(3) specifies Federal programs and policies to be implemented or recommended in order to achieve the objectives;

(4) updates estimates of the housing needs of lower income families, analyzing these needs, insofar as possible, by type of household, housing need, including households with specialized needs, and general location, and in addition, reassesses the capacity of each Federal housing program to serve the needs identified;

(5) reviews the progress made in achieving goals of conserving and upgrading older housing and neighborhoods, expanding homeownership and equal housing opportunities, and assuring reasonable shelter costs;

(6) reports on progress made toward developing new methods for measuring and monitoring progress in achieving these goals; and

(7) identifies legislative and administrative actions which will or should be adopted or implemented during the current year and, as feasible, the next year to support achievement of the goals. [42 U.S.C. 1441c]

EXCERPT FROM HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ACT OF

1987

[Public Law 100-242; 101 Stat. 1819; 42 U.S.C. 5301 note]

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

(a) FINDINGS.-The Congress finds that

(1) for the past 50 years, the Federal Government has taken the leading role in enabling the people of the Nation to be the best housed in the world, and recent reductions in Federal assistance have contributed to a deepening housing crisis for low- and moderate-income families;

(2) the efforts of the Federal Government have included a system of specialized lending institutions, favorable tax policies, construction assistance, mortgage insurance, loan guarantees, secondary markets, and interest and rental subsidies, that have enabled people to rent or buy affordable, decent, safe, and sanitary housing; and

(3) the tragedy of homelessness in urban and suburban communities across the Nation, involving a record number of people, dramatically demonstrates the lack of affordable residential shelter, and people living on the economic margins of our society (lower income families, the elderly, the working poor, and the deinstitutionalized) have few available alternatives for shelter.

(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act, therefore, is

(1) to reaffirm the principle that decent and affordable shelter is a basic necessity, and the general welfare of the Nation and the health and living standards of its people require the addition of new housing units to remedy a serious shortage of housing units for all Americans, particularly for person of low and moderate income;

(2) to make the distribution of direct and indirect housing assistance more equitable by providing Federal assistance for the less affluent people of the Nation;

(3) to provide needed housing assistance for homeless people and for persons of low and moderate income who lack affordable, decent, safe, and sanitary housing; and

(4) to reform existing programs to ensure that such assistance is delivered in the most efficient manner possible. [42 U.S.C. 5301 note]

EXCERPT FROM CRANSTON-GONZALEZ NATIONAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING ACT

(Public Law 101-625; 104 Stat 4085; 42 U.S.C. 12701 et seq.]

TITLE I-GENERAL PROVISIONS AND

POLICIES

SEC. 101. THE NATIONAL HOUSING GOAL.

The Congress affirms the national goal that every American family be able to afford a decent home in a suitable environment. [42 U.S.C. 12701]

SEC. 102. OBJECTIVE OF NATIONAL HOUSING POLICY.

The objective of national housing policy shall be to reaffirm the long-established national commitment to decent, safe, and sanitary housing for every American by strengthening a nationwide partnership of public and private institutions able

(1) to ensure that every resident of the United States has access to decent shelter or assistance in avoiding homelessness; (2) to increase the Nation's supply of decent housing that is affordable to low-income and moderate-income families and accessible to job opportunities;

(3) to improve housing opportunities for all residents of the United States, particularly members of disadvantaged minorities, on a nondiscriminatory basis;

(4) to help make neighborhoods safe and livable;

(5) to expand opportunities for homeownership;

(6) to provide every American community with a reliable, readily available supply of mortgage finance at the lowest possible interest rates; and

(7) to encourage tenant empowerment and reduce generational poverty in federally assisted and public housing by improving the means by which self-sufficiency may be achieved. [42 U.S.C. 12702]

SEC. 103. PURPOSES OF THE CRANSTON-GONZALEZ NATIONAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING ACT.

The purposes of this Act are

(1) to help families not owning a home to save for a down payment for the purchase of a home;

(2) to retain wherever feasible as housing affordable to low-income families those dwelling units produced for such purpose with Federal assistance;

(3) to extend and strengthen partnerships among all levels of government and the private sector, including for-profit and nonprofit organizations, in the production and operation of

housing affordable to low-income and moderate-income families;

(4) to expand and improve Federal rental assistance for very low-income families; and

(5) to increase the supply of supportive housing, which combines structural features and services needed to enable persons with special needs to live with dignity and independence. [42 U.S.Č. 12703]

PART I-COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANTS

EXCERPTS FROM HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT ACT OF

1974

[Public Law 93-383; 88 Stat. 633; 42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.]

TITLE I-COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

FINDINGS AND PURPOSE

SEC. 101. (a) The Congress finds and declares that the Nation's cities, towns, and smaller urban communities face critical social, economic, and environmental problems arising in significant measure from

(1) the growth of population in metropolitan and other urban areas, and the concentration of persons of lower income in central cities;

(2) inadequate public and private investment and reinvestment in housing and other physical facilities, and related public and social services, resulting in the growth and persistence of urban slums and blight and the marked deterioration of the quality of the urban environment; and

(3) increasing energy costs which have seriously undermined the quality and overall effectiveness of local community and housing development activities.

(b) The Congress further finds and declares that the future welfare of the Nation and the well-being of its citizens depend on the establishment and maintenance of viable urban communities as social, economic, and political entities, and require

(1) systematic and sustained action by Federal, State, and local governments to eliminate blight, to conserve and renew older urban areas, to improve the living environment of lowand moderate-income families, and to develop new centers of population growth and economic activity;

(2) substantial expansion of and greater continuity in the scope and level of Federal assistance, together with increased private investment in support of community development activities;

(3) continuing effort at all levels of government to streamline programs and improve the functioning of agencies responsible for planning, implementing, and evaluating community development efforts; and

(4) concerted action by Federal, State, and local governments to address the economic and social hardships borne by communities as a consequence of scarce fuel supplies.