SEO. 4. (a) The Administrator is authorized, subject to the civilservice laws and the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, to appoint and fix the compensation of such employees as may be necessary for the proper performance of the duties of the Authority under this Act; except that without regard to the civil-service laws he may appoint such officers, attorneys and experts, and such employees whose compensation is in excess of $1,980 per annum, as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.

(b) Appointment to positions made under the provisions of this Act the annual salary of which is in excess of $7,500 per annum shall be subject to confirmation by the Senate.

(c) The Administrator may accept and utilize such voluntary and uncompensated services and with the consent of the agency concerned may utilize such officers, employees, equipment, and information of any agency of the Federal, State, or local governments as he finds helpful in the performance of the duties of the Authority. In connection with the utilization of such services, the Authority may make reasonable payments for necessary traveling and other expenses.

(d) The President may at any time in his discretion transfer to the Authority any right, interest, or title held by any department or agency of the Federal Government in any housing or slum-clearance projects (constructed or in process of construction on the date of enactment of this Act), any assets, contracts, records, libraries, research materials, and other property held in connection with any such housing or slum-clearance projects or activities, any unexpended balance of funds allocated to such department or agency for the development, administration, or assistance of any housing or slum-clearance projects or activities, and any employees who have been engaged in work connected with housing or slum clearance. The Authority may continue any or all activities undertaken in connection with projects so transferred, subject to the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 5. (a) The principal office of the Authority shall be in the District of Columbia, but it may establish branch offices or agencies in any State, and may exercise any of its powers at any place within the United States. The Authority may, by one or more of its officers or employees or by such agents or agencies as it may designate, conduct hearings or negotiations at any place.

(b) The Authority shall sue and be sued in its own name, and shall be represented in all litigated matters by the Attorney General or such attorney or attorneys as he may designate.

(c) The Authority shall have an official seal, which shall be judicially noticed.

(d) The Authority shall be granted the free use of the mails in the same manner as the executive departments of the Government.

(e) The Authority, including but not limited to its franchise, capital, reserves, surplus, loans, income, assets, and property of any kind, shall be exempt from all taxation now or hereafter imposed by the United States or by any State, county, municipality, or local taxing authority. Obligations, including interest thereon, issued by public housing agencies in connection with low-rent-housing or slumclearance projects, and the income derived by such agencies from such projects, shall be exempt from all taxation now or hereafter imposed by the United States.

SEO. 6. (a) The Authority may make such expenditures, subject to audit under the general law, for the acquisition and maintenance of adequate administrative agencies, offices, vehicles, furnishings, equipment, supplies, books, periodicals, printing and binding, for attend. ance at meetings, for any necessary traveling expenses within the United States, its Territories, dependencies, or possessions, and for such other expenses as may from time to time be found necessary for the proper administration of this Act. Such financial transactions of the Authority as the making of loans, annual contributions, and capital grants, and the acquisition, sale, exchange, lease, or other disposition of real and personal property, and vouchers approved by the Administrator in connection with such financial transactions, shall be final and conclusive upon all officers of the Government; except that all such financial transactions of the Authority shall be audited by the General Accounting Office at such times and in such manner as the Comptroller General of the United States may by regulation prescribe.

(b) The provisions of section 3709 of the Revised Statutes (U. S. C., 1934 ed., title 41, sec. 5) shall apply to all contracts of the Authority for services and to all of its purchases of supplies except when the aggregate amount involved is less than $300.

(c) The use of funds made available for the purposes of this Act shall be subject to the provisions of section 2 of title 3 of the Treasury and Post Office Appropriation Act for the fiscal year 1934 (47 Stat. 1489), and to make such provisions effective every contract or agreement of any kind pursuant to this Act shall contain a provision identical to the one prescribed in section 3 of title 3 of such Act.

(d) No annual contribution, grant, or loan, and no contract for any annual contribution, grant, or loan, under this Act, shall be undertaken by the Authority except with the approval of the President.

SEC. 7. (a) The Authority may publish and disseminate information pertinent to the various aspects of housing.

(b) In January of each year the Authority shall make an annual report to Congress of its operations and expenses, including loans, contributions, and grants made or contracted for, low-rent-housing and slum-clearance projects undertaken, and the assets and liabilities of the Authority. Such report shall include operating statements of all projects under the jurisdiction of or receiving the assistance of the Authority, including summaries of the incomes of occupants, sizes of families, rentals, and other related information.

SEC. 8. The Authority may from time to time make, amend, and rescind such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

LOANS FOR LOW-RENT-HOUSING AND SLUM-CLEARANCE PROJECTS

SEO. 9. The Authority may make loans to public-housing agencies to assist the development, acquisition, or administration of low-renthousing or slum-clearance projects by such agencies. Where capital grants are made pursuant to section 11 the total amount of such loans outstanding on any one project and in which the Authority participates shall not exceed the development or acquisition cost of such project less all such capital grants, but in no event shall said loans

exceed 90 per centum of such cost. In the case of annual contributions in assistance of low rentals as provided in section 10 the total of such loans outstanding on any one project and in which the Authority participates shall not exceed 90 per centum of the development or acquisition cost of such project. Such loans shall bear interest at such rate not less than the going Federal rate at the time the loan is made, plus one-half of one per centum, shall be secured in such manner, and shall be repaid within such period not exceeding sixty years, as may be deemed advisable by the Authority.

ANNUAL CONTRIBUTIONS IN ASSISTANCE OF LOW RENTALS

SEC. 10. (a) The Authority may make annual contributions to public housing agencies to assist in achieving and maintaining the low-rent character of their housing projects. The annual contributions for any such project shall be fixed in uniform amounts, and shall be paid in such amounts over a fixed period of years. No part of such annual contributions by the Authority shall be made available for any project unless and until the State, city, county, or other political subdivision in which such project is situated shall contribute, in the form of cash or tax remissions, general or special, or tax exemptions, at least 20 per centum of the annual contributions herein provided. The Authority shall embody the provisions for such annual contributions in a contract guaranteeing their payment over such fixed period: Provided, That no annual contributions shall be made, and the Authority shall enter into no contract guaranteeing any annual contribution in connection with the development of any low-rent-housing or slum-clearance project involving the construction of new dwellings, unless the project includes the elimination by demolition, condemnation, and effective closing, or the compulsory repair or improvement of unsafe or insanitary dwellings situated in the locality or metropolitan area, substantially equal in number to the number of newly constructed dwellings provided by the project; except that such elimination may, in the discretion of the Authority, be deferred in any locality or metropolitan area where the shortage of decent, safe, or sanitary housing available to families of low income is so acute as to force dangerous overcrowding of such families.

(b) Annual contributions shall be strictly limited to the amounts and periods necessary, in the determination of the Authority, to assure the low-rent character of the housing projects involved. Toward this end the Authority may prescribe regulations fixing the maximum contributions available under different circumstances, giving consideration to cost, location, size, rent-paying ability of prospective tenants, or other factors bearing upon the amounts and periods of assistance needed to achieve and maintain low rentals. Such regulations may provide for rates of contribution based upon development, acquisition or administration cost, number of dwelling units, number of persons housed, or other appropriate factors: Provided, That the fixed contribution payable annually under any contract shall in no case exceed a sum equal to the annual yield, at the going Federal rate of interest at the time such contract is made plus 1 per centum, upon the development or acquisition cost of the low-rent housing or slum-clearance project involved: And provided

further, That all such annual contributions shall be used first to apply toward any payment of interest or principal on any loan due to the Authority from the public housing agency.

(c) In case any contract for annual contributions is made for a period exceeding twenty years, the Authority shall reserve the right to reexamine the status of the low-rent-housing project involved at the end of ten years and every five years thereafter; and, at the time of any such reexamination, the Authority may make such modification (subject to all the provisions of this section) in the fixed and uniform amounts of subsequent annual contributions payable under such contract as is warranted by changed conditions and as is consistent with maintaining the low-rent character of the housing project involved. In no case shall any contract for annual contributions be made for a period exceeding sixty years.

(d) All payments of annual contributions pursuant to this section shall be made out of any funds available to the Authority when such payments are due, except that its capital and its funds obtained through the issuance of obligations pursuant to section 20 (including repayments or other realizations of the principal of loans made out of such capital and funds) shall not be available for the payment of such annual contributions.

(e) The Authority is authorized, on and after the date of the enactment of this Act, to enter into contracts which provide for annual contributions aggregating not more than $5,000,000 per annum, on or after July 1, 1938, to enter into additional such contracts which provide for annual contributions aggregating not more than $7,500,000 per annum, and on or after July 1, 1939, to enter into additional such contracts which provide for annual contributions aggregating not more than $7,500,000 per annum. Without further authorization from Congress, no new contracts for annual contributions beyond those herein authorized shall be entered into by the Authority. The faith of the United States is solemnly pledged to the payment of all annual contributions contracted for pursuant to this section, and there is hereby authorized to be appropriated in each fiscal year, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the amounts necessary to provide for such payments.

CAPITAL GRANTS IN ASSISTANCE OF LOW RENTALS

SEO. 11. (a) As an alternative method of assistance to that provided in section 10, when any public housing agency so requests and demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Authority that such alternative method is better suited to the purpose of achieving and maintaining low rentals and to the other purposes of this Act, capital grants may be made to such agency for such purposes. The capital grants thus made for any low-rent-housing or slum-clearance project shall be paid in connection with its development or acquisition, and shall be strictly limited to the amounts necessary, in the determination of the Authority, to assure its low-rent character: Provided, however, That no capital grant shall be made for the development of any low-rent-housing or slum-clearance project involving the construction of new dwellings, unless the project includes the elimination by demolition, condemnation, and effective closing, or the compulsory repair or improvement of unsafe or insanitary dwellings situated in the locality or metropolitan area, substantially equal in number to

the number of newly constructed dwelling units provided by the project; except that such elimination may, in the discretion of the Authority, be deferred in any locality or metropolitan area where the shortage of decent, safe, or sanitary housing available to families of low income is so acute as to force dangerous overcrowding of such families,

(b) Pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, the Authority may make a capital grant for any low-rent-housing or slum-clearance project, which shall in no case exceed 25 per centum of its development or acquisition cost.

(c) All payments of capital grants by the Authority pursuant to subsection (b) of this section shall be made out of any funds available to the Authority, except that its capital and its funds obtained through the issuance of obligations pursuant to section 20 (including repayments or other realizations of the principal of loans made out of such capital and funds) shall not be available for the payment of such capital grants.

(d) The Authority is authorized, on or after the date of the enactment of this Act to make capital grants (pursuant to subsection (b) of this section) aggregating not more than $10,000,000, on or after July 1, 1938, to make additional capital grants aggregating not more than $10,000,000, and on or after July 1, 1939, to make additional capital grants aggregating not more than $10,000,000. Without further authorization from Congress, no capital grants beyond those herein authorized shall be made by the Authority.

(e) To supplement any capital grant made by the Authority in connection with the development of any low-rent-housing or slumclearance project, the President may allocate to the Authority, from any funds available for the relief of unemployment, an additional capital grant to be expended for payment of labor used in such development: Provided, That such additional capital grant shall not exceed 15 per centum of the development cost of the low-rent-housing or slum-clearance project involved.

(f) No capital grant pursuant to this section shall be made for any low-rent-housing or slum-clearance project unless the public housing agency receiving such capital grant shall also receive, from the State, political subdivision thereof, or otherwise, a contribution for such project (in the form of cash, land, or the value, capitalized at the going Federal rate of interest, of community facilities or services for which a charge is usually made, or tax remissions or tax exemptions) in an amount not less than 20 per centum of its development or acquisition cost.

DISPOSAL OF FEDERAL PROJECTS

SEC. 12. (a) It is hereby declared to be the purpose of Congress to provide for the orderly disposal of any low-rent-housing projects hereafter transferred to or acquired by the Authority through the sale or leasing of such projects as hereinafter provided; and, in order to continue the relief of Nation-wide unemployment and in order to avoid waste pending such sale or lease, to provide for the completion and temporary administration of such projects by the Authority.

(b) As soon as practicable the Authority shall sell its Federal projects or divest itself of their management through leases.