H.R. 5095: Housing Our Military Effectively For Readiness, Operations, and Neutralization of Threats Act of 2025

This legislation is titled the "Housing Our Military Effectively For Readiness, Operations, and Neutralization of Threats Act of 2025," or the "HOMEFRONT Act of 2025." The bill proposes changes to certain existing laws regarding military housing, specifically relating to the exemptions from the National Historic Preservation Act.

Exemption from the National Historic Preservation Act

The bill amends the National Historic Preservation Act to exempt certain military housing facilities from its requirements. This change impacts:

• Military unaccompanied housing, which typically refers to barracks or accommodations for service members without dependents.
• Military family housing, which includes housing for service members with families.

As a result of this amendment, these types of military housing facilities will not need to comply with regulations designed to preserve historic properties, allowing for potentially quicker renovations or changes to these properties without the lengthy review process that historic regulations typically require.

Conditions for Exemption

The bill does stipulate certain conditions for this exemption:

• The Secretary of Defense has the authority to exclude specific units from the exemption. However, this exclusion is restricted to no more than 0.1% of the total units of military housing under their jurisdiction.
• No units that are already listed on the National Register of Historic Places as of January 20, 2025, can be exempted from the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act.

Privatized Military Housing Regulations

The bill also makes a notable amendment regarding privatized military housing:

• It prohibits landlords of military housing from requiring tenants or prospective tenants to sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) as a condition for entering into a lease. Any such agreements signed will be declared invalid.
• This prohibition on NDAs applies retroactively, meaning that it affects any NDAs that have been executed before the bill is enacted.

Overall Impact

In summary, this bill aims to simplify the management and renovation processes of military housing by exempting specific units from historic preservation requirements while also instituting protections for tenants against nondisclosure agreements in privatized military housing.

Relevant Companies

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