[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2761 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2761

To amend section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949 to provide flexibility 
                   to the definition of rural areas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 1, 2011

 Mr. Manzullo introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949 to provide flexibility 
                   to the definition of rural areas.

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

SECTION 1. DEFINITION OF RURAL AREA.

    Section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1490) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``As used'' and inserting ``(a) In 
        General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), as used''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(b) Authority for Secretary To Include Other Areas.--
            ``(1) Authority.--The Secretary may provide that a place, 
        town, village, or city that does not meet the requirements 
        under subsection (a) for consideration as `rural' or a `rural 
        area' shall be considered `rural' or a `rural area' for 
        purposes of this title for the period provided in paragraph (3) 
        if such place, town, village, or city--
                    ``(A) has a population not exceeding 35,000; and--
                    ``(B) demonstrates to the satisfaction of the 
                Secretary that--
                            ``(i) such place, town, village, or city is 
                        experiencing economic distress, which may be 
                        evidenced by any factors of economic distress 
                        as the Secretary may provide, which may include 
                        factors such as--
                                    ``(I) an unemployment rate that is 
                                higher than the national average;
                                    ``(II) an average wage that is 
                                lower than the national wage;
                                    ``(III) an average home sale price 
                                that is less than the national average; 
                                or
                                    ``(IV) any other factor evidencing 
                                economic distress as the Secretary may 
                                provide; and
                            ``(ii) eligibility of such place, town, 
                        village, or city for the programs under this 
                        title would be of significant value in helping 
                        such place, town, village, or city recover from 
                        such economic distress.
            ``(2) Request for treatment as rural; determination.--The 
        Secretary shall provide for communities to submit requests for 
        consideration of treatment as rural and a rural area pursuant 
        to this subsection and the Secretary shall make a determination 
        with respect to any such request not later that the expiration 
        of the 90-day period beginning upon receipt of such request.
            ``(3) Applicability.--A place, town, village, or city 
        treated as rural and a rural areas pursuant to this subsection 
        shall be so treated until the receipt of data from the first 
        decennial census occurring after the determination pursuant to 
        this subsection.''.
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