DEMONSTRATION WITH RESPECT TO ABANDONED PROPERTIES SEC. 505. (a) In carrying out activities under section 501, the Secretary may undertake programs to demonstrate the most feasible means of providing assistance to localities in which a substantial number of structures are abandoned or are threatened with abandonment for the purpose of arresting the process of housing abandonment in its incipiency or in restoring viability to blighted areas in which abandonment is pervasive. For this purpose, the Secretary is authorized to make grants, subject to the limitations of this section, to assist local public bodies in planning and implementing demonstration projects for prompt and effective action in alleviating and preventing such abandonment in designated demonstration areas. (b) In administering this section, the Secretary shall give preference to those demonstration projects which in his judgement can reasonably be expected to arrest the process of abandonment in the demonstration area within a period of two years and which provide for innovative approaches to combating the problem of housing abandonment. Such projects may include, but shall not be limited to (1) acquisition by negotiated purchase, lease, receivership, tax lien proceedings, or other means authorized by law and satisfactory to the Secretary, of real property within the demonstration area or areas which is abandoned, deteriorated, or in violation of applicable code standards; (2) the repair of streets, sidewalks, parks, playgrounds, publicly owned utilities, public buildings to meet needs consistent with the revitalization and continued use of the area; (3) the demolition of structures determined to be structurally unsound or unfit for human habitation or which contribute adversely to the physical or social environment of the locality involved; (4) the establishment of recreational or community facilities including public playgrounds; (5) the improvement of garbage and trash collection, street cleaning and other essential services necessary to the revitalization and maintenance of the area; (6) the rehabilitation of privately and publicly owned real property by the locality; and (7) the establishment and operation of locally controlled, nonprofit housing management corporations and municipal repair programs. (c) Subject to such conditions as the Secretary may prescribe, real property held as part of a project assisted under this section may be made available to (1) a limited dividend corporation, nonprofit corporation, or association, cooperative or public body or agency, or other approved purchaser or lessee, or (2) a purchaser who would be eligible for a mortgage insured under section 221(d)(3) or (d)(4), section 221(h)(1), section 235(i) or (i)(1), or section 236 of the National Housing Act, for purchase or lease at fair market value for use by such purchaser or lessee, as, or in the provision of, new or rehabilitated housing for occupancy by families or individuals of low or moderate income. (d) Grants under this section shall be in amounts which do not exceed 90 per centum of the net project cost as determined by the Secretary. There are authorized to be appropriated for demonstration grants under this section not to exceed $20,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1971. Any amounts appropriated shall remain available until expended and any amount authorized but not appropriated may be appropriated for any succeeding fiscal year commencing prior to July 1, 1972, Not more than one-third of the aggregate amount of grants made in any fiscal year under this section shall be made with respect to projects undertaken by one locality. (e) The provisions of sections 106, 114, and 115, of Title I of the Housing Act of 1949, and section 312 of the Housing Act of 1964, may apply to projects assisted under this Act as if such projects were being carried out in urban renewal areas as part of urban renewal projects within the meaning of section 110 of the Housing Act of 1949. [12 U.S.C. 1701z-4] SOLAR ENERGY SEC. 506. (a) In carrying out activities under section 501, the Secretary may, after consultation with the National Science Foundation, undertake demonstrations to determine the economic and technical feasibility of utilizing solar energy for heating or cooling residential housing (including demonstration of new housing design or structure involving the use of solar energy). Demonstrations carried out under this section should involve both single family and multifamily housing located in areas having distinguishable climatic characteristics in urban as well as rural environments. To carry out the purpose of this section the Secretary is authorized (1) to enter into contracts with, to make grants to, and to provide other types of assistance to individuals and entities with special competence and knowledge to contribute to the planning, design, development, and operation of such housing; (2) to utilize the contract, loan, or mortgage insurance authority of any federally assisted housing program in the actual planning, development, and occupancy of such housing; and (3) to set aside any development, construction, design, or occupancy requirements for the purpose of any demonstration under this section if he determines that such requirements inhibit such demonstration. (b) The Secretary shall include in any demonstration under this section an evaluation of the demonstration to cover the full experience involved in all stages of the demonstration. [12 U.S.C. 1701z-5] ADDITIONAL RESEARCH AUTHORITY SEC. 507. (a) In carrying out activities under section 501, the Secretary may undertake special demonstrations to determine the housing design, the housing structure, and the housing-related facilities, and amenities most effective or appropriate to meet the needs of groups with special housing needs including the elderly, the handicapped, the displaced, single individuals, broken families, and large households. For this purpose, the Secretary is authorized to enter into contracts with, to make grants to, and to provide other types of assistance to individuals and entities with special competence and knowledge to contribute to the planning, development, design, and management of such housing. (b) In carrying out his functions under this section, the Secretary shall give preferential attention to demonstrations which in his judgment involve areas of housing user needs most neglected in past and current research and demonstration efforts. (c) The Secretary is authorized to undertake demonstrations involving the actual planning, development, and occupancy of housing utilizing the contract and loan authority of any federally assisted housing program. He is also authorized to set aside any development, construction, design, and occupancy requirements, for the purposes of these demonstrations, if in his judgment they inhibit the testing of housing designed to meet the special housing needs. (d) In carrying out this section, the Secretary shall include, as part of any demonstration, an evaluation of the demonstration to cover the full experience involved in planning, development, and occupancy. (e) In addition to any other contract or loan authority which the Secretary may utilize under subsection (c), not more than $10,000,000 from amounts approved in appropriation Acts shall be available for research under this section. [12 U.S.C. 1701z-6] COUNSELING TO MORTGAGORS SEC. 508. (a) In carrying out activities under section 501, the Secretary is directed to undertake programs of studies and demonstrations within at least three standard metropolitan statistical areas to determine to the extent of need for and cost effectiveness of providing pre-purchase, default and delinquency counseling and related services to owners and purchasers of single-family dwellings insured or to be insured under the unsubsidized mortgage insurance programs of the National Housing Act. (b) Within one year from enactment of this section, the Secretary shall submit an interim report to the Congress with respect to the progress made under such studies and demonstrations, including an estimate as to the date when a final report on the results of such demonstrations will be made available to the Congress. [12 U.S.C. 1701z-7] SEC. 510. In carrying out activities under section 501, the Secretary is authorized to conduct demonstrations to determine the feasibility of expanding homeownership opportunities in urban areas and encouraging the creation and maintenance of decent, safe, and sanitary housing in such areas by utilizing techniques including, but not limited to, the conversion of multifamily housing properties to condominium or cooperative ownership by individuals and families. [12 U.S.C. 1701z-9] REHABILITATION GUIDELINES SEC. 511. (a)(1) The Secretary shall develop model rehabilitation guidelines for the voluntary adoption by States and communities to be used in conjunction with existing building codes by State and local officials in the inspection and approval of rehabilitated properties. (2) Such guidelines shall be developed in consultation with the National Institute of Building Sciences, appropriate national organizations of agencies and officials of State and local governments, representatives of the building industry, and consumer groups, other interested parties. (3) The Secretary shall publish such guidelines for public comment not later than one year after the date of enactment of this section, and promulgate them no later than eighteen months after such date of enactment. (4) The Secretary may furnish technical assistance to State and local governments to facilitate the use and implementation of such guidelines. (b) The Secretary shall report to Congress not later than thirty-six months after the date of enactment of this section regarding (1) actions taken by State and local governments to adopt guidelines or their equivalents, and (2) recommendations for further action. [12 U.S.C. 1701z-10] BIENNIAL SURVEY OF ECONOMY AND HOUSING MARKET CONDITIONS SEC. 512. The Secretary shall, not less than biennially, survey national, regional, and local economic and housing market conditions in a manner that provides data comparable to the data collected in such survey conducted in 1981. [12 U.S.C. 1701z-10a] ADMINISTRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS EXCERPT FROM HOUSING ACT OF 1948 [Public Law 901, 80th Cong.; 62 Stat. 1283; 12 U.S.C. 1701c and 42 U.S.C. 1404a] TITLE V-ADMINISTRATIVE AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS * SEC. 502. In carrying out their respective functions, powers, and duties (a) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development may appoint such officers and employees as he may find necessary, which appointments shall be subject to the civil service laws and chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code. The Secretary may make such expenditures as may be necessary to carry out his functions, powers, and duties, and there are hereby authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such sums as may be necessary to carry out such functions, powers, and duties and for administrative expenses in connection therewith. The Secretary, without in any way relieving himself from final responsibility, may delegate any of his functions and powers to such officers, agents, or employees as he may designate, may authorize such successive redelegations of such functions and powers, as he may deem desirable, and may make such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out his functions, powers, and duties. [12 U.S.C. 1701c(a)] (b) The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development may sue and be sued only with respect to its functions under the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, and title II of Public Law 671, Seventy-sixth Congress, approved June 28, 1940, as amended. Funds made available for carrying out the functions, powers, and duties of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (including appropriations therefor, which are hereby authorized) shall be available in such amounts as may from year to year be authorized by the Congress, for the administrative expenses of the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law except provisions of law hereafter enacted expressly in limitation hereof, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, or any State, or local public agency administering a low-rent housing project assisted pursuant to the United States Housing Act of 1937 or title II of Public Law 671, Seventy-sixth Congress, approved June 28, 1940, shall continue to have the right to maintain an action or proceeding to recover possession of any 84-339 O-94-46 |