PART VIII-ORGANIZATION AND
ADMINISTRATION OF THE DEPARTMENT

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT ACT

[Public Law 89-174; 79 Stat. 667; 42 U.S.C. 3531]

That this Act may be cited as the "Department of Housing and Urban Development Act".

DECLARATION OF PURPOSE

SEC. 2. The Congress hereby declares that the general welfare and security of the Nation and the health and living standards of our people require, as a matter of national purpose, sound development of the Nation's communities and metropolitan areas in which the vast majority of its people live and work.

To carry out such purpose, and in recognition of the increasing importance of housing and urban development in our national life, the Congress finds that establishment of an executive department is desirable to achieve the best administration of the principal programs of the Federal Government which provide assistance for housing and for the development of the Nation's communities; to assist the President in achieving maximum coordination of the various Federal activities which have a major effect upon urban community, suburban, or metropolitan development; to encourage the solution of problems of housing, urban development, and mass transportation through State, county, town, village, or other local and private action, including promotion of interstate, regional, and metropolitan cooperation; to encourage the maximum contributions that may be made by vigorous private homebuilding and mortgage lending industries to housing, urban development, and the national economy; and to provide for full and appropriate consideration, at the national level, of the needs and interests of the Nation's communities and of the people who live and work in them.

ESTABLISHMENT OF DEPARTMENT

SEC. 3. (a) There is hereby established at the seat of government an executive department to be known as the Department of Housing and Urban Development (hereinafter referred to as the "Department"). There shall be at the head of the Department a Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (hereinafter referred to as the "Secretary"), who shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Department shall be administered under the supervision and direction of the Secretary.

(b) The Secretary shall, among his responsibilities advise the President with respect to Federal programs and activities relating

to housing and urban development; develop and recommend to the President policies for fostering the orderly growth and development of the Nation's urban areas; exercise leadership at the direction of the President in coordinating Federal activities affecting housing and urban development; provide technical assistance and information, including a clearinghouse service to aid State, county, town, village, or other local governments in developing solutions to community and metropolitan development problems; consult and cooperate with State Governors and State agencies, including, when appropriate, holding informal public hearings, with respect to Federal and State programs for assisting communities in developing solutions to community and metropolitan development problems and for encouraging effective regional cooperation in the planning and conduct of community and metropolitan development programs and projects; encourage comprehensive planning by the State and local governments with a view to coordinating Federal, State, and local urban and community development activities; encourage private enterprise to serve as large a part of the Nation's total housing and urban development needs as it can and develop the fullest cooperation with private enterprise in achieving the objectives of the Department; and conduct continuing comprehensive studies, and make available findings, with respect to the problems of housing and urban development.

(c) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to deny or limit the benefits of any program, function, or activity assigned to the Department by this or any other Act to any community on the basis of its population or corporate status, except as may be expressly provided by law.

UNDER SECRETARY AND OTHER OFFICERS AND OFFICES

SEC. 4. (a) There shall be in the Department an Under Secretary, eight Assistant Secretaries, and a general counsel, who shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and who shall perform such functions, powers, and duties as the Secretary shall prescribe from time to time. There shall be in the Department a Federal Housing Commissioner, who shall be one of the Assistant Secretaries, who shall head a Federal Housing Administration within the Department, who shall have such duties and powers as may be prescribed by the Secretary, and who shall administer, under the supervision and direction of the Secretary, departmental programs relating to the private mortgage market.

(b) There shall be in the Department a Director of Urban Program Coordination, who shall be designated by the Secretary. He shall assist the Secretary in carrying out his responsibilities to the President with respect to achieving maximum coordination of the programs of the various departments and agencies of the Government which have a major impact on community development. In providing such assistance, the Director shall make such studies of urban and community problems as the Secretary shall request, and shall develop recommendations relating to the administration of Federal programs affecting such problems, particularly with respect to achieving effective cooperation among the Federal, State, and local agencies concerned. Subject to the direction of the Secre

tary, the Director shall, in carrying out his responsibilities, (1) establish and maintain close liaison with the Federal departments and agencies concerned, and (2) consult with State, local, and regional officials, and consider their recommendations with respect to such programs.

(c) There shall be in the Department an Assistant to the Secretary, designated by the Secretary, who shall be responsible for providing information and advise to nonprofit organizations desiring to sponsor housing projects assisted under programs administered by the Department.

(d)(1) There shall be in the Department a Special Assistant for Indian and Alaska Native Programs, who shall be responsible for coordinating all programs of the Department relating to Indian and Alaska Native housing and community development. The Special Assistant for Indian and Alaska Native Programs shall be designated by the Secretary not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this subsection.

(2) The Secretary shall, not later than December 1 of each year, submit to Congress an annual report which shall include

(A) a description of his actions during the current year and a projection of his activities during the succeeding years;

(B) estimate of the cost of the projected activities for succeeding fiscal years;

(C) a statistical report on the conditions of Indian and Alaska Native housing; and

(D) recommendations for such legislative, administrative, and other actions, as he deems appropriate.

TRANSFERS TO DEPARTMENT

SEC. 5. (a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b) of this section, there are hereby transferred to and vested in the Secretary all of the functions, powers, and duties of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, of the Federal Housing Administration and the Public Housing Administration in that Agency, and of the heads, and other officers and offices of said agencies.

(b) The Government National Mortgage Association, together with its functions, powers, and duties, is hereby transferred to the Department. The next to the last sentence of section 308 of the Federal National Mortgage Association Charter Act is hereby repealed.

(c) The President shall undertake studies of the organization of housing and urban development functions and programs within the Federal Government, and he shall provide the Congress with the findings and conclusions of such studies, together with his recommendations regarding the transfer of such functions and programs to or from the Department. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, none of the functions of the Secretary of the Interior authorized under the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (78 Stat. 897) or other functions carried out by the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation shall be transferred from the Department of the Interior or in any way be limited geographically unless specifically provided for by reorganization plan pursuant to provisions of the

Reorganization Act of 1949 (63 Stat. 203), as amended, or by stat

ute.

CONFORMING AMENDMENTS

SEC. 6. (a) Section 19(d)(1) of title 3 of the United States Code is hereby amended by striking out the period at the end thereof and inserting a comma and the following: "Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.' (b) Section 158 of the Revised Statutes (5 U.S.C. 1) is amended by adding at the end thereof:

"Eleventh. The Department of Housing and Urban Development." [Repealed.] 1

(c) The amendment made by subsection (b) of this section shall not be construed to make applicable to the Department any provision of law inconsistent with this Act.

ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS

SEC. 7. (a) The personnel employed in connection with, and the assets, liabilities, contracts, property, records, and unexpended balances of appropriations, authorizations, allocations, or other funds held, used, arising from, or available or to be made available in connection with, the functions, powers, and duties transferred by section 5 of this Act are hereby transferred with such functions, powers, and duties, respectively.

(b) [Repealed.]

(c) The Secretary is authorized, subject to the civil service and classification laws, to select, appoint, employ, and fix the compensation of such officers and employees, including attorneys as shall be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act and to prescribe their authority and duties: Provided, That any other provisions of law to the contrary notwithstanding, the Secretary may fix the compensation for not more than six positions in the Department at the annual rate applicable to positions in level V of the Federal Executive Salary Schedule provided by the Federal Executive Salary Act of 1964.

(d) The Secretary may delegate any of his functions, powers, and duties to such officers and employees of the Department as he may designate, may authorize such successive redelegations of such functions, powers, and duties as he may deem desirable, and may make such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out his functions, powers, and duties. The second proviso of section 101(c) of the Housing Act of 1949 is hereby repealed.

(e) The Secretary may obtain services as authorized by section 15 of the Act of August 2, 1946, at rates for individuals not to exceed the per diem equivalent to the highest rate for grade GS-18 of the General Schedule under section 5332 of title 5, United States Code. (f) The Secretary is authorized to establish a working capital fund, to be available without fiscal year limitation, for expenses

1Sec. 10(b), Public Law 90-83, approved Sept. 11, 1967, 81 Stat. 195, 233, repealed sec. 6(b). However, in sec. 10(b) of the Department of Transportation Act, Public Law 89-670, approved October 15, 1966, 80 Stat. 931, 948, the Department of Housing and Urban Development was included in the recodified section 101 of title 5, United States Code.