"'(5) obtain insurance against loss in connection with property and other assets held:

"(6) subject to the specific limitations in this title, consent to the modification, with respect to rate of interest, time of payment of any installment of principal or interest, security, amount of capital grant, or any other term, of any contract or agreement to which he is a party or which has been transferred to him pursuant to this title;

"(7) include in any contract or instrument made pursuant to this title such other covenants, conditions, or provisions as he may deem necessary to assure that the purposes of this title will be achieved. No provision of this title shall be construed or administered to permit speculation in land holding. "(d) Section 3709 of the Revised Statutes shall not apply to any contract for services or supplies on accounts of any property acquired pursuant to this title if the amount of such contract does not exceed $1,000.

"SEC. 507. If the land for a low-rent housing project assisted under the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, is made available from a project assisted under this title, payment equal to the fair value of the land for the uses specified in accordance with the redevelopment plan shall be made therefor by the public housing agency undertaking the housing project, and such amount shall be included as part of the development cost of the low-rent housing project.

"SEC. 508. The President may at any time, in his discretion, transfer to the Administrator any right, title, or interest held by the Federal Government or any department or agency thereof in any land (including buildings thereon) which is surplus to the needs of the Government and which a local public agency certifies will be within the area of a project being planned by it. When such land is sold to the local public agency by the Administrator, it may be sold at a price equal to its fair value for the uses specified in accordance with the redevelopment plan: Provided, That the proceeds from such sale shall be covered into the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts.

"PROTECTION OF LABOR STANDARDS

"SEC. 509. In order to protect labor standards

"(1) any contract for financial aid pursuant to this title shall contain a provision requiring that the wages or fees prevailing in the locality, as determined or adopted (subsequent to a determination under applicable State or local law) by the Secretary of Labor, shall be paid by any contractor engaged on the project involved; and the Administrator may require certification as to compliance with the provisions of this paragraph prior to making any payment under such contract;

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(2) the provisions of sections 1 and 2 of the Act of June 13, 1934 (U. S. C., 1940 edition, title 40, secs 276b and 276c), shall apply to any project financed in whole or in part with funds made available pursuant to this title; "(3) any contractor engaged on any project financed in whole or in part with funds made available pursuant to this title shall report quarterly to the Secretary of Labor, and shall cause all subcontractors to report in like manner, within fifteen days after the close of each quarter and on forms to be furnished by the United States Department of Labor, as to the number of persons on their respective pay rolls on the particular project, the aggregate amount of such pay rolls, the total man-hours worked, and itemized expenditures for materials. Any such contractor shall furnish to the Department of Labor the names and addresses of all subcontractors on the work at the earliest date practicable.

"DEFINITIONS

"SEC. 510. The following terms shall have the meanings, respectively, ascribed to them below, and, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, shall include the plural as well as the singular number:

"(a) “Redevelopment area" means an area within which a project area is located and of such extent and location that the total area is appropriate for development or redevelopment.

"(b) "Redevelopment plan" means a plan, as it exists from time to time, for the development or redevelopment of a redevelopment or project area, which plan shall be sufficiently complete (1) to indicate its relationship to definite local objectives as to appropriate land uses and improved traffic, public transportation, public utilities, recreational and community facilities, and other public

improvements, and (2) to indicate proposed land uses and building requirements in the project area: Provided, That the Administrator shall take such steps as he deems necessary to assure consistency between the redevelopment plan and any highways or other public improvements in the locality receiving financial assistance from the Federal Works Agency.

“(c) "Project" may include (1) acquisition of land within (i) a slum area or other deteriorated or deteriorating area which is predominantly residential in character, or (ii) any other area which is to be developed or redeveloped for predominantly residential uses and which prior to such development or redevelopment constitutes a deteriorated or deteriorating area or open urban land which because of obsolete platting or otherwise impairs the sound growth of the community or open suburban land essential for sound community growth; (2) demolition and removal of buildings and improvements; (3) installation, construction, or reconstruction of streets, utilities, and other site improvements essential to the preparation of sites for uses in accordance with the redevelopment plan; and (4) making the land available for development or redevelopment by private enterprise or public agencies (including sale, initial leasing, or retention by the local public agency itself) at its fair value for uses in accordance with the redevelopment plan. For the purposes of this title, the term "project" shall not include the construction of any of the buildings contemplated by the redevelopment plan, and the term "redevelop" and derivatives thereof shall mean develop as well as redevelop.

"(d) "Local grant-in-aid" shall mean assistance by a State, municipality, or other public body, or any other entity, in the form of (1) cash grants; (2) donations, at their cash value, of land, demolition or removal work, or site improvements in the project area; and (3) the cost or cash value of the provision by a municipality or other public body of parks, playgrounds, and public buildings, or facilities (other than low-rent public housing) which are primarily of direct benefit to the project and which are necessary to serve or support the new uses of land in the project area in accordance with the redevelopment plan. "(e) "Gross project cost" shall comprise (1) the amount of the expenditures by the local public agency with respect to any and all undertakings necessary to carry out the project (including the payment of carrying charges, but not beyond the point where the project is completed), and (2) such local grants-inaid as are furnished in forms other than cash.

"(f) "Net project cost" shall mean the difference between the gross project cost and the aggregate of (1) the total sales prices of all land sold, and (2) the total capital values (i) imputed, on a basis approved by the Administrator, to all lands leased, and (ii) used as a basis for determining the amounts to be fransferred to the project from other funds of the local public agency to compensate for any land retained by it for use in accordance with the redevelopment plan.

"(g) "Going Federal rate" means the annual rate of interest (or, if there shall be two or more such rates of interest, the lowest thereof) specified in the most recently issued bonds of the Federal Government having a maturity of twenty years or more, determined at the date the contract for loan is made. Any contract for loan made may be revised or superseded by a later contract, so that the going Federal rate, on the basis of which the interest rate on the loan is fixed, shall mean the going Federal rate, as herein defined, on the date that such contract is revised or superseded by such later contract.

"(h) "Local public agency” means any State, county, municipality, or other governmental entity or public body which is authorized to undertake the project for for which assistance is sought.

"(i) "Administrator" means the Housing and Home Finance Administrator.

""TITLE VI-LOW-RENT HOUSING

"LOCAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND DETERMINATIONS; TENANCY ONLY BY LOW-INCOME FAMILIES

"SEC. 601. The United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, is hereby amended by adding the following additional subsections to section 15:

"""(7) In recognition that there should be local determination of the need for public low-rent housing, the Authority shall not make any contract for financial assistance pursuant to this Act with respect to any urban low-rent housing initiated after July 1, 1948

"""(a) unless the public housing agency has submitted an analysis of the local housing market demonstrating to the satisfaction of the Authority (i) that there is a need for such low-rent housing which cannot be met by private enterprise; and (ii) that a gap of at least 20 per centum has been left between the upper rental limits for admission to the proposed low-rent housing and the lowest rents at which private enterprise is providing (through new construction and existing structures) a substantial supply of decent, safe, and sanitary housing toward meeting the need of an adequate volume thereof; and

66.6.66 “(b) unless the governing body of the locality involved has approved the provision of such low-rent housing, and the contract for financial assistance provides that such governing body and the Authority shall approve the maximum income limits to be fixed with respect to the admission and continued occupancy of families in such housing, and that such maximum income limits as so approved shall at no time be changed without the prior approval of such governing body and the Authority.

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"(8) Every contract made pursuant to this Act for annual contributions for urban low-rent housing projects initiated after July 1, 1948, shall provide that a duly authorized official of the public-housing agency involved shall make periodic written statements to the Authority that an investigation has been made of each family admitted to the low-rent housing project involved during the period covered thereby, and that, on the basis of the report of said investigation, he has found that each such family at the time of its admission (a) lived in an unsafe insanitary, or overcrowded dwelling or had been displaced by a slum-clearance or land assembly and clearance project or by off-site elimination in compliance with the equivalent elimination requirement hereof, and (b) had a net family income not exceeding the maximum income limits theretofore fixed by the public housing agency (and approved by the governing body of the locality involved and by the Authority) for admission of families of low income to such housing: Provided, That the requirement in (a) shall not be applicable in the case of the family of any veteran or serviceman (or of any deceased veteran or serviceman), where application for admission to such housing is made not later than five years after July 1, 1948.

""(9) Every contract made pursuant to this Act for annual contributions for urban low-rent housing projects initiated after July 1, 1948, shall require that the public housing agency make periodic reexaminations of the net incomes of families living in the low-rent housing project involved; and if it is found, upon such reexamination, that the net incomes of any families have increased beyond the maximum income limits theretofore fixed by the public housing agency (and approved by the governing body of the locality involved and by the Authority) for continued occupancy in such housing, such families shall be required to move from the project if there are decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings available to them within their means and appropriate to their use."

"'VETERANS' PREFERENCE

"SEC. 602. The United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, is hereby amended as follows:

"(a) By adding the following new subsection to section 10:

"""(g) Every contract made pursuant to this Act for annual contributions for low-rent housing projects initiated after July 1, 1948, shall require that the public-housing agency in selecting tenants shall give preference, as among applicants eligible for occupancy of the dwelling and at the rent involved, to families of veterans and servicemen (including families of deceased veterans or servicemen), where application for admission to such housing is made not later than five years after July 1, 1948. As among applicants entitled to the proference provided in this subsection, first preference shall be given to families of disabled veterans whose disability is service-connected."

"(b) By adding the following new subsection to section 2:

""(14) The term 'veteran' shall mean a person who has served in the active military or naval service of the United States at any time on or after September 16, 1940, and prior to July 25, 1947, and who shall have been discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable. The term 'serviceman' shall mean a person in the active military or naval service of the United States who has served therein on or after September 16, 1940, and prior to July 25, 1947."

"(c) By adding the following sentence at the end of section 2 (1): "In determining net income for the purposes of tenant eligibility, the Authority is authorized, where it finds such action equitable and in the public interest, to exclude amounts or portions thereof paid by the United States Government as pension or compensation for disability or death occurring in connection with military service."

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"COST LIMITS

'SEC. 603. The first sentence of section 15 (5) of the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: "No contract for any loan, annual contribution, or capital grant made pursuant to this Act shall be entered into by the Authority with respect to any low-rent housing project constructed after July 1, 1948, having a cost for construction and equipment of more than $1,250 per room (excluding land, demolition, and nondwelling facilities); except that in any city or metropolitan district, as defined by the Bureau of the Census, the population of which exceeds five hundred thousand, and in Alaska, any such contract may be entered into with respect to a project having a cost of construction and equipment of not to exceed $1,500 per room ($2,200 per room in the case of Alaska), excluding land, demolition, and nondwelling facilities, if in the opinion of the Authority such higher cost per room is justified by reason of higher costs of labor and materials and other construction costs: Provided, That if the Administrator with respect to any contract for financial assistance made before December 31, 1951, finds that in the geographical area of the low-rent housing project involved (i) it is not feasible under the aforesaid cost limitations to construct the project without sacrifice of sound standards of construction, design, and livability, and (ii) there is an acute need for such housing, he may prescribe in such contract cost limitations which may exceed by not more than $250 per room the limitations that would otherwise be applicable to such project hereunder."

66 'PRIVATE FINANCING

"SEC. 604. (a) In order to stimulate increasing private financing of low-rent housing and slum-clearance projects, the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, is hereby amended as follows:

"(1) The last proviso of subsection (b) of section 10 is repealed, and subsection (f) of said section is amended to read as follows: "Payments under annual contributions contracts shall be pledged as security for any loans obtained by a public housing agency to assist the development or acquisition of the housing project to which the annual contributions relate.";

"""SEC. 22. To facilitate the enlistment of private capital through the sale by public housing agencies of their bonds and other obligations to others than the Authority, in financing low-rent housing and slum-clearance projects, and to maintain the low-rent character of housing projects

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"(a) Every contract for annual contributions (including contracts which, amend or supersede contracts previously made) may provide that

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"""(1) upon the occurrence of a substantial default in respect to the covenants or conditions to which the public housing agency is subject (as such substantial default shall be defined in such contract), the public housing agency shall be obligated to convey to the Authority the project, as then constituted, to which such contract relates;

""(2) the Authority shall agree to reconvey the project as constituted at the time of reconveyance, to the public housing agency by which it shall have been so conveyed or to its successor (if such public housing agency or a successor exists) upon such terms as shall be prescribed in such contract and as soon as practicable: (i) after the Authority shall be satisfied that all defaults with respect to the project have been cured, and that the project will, in order to fulfill the purposes of this Act, thereafter be operated in accordance with the terms of such contract; or (ii) after the termination of the obligation to make annual contributions available unless there are any obligations or covenants of the public housing agency to the Authority which are then in default. Any prior conveyances and reconveyances shall not ex

haust the right to require a conveyance of the project to the Authority pursuant to subparagraph (1), upon the subsequent occurrence of a substantial default.

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"(b) Whenever such contract for annual contributions shall include provisions which the Authority, in said contract, determines are in accordance with subsection (a) hereof, and the annual contributions, pursuant to such contract, have been pledged by the public housing agency as security for the payment of the principal and interest on any of its obligations, the Authority (notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act) shall continue to make annual contributions available for the project so long as any of such obligations remain outstanding and may covenant in such contract that in any event such annual contributions shall in each year be at least equal to an amount which, together with such income or other funds as are actually available from the project for the purpose at the time such annual contribution is made, will suffice for the payment of all installments, falling due within the next succeeding twelve months, of principal and interest on the obligations for which the annual contributions provided for in the contract shall have been pledged as security: Provided, That such annual contributions shall not be in excess of the maximum sum determined pursuant to the provisions of this Act; and in no case shall such annual contributions be in excess of the maximum sum specified in the contract involved, nor for longer than the remainder of the maximum period fixed by the contract.";

66.6.66

"(10) The term 'going Federal rate' means the annual rate of interest (or, if there shall be two or more such rates of interest, the lowest thereof) specified in the most recently issued bonds of the Federal Government having a maturity of twenty years or more, determined, in the case of loans or annual contributions, respectively, at the date of Presidential approval of the contract pursuant to which such loans or contributions are made: Provided, That for the purposes of this Act, the going Federal rate shall be deemed to be not less than 21⁄2 per centum.";

"(4) Section 9 is amended by striking the period at the end of said section and adding a colon and the following: "Provided, That in the case of projects receiving annual contributions under contracts made pursuant to the additional authorization provided in section 10 (e), loans shall not be made for a period exceeding forty years from the date of the bonds evidencing the loan: And provided further, That, in the case of such projects or any other projects with respect to which the contracts (including contracts which amend or supersede contracts previously made) provide for loans for a period not exceeding forty years from the date of the bonds evidencing the loan and for annual contributions for a period not exceeding forty years from the date the first annual contribution for the project is paid, such loans shall bear interest at a rate not less than the applicable going Federal rate.";

"(5) Section 10 (c) is amended by striking the period at the end of the last sentence and adding a colon and the following: "Provided, That, in the case of projects receiving annual contributions under contracts made pursuant to the additional authorization provided in subsection (e) of this section, contracts for annual contributions shall not be made for a period exceeding forty years from the date the first annual contribution for the project is paid: And provided further, That, in the case of such projects or any other projects with respect to which the contracts for annual contributions (including contracts which amend or supersede contracts previously made) provide for annual contributions for a period not exceeding forty years from the date the first annual contribution for the project is paid, the fixed contribution may exceed the amount provided in the first proviso of subsection (b) of this section by 1 per centum of development or acquisition cost.";

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(6) The first sentence of section 10 (c) is amended to read as follows: "Every contract for annual contributions shall provide that whenever in any year the receipts of a public housing agency in connection with a low-rent housing project exceed its expenditures (including debt service, administration, maintenance, establishment of reserves, and other costs and charges), an amount equal to such excess shall be applied, or set aside for application, to purposes which will effect a reduction in the amount of subsequent annual contributions."; "(7) Section 14 is amended by inserting the following after the first sentence: "When the Authority finds that it would promote economy or be in the financial interests of the Federal Government, any contract heretofore or hereafter made for annual contributions, loans, or both, may, with Presidential approval, be revised or superseded by a contract of the authority so that the going Federal rate on the basis of which such annual contributions or interest rate on the loans, or both, respectively, are fixed shall mean the going Federal rate, as herein