34 U.S.C. § 12495 — Right to report crime and emergencies from one’s home

(a) Definition: A "covered governmental entity" is any city, county, or state government that gets funding under section 5306 of title 42. (b) Right to report: (1) Landlords, homeowners, tenants, residents, occupants, guests, and housing applicants have the right to seek police or emergency help for themselves or someone else, and cannot be penalized for asking for that help or for being the victim of, or otherwise not at fault for, criminal activity. This applies to any statute, ordinance, regulation, or policy of a covered governmental entity. (2) Prohibited penalties include: (A) actual or threatened fines or fees; (B) actual or threatened eviction; (C) actual or threatened refusal to rent or renew a lease; (D) actual or threatened refusal to issue an occupancy or landlord permit; and (E) actual or threatened closing a property or calling it a nuisance. (c) Reporting: Covered governmental entities must: (1) report any of their own laws, or laws adopted by their subgrantees, that penalize people for seeking emergency help or for being crime victims at a property; and (2) certify they comply with this part, or explain the steps they'll take within 180 days to comply, or to make their subgrantees comply. (d) Implementation: HUD and the Attorney General must enforce this subpart using the same rights and remedies as the Fair Housing Act (title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968). (e) Subgrantees: For governments that pass funds to subgrantees, complying with (c)(1) includes asking whether those subgrantees have laws or policies that impose these penalties.