[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3521 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3521

 To improve the Operating Fund for public housing of the Department of 
                     Housing and Urban Development.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 10, 2007

  Mr. Sires (for himself, Mr. Frank of Massachusetts, and Ms. Waters) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To improve the Operating Fund for public housing of the Department of 
                     Housing and Urban Development.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Public Housing Asset Management 
Improvement Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. REVISIONS TO ASSET MANAGEMENT RULES AND RELATED FEES.

    (a) Management and Related Fees.--Except as provided in subsection 
(c) of this section, the Secretary shall not impose any restriction or 
limitation on the amount of management and related fees with respect to 
a public housing project if the fee is determined to be reasonable by 
the public housing agency, unless such restriction or limitation 
imposed by the Secretary on such fees--
            (1) is determined pursuant to a negotiated rulemaking which 
        is convened by the Secretary no earlier than April 1, 2009, and 
        in accordance with subchapter III of chapter 5 of title 5, 
        United States Code, with representatives from interested 
        parties; and
            (2) is effective only on or after January 1, 2011.
    (b) Increase of Threshold for Exemption From Asset Management 
Requirements.--Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, 
any public housing agency that owns or operates fewer than 500 public 
housing units under title I of the United States Housing Act of 1937 
may elect to be exempt from any asset management requirement imposed by 
the Secretary.
    (c) Exception for PHAs Seeking a Discontinuance in Operating Fund 
Reductions.--Subsections (a) and (b) shall not apply to any public 
housing agency during the period that the agency is seeking, pursuant 
to subpart F of part 990 of title 24 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations, a discontinuance of a reduction in the amount of the 
operating fund allocation for the agency under section 9(e) of the 
United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437g(e)) or after the 
agency is successful in obtaining a discontinuance of the reduction.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON RESTRICTION OF FUNGIBILITY OF CAPITAL FUND 
              AMOUNTS.

    The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall not impose any 
requirement, regulation, or guideline relating to asset management that 
restricts or limits in any way the use by public housing agencies of 
amounts for Capital Fund assistance under section 9(d) of such Act, 
pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of section 9(g) of the United States 
Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437g(g)), for costs of any central 
office of a public housing agency.

SEC. 4. TENANT PARTICIPATION.

    (a) Rule of Construction.--This Act may not be construed to repeal 
or waive any provision of part 964 of title 24 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations, regarding tenant participation and tenant opportunities in 
public housing. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall 
ensure that public housing agencies encourage the reasonable efforts of 
resident tenant organizations to represent their members or the 
reasonable efforts of tenants to organize.
    (b) Guidance.--Guidance issued by the Secretary of Housing and 
Urban Development shall encourage participation by residents in the 
implementation of asset management and the development of local 
policies for such purposes.
                                 <all>