Military Housing Innovation Act

This Act may be cited as the “Military Housing Innovation Act”.

(a) Study.— Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States, in coordination with the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall conduct a study that examines the costs and benefits associated with revising the Unified Facilities Criteria/DoD Building Code (UFC 1–200–01) to allow the use of point-access block design for covered projects.

(b) Contents.— The study required by subsection (a) shall—

(1) quantify, to the extent possible, how such a revision would—

(A) increase the quality of available and affordable military housing through the construction of new military housing;

(B) have an effect on the rental housing market located near military installations;

(C) result in a reduction in the amount expended for the basic allowance for subsistence under section 402 of title 37, United States Code;

(D) result in fewer members of the Armed Forces seeking private housing by reducing barriers to building additional units of covered military unaccompanied housing (as defined in section 2856 of title 10, United States Code) or military family housing;

(E) affect design and construction costs of covered military unaccompanied housing in the United States or military family housing that is Government-owned and Government-controlled in the United States; and

(F) improve the feasibility of commencing covered projects on sites or lots that would otherwise be difficult to develop;

(2) assess, with respect to the use of point-access block design—

(A) life safety outcomes, including a comparison of such outcomes with outcomes in covered projects that does not use point-access block design; and

(B) fire safety improvements, including sprinkler coverage, smoke detection, ventilation, and building egress performance; and

(3) compare the fire loss outcomes for covered projects that use point-access block design with covered projects that do not use point-access block design.

(c) Report.— Not later than two years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General, in coordination with the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall provide to the Committees on Armed Services of the House of Representatives and the Senate a report on the study conducted under subsection (a) that includes—

(1) a summary of actions that the Secretary of Defense may take to update the Unified Facilities Criteria/DoD Building Code (UFC 1–200–01) to allow the use of point-access block design for military construction projects; and

(2) any other recommendations relating to the use of point-access block design for military construction projects.

(d) Definitions.— In this section:

(1) The term covered project means a residential or mixed use military construction project (as defined under section 2801 of title 10, United States Code).

(2) The term military family housing means housing provided under subchapter II of chapter 169 of title 10, United States Code.

(3) The term point-access block building means a Group R–2 occupancy residential structure, as such term is defined by the most recent edition of the International Building Code, in which a single internal stairway provides access and egress for all dwelling units in a building that is not greater than six stories in height.