies and owners of covered federally assisted rental dwelling units to apply for grants under the program under this section. (d) Selection (1) In general The Secretary shall select applicant public housing agencies and owners of covered federally assisted rental dwelling units to receive grants under the program under this section based on a competition, in accordance with such criteria as the Secretary shall establish. (2) Preference The criteria under paragraph (1) shall provide preference for selection of applicants proposing to use the grant for covered federally assisted rental dwelling units located in communities with limited access to cooling centers. (e) Owner defined For the purposes of this section the term owner means, with respect to a covered federally assisted rental dwelling unit, any private person or entity, including a cooperative, an agency of the Federal Government, or a public housing agency, having the legal right to lease or sublease dwelling units. (f) Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section such sums as may be necessary for assistance under this section sufficient for all covered federally assisted rental dwelling units to meet the safe residential temperature standards established pursuant to section 6(b).