Housing and Community Development Amendments

(Measure passed House, amended, roll call #585 (270-26))

Housing and Community Development Amendments - =Title I: Community and Neighborhood Development and Conservation= - Amends the Housing Act of 1964 to extend the rehabilitation loan program through fiscal year 1979.

Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to extend the Urban Homesteading program through fiscal year 1979. Changes the requirements for application and eligibility for assistance under the Community Development Block Grant program. Prohibits the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from establishing requirements that limit or exclude the access of any community to such block grants, on the basis of population. Provides that such block grant funds for technical assistance go to a governmental unit or its designee.

=Title II: Housing Assistance Programs= - Authorizes the Secretary to make, and contract to make, assistance payments to owners of housing projects insured under the National Housing Act and assisted under rent supplement programs on an annual basis. Permits payments to be made only if such payments are necessary to restore and maintain the economic soundness of the project and to maintain its low-to-moderate-income character, and the appropriate unit of general local government has been consulted to insure consistency with local plans and priorities.

Delays assistance for certain housing projects not insured under the National Housing Act.

Amends the Housing Act of 1959 to set aside a specified amount of the funds appropriated for housing for the handicapped to be made available for loans for the development of rented housing and related facilities specifically designed to meet the needs of handicapped (primarily non-elderly) persons. Provides that a corporation eligible for such a loan must have a governing board whose membership has been selected in a manner which assures significant representation of the views of the community in which the project is located and which is responsible for the operation of the assisted project.

Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to authorize funds to be appropriated for annual contributions for low-income housing projects through fiscal year 1979. Stipulates that contracts to make assistance payments entered into by a public housing agency with an owner of existing housing units shall provide the owner with the right to give notice to vacate, in accordance with State and local laws which the Secretary has determined to provide adequate protection for tenants and in accordance with the determination of the public housing authority pursuant to review procedures which the Secretary has determined to provide such protection.

Authorizes the Secretary to make assistance payments to low-income families for the rental of real property on which is located a mobile home which is owned by such family and used by it as a principal residence.

Directs the Secretary to establish a program for the development, demonstration, and evaluation of community anti-crime and security methods in public housing projects.

Requires the Secretary to carry out a survey of crime and vandalism in such areas and the resources available to alleviate such crime. Directs the Secretary to report to Congress on the results of such survey and to make legislative recommendations for: (1) a comprehensive program to increase security in such projects; and (2) increasing the coordination between anticrime programs of other State and Federal agencies.

Authorizes the appropriation of $12,000,000 for these security programs.

Requires the Secretary to conduct a demonstration program to encourage more owners to participate in the low-income rental assistance program. Directs the Secretary to report to Congress on the results of such program.

=Title III: Program Amendments and Extensions= - Amends the National Housing Act to extend specified Federal Housing Administration insurance programs including the following: (1) housing renovation and modernization; (2) general insurance authorization; (3) housing for moderate income and displaced families; (4) membership in cooperative associations for lower income families; (5) rental housing for low-income families; (6) coinsurance of mortgages; (7) experimental housing; (8) armed services housing; (9) group practice facilities and medical practice facilities; (10) new communities; and (11) crime and riot reinsurance.

Permits the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to insure, on a permanent basis, mortgages and loans with provisions for varying rates of amortization through fiscal year 1979.

Extends the Emergency Home Purchase Assistance program through fiscal year 1979. Amends the Housing Act of 1954 to authorize appropriations for comprehensive planning for urban and rural development through fiscal year 1979. Calls for the triennial, instead of biennial, review of the comprehensive plans developed by recipients of assistance under such Act.

Amends the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1970 to extend research authorizations through fiscal year 1979. Authorizes the Secretary of such Department to conduct demonstrations to determine the feasibility of expanding home ownership opportunities in urban areas including encouraging the conversion of multifamily housing properties to cooperative or condominium ownership by individuals and families. Directs the Secretary to study the feasibility of underground residential housing construction and changes in housing codes and financing techniques which may be necessary to facilitate this construction method.

Amends the National Flood Insurance Act to extend the National Flood Insurance program and flood insurance through fiscal year 1979.

Authorizes the Secretary to bid on specified properties which are not insured under the National Housing Act at foreclosure sales.

Amends the National Housing Act to extend mortgage insurance to nonresident care facilities.

Changes the eligibility requirements for condominium mortgage insurance under the National Housing Act.

Amends the National Housing Act to increase the authorization of appropriations for fiscal year 1979 for losses sustained by the General Insurance fund.

Authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to insure loans for the acquisition of fee simple title to residential property from lessors beyond limits established by the National Housing Act, if such property is located in Hawaii.

Amends the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act to authorize the establishment of more than one day care facility for the children of employees of such Department.

Amends the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1969 to remove certain restrictions on the purchase or lease of surplus real property for use in providing housing for low- and moderate-income families and individuals.

Amends the National Housing Act to increase: (1) the total amount of purchase authority of the Government National Mortgage Association; and (2) the limits on the amounts of principal obligations of various classes of mortgages which such Association may purchase.

Amends the National Housing Act by increasing from $25,000 to $37,000 the maximum property improvement loan which may be insured with respect to a multifamily structure. Increases the loan ceilings within this maximum from $5,000 to $7,500 per unit and extends maximum repayment period from 12 years and 32 days to 15 years and 32 days.

Amends the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation Act to provide that mortgage lenders approved by the Secretary of HUD for participation in any insurance program under the National Housing Act may sell loans directly to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. Authorizes the Corporation to establish requirements, impose charges or fees for different classes of sellers or services, and classify such sellers or services.

Amends the National Housing Act by allowing the Secretary to accept a purchase money mortgage, or upon application of the mortgage, insure a mortgage under this Act upon such terms and conditions as the Secretary determines are reasonable and appropriate in any case in which the Secretary sells a multifamily housing project as the result of a default on a mortgage which was insured under this Act to a cooperative which will operate it on a nonprofit basis and restrict permanent occupancy of its dwellings to members, or to a nonprofit corporation which operates as a consumer cooperative.

Prohibits the Secretary from denying insurance for any mortgage, secured by a one-to-four family dwelling unit, solely because the dwelling unit which secures such mortgage will be subject to a secondary mortgage or loan made or insured by any State or local government agency under the terms and conditions imposed by the Secretary.

Provides that either House of Congress may veto rules and regulations prescribed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Raises the mortgage ceiling for public nonprofit mortgagors to the same level provided for profit-making mortgagors in the National Housing Act.

=Title IV: Rural Housing= - Amends the Housing Act of 1949 to extend the following housing programs until September 30, 1979: (1) low-income repair loans and grants; (2) low rent housing for domestic labor; (3) rural rental housing loans; (4) rural housing loans; and (5) mutual self-help housing loans and grants.

Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a study of housing which is available for migrant and settled farmworkers.

Directs the Secretary to determine the approximate number of rural housing units without access to either or both sanitary waste disposal facilities and potable water together with the cost of providing those facilities and report recommendations in this area to the Congress within six months.

Requires that adequate written notification of the reasons for which such assistance was denied be given to anyone who has applied for and been denied rural housing assistance.

Removes the limitation on the amounts authorized to be appropriated for the low-income repair program and the mutual self-help housing program.

Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to provide additional assistance to persons receiving aid for rural housing under the interest credit program who are unable to afford a dwelling. Prescribes the formula for determining the amount of such additional assistance. Provides for the recapture of all or a portion of the assistance rendered upon the disposition or nonoccupancy of the property by the borrower.

=Title V: Congregate Services= - Congregate Housing Services Act - Authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to enter into contracts with public housing agencies or nonprofit corporations for the establishment of congregate housing projects which are supplemented by supportive services for frail and physically impaired residents.

Requires assisted public housing authorities or nonprofit corporations to maintain any financial effort they are making in furtherance of congregate services prior to contract authority approval, unless the Secretary waives such requirement.

Amends the United States Housing Act of 1937 to permit the provisions of congregate services in existing public housing.

Makes provisions for the administration of services and requires assisted public housing agencies or nonprofit corporations to employ elderly and physically disabled residents to the maximum extent practicable.

Sets forth application procedures, requirements for elgibility for services, and rules for the setting of fees for congregate services.

Directs assisted public housing agencies or nonprofit corporations to review this program with eligible residents and with the professional assessment committee within the 12-month period prior to the submission of an application for renewed funding.

=Title VI: Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation= - Establishes the National Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation. Opens all meetings of the board to public observation unless a board majority votes to close a specific meeting.

Empowers the Corporation to continue the work of the Urban Reinvestment Task Force in establishing neighborhood housing services programs, in providing grants and technical assistance to selected neighborhood preservation projects, and in supporting Neighborhood Housing Services of America.

Requires the Corporation, in making grants, to determine reporting and management restrictions or requirements on recipients and to assure that recipients make information necessary to determine compliance with Federal laws available to the Corporation.

Authorizes specified Federal departments and Federal banks to provide services to the Corporation with or without reimbursement.

Directs the Corporation to publish an annual report to the President and the Congress. Requires an annual audit of the Corporation. Requires the Corporation to prepare annual business-type budgets for submission to the Office of Management and Budget. Requires inclusion on such budget as part of the President's annual budget to Congress.

Includes the National Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation within the definition of the term "wholly owned Government corporation" under the Government Corporation Control Act.

=Title VII: Treatment of Social Security Benefit Increases Under Certain Federal Housing Laws= - Prohibits any social security benefit increases occurring after May 1978, from being considered as income for the purpose of determining eligibility for assistance to any person under the public housing laws.

=Title VIII: Housing Program Paperwork Reduction= - Provides for the reduction and simplification of paperwork imposed by the Federal housing and housing finance programs. Directs the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Veterans' Administration to employ certain consolidated and simplified forms in their respective programs.

Authorizes the President to require the Farmers' Home Administration to comply with the requirements for reduced paperwork.

Requires the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to coordinate and monitor implementation of such requirements by Federal departments and agencies and to report to Congress on such implementation.