Housing and Community Development Amendments of 1978

(Conference report filed in House, H. Rept. 95-1792)

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. Requires that priority for such loans be given to individuals who own the property to be rehabilitated and whose income does not exceed 95 percent of the median income for the area. Prohibits the extension of such loans to finance improvements that do not meet cost-effective, energy conservation standards. Authorizes interest rates on such loans set according to the income level of the borrower. Places additional conditions on multifamily property loans assisted under such Act.

Amends the National Housing Act to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to insure loans made by financial institutions to finance the rehabilitation of one- to four-family structures used primarily for residential purposes.

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.

Provides for participation by small communities in community development programs.

=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 or 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.

Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to promulgate regulations: (1) to assure tenant participation and protection in multifamily housing projects; (2) to minimize expenses in the management and disposition of such projects; and (3) to ease the effect of displacement on tenants caused by the repair or disposition of such projects.

Requires purchasers of multifamily housing projects to agree not to unreasonably restrict the access of eligible individuals to vacant units solely because such individuals hold certificates of eligibility.

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 rental housing and related facilities specifically designed to meet the needs of handicapped (primarily non-elderly).

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.

Public Housing Security Demonstration Act - Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to implement a demonstration program to provide increased security for public housing projects.

Directs the Secretary to survey and report to Congress on crime in public housing projects.

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 programs.

Directs the Secretary to promote the installation of economically feasible solar units. Requires the Secretary, with the Secretary of Energy, within 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, to report to the Congress on the progress and application of the installation of solar units under the programs and projects of HUD.

=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.

Extends the authority of the Secretary of HUD to set the maximum interest rate on insured home loans to veterans.

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 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.

Amends the National Flood Insurance Act to extend the National Flood Insurance program and flood insurance through fiscal year 1980.

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

Amends the National Housing Act to increase: (1) the total amount of purchase authority of the Government National Mortgage Association; (2) the limits on the amounts of principal obligations of various classes of mortgages which such Association may purchase; and (3) the ceilings for multifamily mortgage insurance programs.

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

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

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 National Neighborhood Policy Act to require the National Commission on Neighborhoods' study to be completed within 15 months (rather than one year) from the date funds became available for the Commission.

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 Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to extend the appropriations authorized for the National Institute of Building Sciences through fiscal year 1982.

Amends the National Housing Act by increasing from $25,000 to $37,500 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 dwellings 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 mortgages to the same level provided for profit-making mortgages in the National Housing Act.

Authorizes the Federal Housing Authority to insure the refinancing of mortgages of existing hospitals.

=Title IV: 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 as requirements for eligibility 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 V: 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 farm 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 to migrant farmworkers.

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

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.

Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to study the following: (1) the effect of remote encumbrances or claims on persons in rural areas obtaining title insurance; and (2) the implementation of an emergency potable water and sewage program.

=Title VI: Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation= - Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation Act - 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 for 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 business-type budget for submission to the Office of Management and Budget. Requires inclusion of such budget as part of the President's annual budget to Congress.

=Title VII: Neighborhood Self-Help Development= - Neighborhood Self-Help Development Act - Authorizes the Secretary of HUD to make grants and provide assistance to neighborhood orgnaizations for effective planning and carrying out specific housing, economic and community development, and other neighborhood conservation and revitalization projects. Directs the Secretary to assist such organizations to conduct such projects in partnership with local government and the public and private sector.

Stipulates that such projects must include a self-help component which involves a contribution of time or resources by neighborhood residents. Lists other criteria such organizations must meet in order to be eligible for assistance under this Title.

Authorizes appropriations for carrying out the purposes of this Title for fiscal year 1979 and 1980.

=Title VIII: Livable Cities= - Livable Cities Act - Authorizes the Secretary of HUD to make grants to, contracts with, or other arrangements with nonprofit organizations and certain profitmaking organizations for the undertaking of urban community or neighborhood projects designed to preserve or develop the artistic, cultural, and historic resources which constitute an integral part of a suitable living environment for the residents.

Prohibits funds made available under this Title from being using to supplant non-Federal funds.

Stipulates that not more than ten percent of funds appropriated for any fiscal year shall be available for administrative expenses.

Requires the Secretary to coordinate the administration of this Title with existing Federal, State, and local programs and with those undertaken by other public agencies and private groups.

Authorizes appropriations for fiscal years 1979 and 1980 to carry out the provisions of this Title.

=Title IX: Miscellaneous= - States the policy of Congress that in the administration of Federal housing and community development programs, the utmost care should be taken to minimize the displacement of persons from their homes and neighborhoods.

Directs the Secretary of HUD to develop guidelines for rehabilitation of property.

Amends the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966 to autorize the Secretary to make loans and grants to Alaska regional native housing authorities in excess of existing limitations.

Makes it the duty of the Federal Housing Administration, the Veterans' Administration, and other Federal agencies with responsibilities in housing and housing finance, to reduce paperwork duplication and the regulatory burden by employing uniform forms in their various programs.

Requires the President to establish an Interagency Task Force composed of such housing and housing finance agencies, under the direction of the Office of Management and Budget, to implement the paperwork and regulatory cost reduction recommendations made by the Commission on Federal Paperwork.

Requires the President, not later than January 20 of each year, to report to the Congress on the progress being made in achieving housing goals.

Revises certain disclosure requirements applicable to the sale of real estate under the Interstate and Land Sales Full Disclosure Act.

Directs the Secretary of HUD to analyze new and revised regulations and the cost-effectiveness expected to result from such rulemaking.