Housing Liaison Office

(a) Establishment (1) In general Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Postmaster shall establish within the Postal Service a Housing Liaison Office. (2) Placement The Postmaster may task an existing office of the Postal Service with the functions of the Office. (b) Duties The duties of the Office shall be to support the lease of Postal Service real property for housing development in accordance with this Act and carry out the following: (1) Inventory parcels for leasing (A) In general The Office shall identify all real property owned by the Postal Service, with respect to which the lease of such property, in whole or in part, including the lease of any right in connection with such property, may be feasible for housing development. (B) Factors In identifying any parcel of real property for the purposes of subparagraph (A), the Office shall consider— (i) the parcel’s size, shape, grading, adjacencies, developable air rights, developable ground rights, and potential for site consolidation with neighboring land parcels; (ii) any physical constraints on the development of the parcel for housing; and (iii) the parcel’s proximity to amenities, including employers, public transportation stations, utilities, and other services and amenities. (C) Publication of Inventory Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter on January 1 of each year, the Office shall publish the inventory of property identified under subparagraph (A) in the Federal Register and on an official Postal Service website. (2) Establish a joint development process (A) Establishment Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Office shall publish guidance on a publicly available website establishing a process by which a Joint Development Partnership may propose and negotiate with the Office to lease, in whole or in part, Postal Service real property, including developable ground rights, developable air rights, and any other potential development rights, for an eligible housing use. (B) Requirements The joint development process established under subparagraph (A) shall, in sequential order— (i) permit a public entity to identify any particular parcel of real property owned by the Postal Service for a joint development proposal, whether or not it is included in the inventory published under paragraph (1)(C); (ii) permit a Joint Development Partnership to propose an eligible housing use for the parcel; and (iii) permit a Joint Development Partnership to enter into negotiations with the Office to potentially lease the identified parcel, in accordance with this Act. (C) Model Documents Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Office shall make publicly available model lease agreements and model versions of other transactional documents which may be used by the Office to complete real property transactions pursuant to this Act. (3) Disposition for Housing Development (A) Permitted dispositions The Office shall, at the discretion of the Office and subject to the approval of the Postmaster, enter into a lease of real property rights, including developable ground rights, developable air rights, and any other potential development rights, in connection with any real property owned by the Postal Service with a Joint Development Partnership for an eligible housing use, in accordance with section 5. (B) Considerations; refusal to lease The Office shall consider in its decision to enter into a lease agreement and may refuse to lease property rights under this Act if— (i) the financial benefit of such lease to the Postal Service would be less than the cost to the Postal Service arising from the development of housing pursuant to the lease agreement; or (ii) (I) the development of housing pursuant to the lease agreement would be substantially disruptive to the delivery of mail; and (II) the Postal Service would be unable to mitigate such disruption with reasonable changes to its delivery service. (C) Prioritization The Office shall prioritize prospective lease agreements— (i) that cover the costs, in whole or in part, of the maintenance, renovation, or rehabilitation of the Postal Service facility at the property of the prospective lease; (ii) with a Joint Development Partnership the component entities of which— (I) have previously demonstrated time and cost efficiency in housing development; (II) have previously constructed housing with the support of Federal, State, local, or non-profit subsidies; and (III) have demonstrated willingness to obtain Federal, State, local, or non-profit subsidies for development of housing on the property of the prospective lease; and (iii) that maximize the income-restricted affordability of the units in the proposed housing development project. (c) Consultants The Office may hire experts and consultants as may be necessary to carry out its functions under this Act.