There's legislation on the table that could help affordable housing tenants avoid being displaced like Rip Van Winkle residents faced last year.

Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney says he is proposing The Affordable Housing Protection Act. It would require landlords who run affordable housing to set up temporary relocation, or a pass-through lease, for their tenants if something like a natural disaster or fire were to happen.

This comes after last year's fire at Rip Van Winkle apartment complex left hundreds displaced. Maloney says the management company did help in this situation, but that laws right now don't require HUD or landlords who receive federal housing money to do so.

"The Affordable Housing Protection Act, would simply codify the right of these tenants to have temporary housing, and to have that paid for in the form of a pass-through lease," Maloney said.

Mayor Rob Rolison and some Poughkeepsie Common Council members say they back the proposed legislation.