PART IV-OTHER FEDERAL HOUSING

ASSISTANCE

AFFORDABLE HOUSING STRATEGIES AND INVESTMENT EXCERPT FROM CRANSTON-GONZALEZ NATIONAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING ACT

[Public Law 101–625; 104 Stat. 4085; 42 U.S.C. 12704 et seq.]

TITLE I-GENERAL PROVISIONS AND POLICIES

SEC. 104. [42 U.S.C. 12704] DEFINITIONS.

As used in this title and in title II:

(1) The term "unit of general local government" means a city, town, township, county, parish, village, or other general purpose political subdivision of a State; the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau, the Marshall Islands, or a general purpose political subdivision thereof; a consortium of such political subdivisions recognized by the Secretary in accordance with section 216(2) of this Act; and any agency or instrumentality thereof that is established pursuant to legislation and designated by the chief executive to act on behalf of the jurisdiction with regard to provisions of this Act.

(2) The term "State" means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any agency or instrumentality thereof that is established pursuant to legislation and designated by the chief executive officer to act on behalf of the State with regard to the provisions of this Act.

(3) The term “jurisdiction" means a State or unit of general local government.

(4) The term "participating jurisdiction" means any State or unit of general local government that has been so designated in accordance with section 216 of this Act.

(5) The term "nonprofit organization" means any private, nonprofit organization (including a State or locally chartered, nonprofit organization) that

(A) is organized under State or local laws,

(B) has no part of its net earnings inuring to the benefit of any member, founder, contributor, or individual, (C) complies with standards of financial accountability acceptable to the Secretary, and

(D) has among its purposes significant activities related to the provision of decent housing that is affordable to low-income and moderate-income persons.

(6) The term "community housing development organization" means a nonprofit organization as defined in paragraph (5), that

(A) has among its purposes the provision of decent housing that is affordable to low-income and moderate-income persons;

(B) maintains, through significant representation on the organization's governing board and otherwise, accountability to low-income community residents and, to the extent practicable, low-income beneficiaries with regard to decisions on the design, siting, development, and management of affordable housing;

(C) has a demonstrated capacity for carrying out activities assisted under this Act; and

(D) has a history of serving the local community or communities within which housing to be assisted under this Act is to be located.

In the case of an organization serving more than one county, the Secretary may not require that such organization, to be considered a community housing development organization for purposes of this Act, include as members on the organization's governing board low-income persons residing in each county served.

(7) The term "government-sponsored mortgage finance corporations" means the Federal National Mortgage Association, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation.

(8) The term "housing" includes manufactured housing and manufactured housing lots and elder cottage housing opportunity units that are small, free-standing, barrier-free, energyefficient, removable, and designed to be installed adjacent to existing 1- to 4-family dwellings.

(9) The term "very low-income families" means low-income families whose incomes do not exceed 50 percent of the median family income for the area, as determined by the Secretary with adjustments for smaller and larger families, except that the Secretary may establish income ceilings higher or lower than 50 percent of the median for the area on the basis of the Secretary's findings that such variations are necessary because of prevailing levels of construction costs or fair market rents, or unusually high or low family incomes.

(10) The term "low-income families" means families whose incomes do not exceed 80 percent of the median income

1 Section 590 of the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998, title V of Public Law 105-276, approved October 21, 1998, provides, in part, as follows:

"SEC. 590. INCOME ELIGIBILITY FOR HOME AND CDBG PROGRAMS.

"(a) IN GENERAL.-The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall, for not less than 10 jurisdictions that are metropolitan cities or urban counties for purposes of title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, grant exceptions not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act for such jurisdictions that provide that

"(1) for purposes of the HOME investment partnerships program under title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act, the limitation based on percentage of median income that is applicable under section 104(10), 214(1)(A), or 215(a)(1)(A) for any area of the jurisdiction shall be the numerical percentage that is specified in such section; and

“(2)

"(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.-This section shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.".

for the area, as determined by the Secretary with adjustments for smaller and larger families, except that the Secretary may establish income ceilings higher or lower than 80 percent of the median for the area on the basis of the Secretary's findings that such variations are necessary because of prevailing levels of construction costs or fair market rents, or unusually high or low family incomes.

(11) The term "families" has the same meaning given that term by section 3 of the United States Housing Act of 1937.

(12) The term "security" has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Securities Act of 1933.

(13) The term "displaced homemaker" means an individual who—

(A) is an adult;

(B) has not worked full-time full-year in the labor force for a number of years but has, during such years, worked primarily without remuneration to care for the home and family; and

(C) is unemployed or underemployed and is experiencing difficulty in obtaining or upgrading employment.

(14) The term "first-time homebuyer" means an individual and his or her spouse who have not owned a home during the 3-year period prior to purchase of a home with assistance under title II, except that

(A) any individual who is a displaced homemaker may not be excluded from consideration as a first-time homebuyer under this paragraph on the basis that the individual, while a homemaker, owned a home with his or her spouse or resided in a home owned by the spouse;

(B) any individual who is a single parent may not be excluded from consideration as a first-time homebuyer under this paragraph on the basis that the individual, while married, owned a home with his or her spouse or resided in a home owned by the spouse; and

(C) an individual shall not be excluded from consideration as a first-time homebuyer under this paragraph on the basis that the individual owns or owned, as a principal residence during such 3-year period, a dwelling unit whose structure is

(i) not permanently affixed to a permanent foundation in accordance with local or other applicable regulations, or

(ii) not in compliance with State, local, or model building codes, or other applicable codes, and cannot. be brought into compliance with such codes for less. than the cost of constructing a permanent structure. (15) The term "single parent" means an individual who(A) is unmarried or legally separated from a spouse; and

(B)(i) has 1 or more minor children for whom the individual has custody or joint custody; or

(ii) is pregnant.

(16) The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, unless otherwise specified in this Act.

(17) The term "substantial rehabilitation" means the rehabilitation of residential property at an average cost in excess of $25,000 per dwelling unit.

(18) The term "public housing agency" has the meaning given the term in section 3(b) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)).

(19) The term "metropolitan city" has the meaning given the term in section 102(a)(4) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5302(a)(4)).

(20) The term "urban county" has the meaning given the term in section 102(a)(6) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5302(a)(6)).

(21) The term "certification" means a written assertion, based on supporting evidence, which shall be kept available for inspection by the Secretary, the Inspector General and the public, which assertion shall be deemed to be accurate for purposes of this Act, unless the Secretary determines otherwise after inspecting the evidence and providing due notice and opportunity for comment.

(23)1 The term "to demonstrate to the Secretary" means to submit to the Secretary a written assertion together with supporting evidence that, in the determination of the Secretary, supports the accuracy of the assertion.

(24) The term "insular area" means any of the following: Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.

(24) The term "energy efficient mortgage" means a mortgage that provides financing incentives for the purchase of energy efficient homes, or that provides financing incentives to make energy efficiency improvements in existing homes by incorporating the cost of such improvements in the mortgage.

(25) The term "energy efficient mortgage" means a mortgage that provides financing incentives for the purchase of energy efficient homes, or that provides financing incentives to make energy efficiency improvements in existing homes by incorporating the cost of such improvements in the mortgage. SEC. 105. [42 U.S.C. 12705] STATE AND LOCAL HOUSING STRATEGIES. (a) IN GENERAL.-The Secretary shall provide assistance directly to a jurisdiction only if

(1) the jurisdiction submits to the Secretary a comprehensive housing affordability strategy (hereafter in this section referred to as the "housing strategy");

(2) the jurisdiction submits annual updates of the housing strategy; and

(3) the housing strategy, and any annual update of such strategy, is approved by the Secretary.

The Secretary shall establish such dates and manner for the submission and approval of housing strategies under this section that the Secretary determines will facilitate orderly program management by jurisdictions and provide for timely investment or other use of funds made available under title II of this Act and other programs requiring submission of a housing strategy. If the Secretary finds there is good cause, the Secretary may provide reasonable ex

1 So in law.

tensions of any deadlines for submission of a jurisdiction's housing strategy.

(b) CONTENTS.-A housing strategy submitted under this section shall be in a form that the Secretary determines to be appropriate for the assistance the jurisdiction may be provided and shall

(1) describe the jurisdiction's estimated housing needs projected for the ensuing 5-year period, and the jurisdiction's need for assistance for very low-income, low-income, and moderateincome families, specifying such needs for different types of tenure and for different categories of residents, such as very low-income, low-income, and moderate-income families, the elderly, persons with disabilities, single persons, large families, residents of nonmetropolitan areas, families who are participating in an organized program to achieve economic independence and self-sufficiency, persons with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, and other categories of persons residing in or expected to reside in the jurisdiction that the Secretary determines to be appropriate;

(2) describe the nature and extent of homelessness, including rural homelessness, within the jurisdiction, providing an estimate of the special needs of various categories of persons who are homeless or threatened with homelessness, including tabular representation of such information, and a description of the jurisdiction's strategy for (A) helping low-income families avoid becoming homeless; (B) addressing the emergency shelter and transitional housing needs of homeless persons (including a brief inventory of facilities and services that meet such needs within that jurisdiction); and (C) helping homeless persons make the transition to permanent housing and independent living;

(3) describe the significant characteristics of the jurisdiction's housing market, indicating how those characteristics will influence the use of funds made available for rental assistance, production of new units, rehabilitation of old units, or acquisition of existing units;

(4) explain whether the cost of housing or the incentives to develop, maintain, or improve affordable housing in the jurisdiction are affected by public policies, particularly by policies of the jurisdiction, including tax policies affecting land and other property, land use controls, zoning ordinances, building codes, fees and charges, growth limits, and policies that affect the return on residential investment, and describe the jurisdiction's strategy to remove or ameliorate negative effects, if any, of such policies, except that, if a State requires a unit of general local government to submit a regulatory barrier assessment that is substantially equivalent to the information required under this paragraph, as determined by the Secretary, the unit of general local government may submit its assessment submitted to the State to the Secretary and shall be considered to have complied with this paragraph;

(5) explain the institutional structure, including private industry, nonprofit organizations, and public institutions, through which the jurisdiction will carry out its housing strategy, assessing the strengths and gaps in that delivery system