Indian Housing Act of 1983

(Reported to House from the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs with amendment, H. Rept. 98-169)

Indian Housing Act of 1983 - Declares it to be the policy of the United States to provide grants, financing, and loan guarantees to assist Indians in obtaining decent, safe, and sanitary housing.

Title I: Indian Housing Improvement Program - Establishes an Indian housing improvement program to make grants or provide assistance to preserve existing housing, make repairs, and construct or acquire standard housing for Indians.

Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, upon application of an Indian tribe or individual, to make grants or provide assistance to Indian families ineligible for housing assistance under titles II or III of this Act because of low income or extremely isolated circumstances.

Requires that grants or assistance under this title be consistent with plans and priorities established by tribes. Authorizes the Secretary, in providing such assistance, to: (1) make direct grants to individual Indians; (2) enter into agreements with tribes or tribal housing agencies; (3) contract with private construction firms; or (4) have repairs or new construction performed directly by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Authorizes a tribe or tribal housing agency, with respect to such agreements, to require an assisted family to make a monthly payment, not to exceed the amount of an administrative charge or an amount satisfactory to the Secretary, to be used solely for tribal housing-related activities.

Permits grants or assistance under this title to be used, under specified conditions, to finance: (1) minor repairs and additions (under $5,000) (2) major repairs, renovations, and enlargements ($5,000 or more); and (3) the construction or acquisition of new standard housing. Requires appropriate insurance for such housing, unless waived by the Secretary.

Directs the Secretary to insure that a lien upon fee land is recorded under appropriate State law whenever a house on such land is constructed, acquired, or repaired pursuant to this title. Prohibits the Secretary from approving the sale or lease of trust land upon which a house is so located, constructed, acquired, or repaired unless: (1) funds provided under this title are reimbursed to the United States in an amount equal to the initial cost reduced by ten percent per year; and (2) the tribe has first refusal on the sale of houses located on tribal land. Applies such requirements and restrictions only to lands reasonably necessary for a site for assisted housing.

Authorizes appropriations to carry out this title in FY 1984 through FY 1987.

Title II: Indian Housing Finance Fund - Establishes an Indian housing finance fund to provide financing to Indian tribes for the construction, acquisition, or rehabilitation of standard housing for Indian families who are: (1) unable to obtain financing from other sources on reasonable terms and conditions; (2) not eligible for assistance under title III of this Act; and (3) able to meet the minimum monthly payment required by this title.

Requires a tribe, as a prerequisite for eligibility for financing from the fund, to submit a tribal housing plan for approval by the Secretary. Sets forth required inclusions in such plan and in applications for financing from the fund. Sets forth criteria upon which applications shall be evaluated and approved. Requires that tribal housing agencies be established to implement housing project agreements.

Sets forth requirements for project agreements. Empowers the Secretary, under conditions specified in the project agreement, to attach any obligated or unobligated funds held by the United States in trust for the benefit of any Indian or Indian tribe. Requires the Secretary to include a provision for attaching tribal trust funds only where a tribe or tribal housing agency has established failure to meet financial obligations. Allows a tribe to petition the Secretary for revocation of attachment authority when it has liquidated all arrears and satisfied all defaults.

Prohibits the Secretary from rejecting an application or refusing to enter into a project agreement, and prohibits a tribal housing agency from refusing to execute a housing assistance contract, on the basis that a tribe or Indian family has no trust funds to its credit.

Provides for a period of notice, prior to attachment of trust funds, during which a tribe may: (1) pay the amount in default; (2) negotiate a repayment schedule; or (3) institute administrative appeals.

Sets forth requirements for: (1) disbursements from the fund; (2) construction or acquisition contracts; (3) final plans and specifications; (4) fee titles and leases; and (5) land purchases.

Sets forth provisions for: (1) housing assistance contracts between eligible Indian families and tribal housing agencies; (2) minimum monthly payments to such agencies by such families; and (3) residual receipts to be deposited into an interest-bearing account in the fund by such agencies.

Makes tribal housing agencies responsible for implementation of monitoring and construction inspection procedures. Makes the technical staff of the Indian Health Service within the Department of Health and Human Services responsible for providing recommendations to the Secretary with respect to the adequacy of such procedures to assure compliance with minimum housing standards and project plans and specifications.

Sets forth bonding requirements.

Makes maintenance and utilities costs the responsibility of participating families.

Sets forth contract bidding requirements. Permits tribal housing agencies to formulate Indian affirmative action plans satisfactory to the Secretary.

Sets forth provisions relating to: (1) family sale or purchase of houses constructed, acquired, or rehabilitated with funds under a project agreement; (2) inheritance or assignation of family contractual interests in such housing; and (3) abandoned houses.

Authorizes tribal housing agencies to use project agreement funds to assist Indian families in making down-payments on standard housing to be financed through other sources of credit, under specified conditions.

Requires tribal housing agencies to require that families with specified incomes provide evidence that at least two area lending institutions rejected home loan applications before such families are eligible for housing assistance under this title.

Authorizes appropriations to carry out this title in FY 1984 and thereafter.

Title III: Indian Housing Loan Guaranty Fund - Establishes an Indian housing loan guaranty fund to provide access to sources of private financing for Indian families who otherwise would not be eligible for housing credit because of Federal laws restricting the mortgage or other encumbrance of trust land.

Authorizes the Secretary to guarantee up to 100 percent of the unpaid principal and interest due on any loan made to an Indian or Indian tribe for the acquisition or construction of a standard house, on trust land or land located in an Indian or Alaska Native Community. Sets forth provisions relating to loan security, interest, premium charges, applications, sale or assignment, maturity, default, collection, and reimbursement guaranty.

Sets forth requirements for lenders.

Requires that this title's guaranteed loan program be operated separately from the Indian housing finance fund under title II of this Act and that no designated funds be transferred from one program to the other.

Authorizes appropriations for FY 1984 through FY 1987 in specified amounts and thereafter in such amounts as necessary to maintain specified guaranty fund balance.

Sets forth permissible uses of such guaranty fund. Limits the aggregate outstanding principal amount which may be guaranteed by the Secretary. Sets forth provisions relating to guaranty fund assets, liabilities, obligations to servicing or purchasing guaranteed loans.

Title IV: Miscellaneous Provisions - Directs the Secretary to establish in the Bureau of Indian Affairs an Office of Indian Housing Programs with primary responsibility for administering the programs created by this Act.

Authorizes the Secretary to provide technical assistance to Indian tribes for housing plan development and implementation and for application preparation and submission. Directs the Secretary to provide for establishment of a training program to develop understanding by the participating families of the roles and responsibilities of the tribal housing agency, the Government, and participants under titles I and II. Requires that such program include basic home maintenance training. Allows up to one percent of funds appropriated under authority of titles I and II to be used to provide such technical assistance and training.

Makes the Indian Health Service responsible for provision of water and sanitation facilities for houses constructed, acquired, or rehabilitated with assistance provided under this Act. Directs the Secretary to coordinate such activities and responsibilities with the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Directs the Secretary to continue to provide all-weather access roads to multiunit projects constructed under this title through existing road programs and authorizations.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) conduct a biennial housing inventory of current Indian housing needs and conditions to be used for purposes of specified title II provisions; and (2) submit a copy of such inventory to the Congress.

Applies the prevailing wage rate requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act to all contractors and subcontractors on projects funded under this Act. Exempts from such application, upon tribal request, tribal members employed in semi-skilled positions who would not otherwise be eligible for Davis-Bacon Act protections. Sets the wage rate for such workers at not less than fifty percent of the appropriate prevailing wage. Directs the Secretary of Labor, in evaluating an exemption request, to consider its effect upon increased participation of Indian-owned firms and Indian employment in the project.