Congressional Record, Volume 144 Issue 145 (Tuesday, October 13, 1998)

[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 145 (Tuesday, October 13, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H10691-H10711]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

AMERICAN HOME OWNERSHIP ACT OF 1998

Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
pass the bill (H.R. 3899) to expand home ownership in the United
States, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:

H.R. 3899

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.

(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``American
Homeownership Act of 1998''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act
is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings and purpose.

TITLE I--REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Sec. 101. Short title.
Sec. 102. Housing impact analysis.
Sec. 103. Grants for regulatory barrier removal strategies.
Sec. 104. Eligibility for community development block grants.
Sec. 105. Regulatory barriers clearinghouse.

TITLE II--HOMEOWNERSHIP THROUGH MORTGAGE INSURANCE AND LOAN GUARANTEES

Sec. 201. Adjustable rate mortgages.
Sec. 202. Housing inspection study.
Sec. 203. Definition of area.
Sec. 204. Extension of loan term for manufactured home lots.
Sec. 205. Repeal of requirements for approval for insurance prior to
start of construction.
Sec. 206. Rehabilitation demonstration grant program.

TITLE III--SECTION 8 HOMEOWNERSHIP OPTION

Sec. 301. Downpayment assistance.

TITLE IV--HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAM

Sec. 401. Reauthorization.
Sec. 402. Eligibility of limited equity cooperatives and mutual housing
associations.
Sec. 403. Leveraging affordable housing investment through local loan
pools.
Sec. 404. Loan guarantees.

TITLE V--LOCAL HOMEOWNERSHIP INITIATIVES

Sec. 501. Reauthorization of neighborhood reinvestment corporation.
Sec. 502. Homeownership zones.
Sec. 503. Lease-to-own.
Sec. 504. Local capacity building.

TITLE VI--MANUFACTURED HOUSING IMPROVEMENT

Sec. 601. Short title and references.
Sec. 602. Findings and purposes.
Sec. 603. Definitions.
Sec. 604. Federal manufactured home construction and safety standards.
Sec. 605. Abolishment of national manufactured home advisory council.
Sec. 606. Public information.
Sec. 607. Research, testing, development, and training.
Sec. 608. Fees.
Sec. 609. Elimination of annual report requirement.
Sec. 610. Effective date.
Sec. 611. Savings provision.

TITLE VII--INDIAN HOUSING HOMEOWNERSHIP

Sec. 701. Indian lands title report commission.

TITLE VIII--TRANSFER OF UNOCCUPIED AND SUBSTANDARD HUD-HELD HOUSING TO
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONS

Sec. 801. Transfer of unoccupied and substandard HUD-held housing to
local governments and community development corporations.
Sec. 802. Amendment to revitalization area disposition program.
Sec. 803. Report on revitalization zones for HUD-owned single family
properties.
Sec. 804. Technical correction to income targeting provisions for
project-based assistance.
Sec. 805. Technical corrections to the Multifamily Assisted Housing
Reform and Affordability Act of 1997.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

(a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
(1) the priorities of our Nation should include expanding
homeownership opportunities by providing access to affordable
housing that is safe, clean, and healthy;
(2) our Nation has an abundance of conventional capital
sources available for homeownership financing; and
(3) experience with local homeownership programs has shown
that if flexible capital sources are available, communities
possess ample will and creativity to provide opportunities
uniquely designed to assist their citizens in realizing the
American dream of homeownership.
(b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act--
(1) to encourage and facilitate homeownership by families
in the United States who are not otherwise able to afford
homeownership; and
(2) to expand homeownership through policies that--
(A) promote the ability of the private sector to produce
affordable housing without excessive government regulation;
(B) encourage tax incentives, such as the mortgage interest
deduction, at all levels of government; and
(C) facilitate the availability of flexible capital for
homeownership opportunities.
TITLE I--REMOVAL OF BARRIERS TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING

SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.

This title may be cited as the ``Affordable Housing Barrier
Removal Act of 1998''.

SEC. 102. HOUSING IMPACT ANALYSIS.

(a) Applicability.--The requirements of this section shall
apply with respect to--
(1) any proposed rule, unless the agency promulgating the
rule--
(A) has certified that the proposed rule will not, if given
force or effect as a final rule, have a significant
deleterious impact on housing affordability; and
(B) has caused such certification to be published in the
Federal Register at the time of publication of general notice
of proposed rulemaking for the rule, together with a
statement providing the factual basis for the certification;
and
(2) any final rule, unless the agency promulgating the
rule--
(A) has certified that the rule will not, if given force or
effect, have a significant deleterious impact on housing
affordability; and
(B) has caused such certification to be published in the
Federal Register at the time of publication of the final
rule, together with a statement providing the factual basis
for the certification.

[[Page H10692]]

Any agency making a certification under this subsection shall
provide a copy of such certification and the statement
providing the factual basis for the certification to the
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
(b) Statement of Proposed Rulemaking.--Whenever an agency
publishes general notice of proposed rulemaking for any
proposed rule, unless the agency has made a certification
under subsection (a), the agency shall--
(1) in the notice of proposed rulemaking--
(A) state with particularity the text of the proposed rule;
and
(B) request any interested persons to submit to the agency
any written analyses, data, views, and arguments, and any
specific alternatives to the proposed rule that--
(i) accomplish the stated objectives of the applicable
statutes, in a manner comparable to the proposed rule;
(ii) result in costs to the Federal Government equal to or
less than the costs resulting from the proposed rule; and
(iii) result in housing affordability greater than the
housing affordability resulting from the proposed rule;
(2) provide an opportunity for interested persons to take
the actions specified under paragraph (1)(B) before
promulgation of the final rule; and
(3) prepare and make available for public comment an
initial housing impact analysis in accordance with the
requirements of subsection (c).
(c) Initial Housing Impact Analysis.--
(1) Requirements.--Each initial housing impact analysis
shall describe the impact of the proposed rule on housing
affordability. The initial housing impact analysis or a
summary shall be published in the Federal Register at the
same time as, and together with, the publication of general
notice of proposed rulemaking for the rule. The agency shall
transmit a copy of the initial housing impact analysis to the
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
(2) Monthly hud listing.--On a monthly basis, the Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development shall cause to be published
in the Federal Register, and shall make available through a
World Wide Web site of the Department, a listing of all
proposed rules for which an initial housing impact analysis
was prepared during the preceding month.
(3) Contents.--Each initial housing impact analysis
required under this subsection shall contain--
(A) a description of the reasons why action by the agency
is being considered;
(B) a succinct statement of the objectives of, and legal
basis for, the proposed rule;
(C) a description of and, where feasible, an estimate of
the extent to which the proposed rule would increase the cost
or reduce the supply of housing or land for residential
development; and
(D) an identification, to the extent practicable, of all
relevant Federal rules which may duplicate, overlap, or
conflict with the proposed rule.
(d) Proposal of Less Deleterious Alternative Rule.--
(1) Analysis.--The agency publishing a general notice of
proposed rulemaking shall review any specific analyses and
alternatives to the proposed rule which have been submitted
to the agency pursuant to subsection (b)(2) to determine
whether any alternative to the proposed rule--
(A) accomplishes the stated objectives of the applicable
statutes, in a manner comparable to the proposed rule;
(B) results in costs to the Federal Government equal to or
less than the costs resulting from the proposed rule; and
(C) results in housing affordability greater than the
housing affordability resulting from the proposed rule.
(2) New notice of proposed rulemaking.--If the agency
determines that an alternative to the proposed rule meets the
requirements under subparagraphs (A) through (C) of paragraph
(1), unless the agency provides an explanation on the record
for the proposed rule as to why the alternative should not be
implemented, the agency shall incorporate the alternative
into the final rule or, at the agency's discretion, issue a
new proposed rule which incorporates the alternative.
(e) Final Housing Impact Analysis.--
(1) Requirement.--Whenever an agency promulgates a final
rule after publication of a general notice of proposed
rulemaking, unless the agency has made the certification
under subsection (a), the agency shall prepare a final
housing impact analysis.
(2) Contents.--Each final housing impact analysis shall
contain--
(A) a succinct statement of the need for, and objectives
of, the rule;
(B) a summary of the significant issues raised during the
public comment period in response to the initial housing
impact analysis, a summary of the assessment of the agency of
such issues, and a statement of any changes made in the
proposed rule as a result of such comments; and
(C) a description of and an estimate of the extent to which
the rule will impact housing affordability or an explanation
of why no such estimate is available.
(3) Availability.--The agency shall make copies of the
final housing impact analysis available to members of the
public and shall publish in the Federal Register such
analysis or a summary thereof.
(f) Avoidance of Duplicative or Unnecessary Analyses.--
(1) Duplication.--Any Federal agency may perform the
analyses required by subsections (c) and (e) in conjunction
with or as a part of any other agenda or analysis required by
any other law, executive order, directive, or rule if such
other analysis satisfies the provisions of such subsections.
(2) Joinder.--In order to avoid duplicative action, an
agency may consider a series of closely related rules as one
rule for the purposes of subsections (c) and (e).
(g) Preparation of Analyses.--In complying with the
provisions of subsections (c) and (e), an agency may provide
either a quantifiable or numerical description of the effects
of a proposed rule or alternatives to the proposed rule, or
more general descriptive statements if quantification is not
practicable or reliable.
(h) Effect on Other Law.--The requirements of subsections
(c) and (e) do not alter in any manner standards otherwise
applicable by law to agency action.
(i) Procedure for Waiver or Delay of Completion.--
(1) Initial housing impact analysis.--An agency head may
waive or delay the completion of some or all of the
requirements of subsection (c) by publishing in the Federal
Register, not later than the date of publication of the final
rule, a written finding, with reasons therefor, that the
final rule is being promulgated in response to an emergency
that makes compliance or timely compliance with the
provisions of subsection (a) impracticable.
(2) Final housing impact analysis.--An agency head may not
waive the requirements of subsection (e). An agency head may
delay the completion of the requirements of subsection (e)
for a period of not more than 180 days after the date of
publication in the Federal Register of a final rule by
publishing in the Federal Register, not later than such date
of publication, a written finding, with reasons therefor,
that the final rule is being promulgated in response to an
emergency that makes timely compliance with the provisions of
subsection (e) impracticable. If the agency has not prepared
a final housing impact analysis pursuant to subsection (e)
within 180 days from the date of publication of the final
rule, such rule shall lapse and have no force or effect. Such
rule shall not be repromulgated until a final housing impact
analysis has been completed by the agency.
(j) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the
following definitions shall apply:
(1) Housing affordability.--The term ``housing
affordability'' means the quantity of housing that is
affordable to families having incomes that do not exceed 150
percent of the median income of families in the area in which
the housing is located, with adjustments for smaller and
larger families. For purposes of this paragraph, area, median
family income for an area, and adjustments for family size
shall be determined in the same manner as such factors are
determined for purposes of section 3(b)(2) of the United
States Housing Act of 1937.
(2) Agency.--The term ``agency'' means each authority of
the Government of the United States, whether or not it is
within or subject to review by another agency, but does not
include--
(A) the Congress;
(B) the courts of the United States;
(C) the governments of the territories or possessions of
the United States;
(D) the government of the District of Columbia;
(E) agencies composed of representatives of the parties or
of representatives of organizations of the parties to the
disputes determined by them;
(F) courts-martial and military commissions;
(G) military authority exercised in the field in time of
war or in occupied territory; or
(H) functions conferred by--
(i) sections 1738, 1739, 1743, and 1744 of title 12, United
States Code;
(ii) chapter 2 of title 41, United States Code;
(iii) subchapter II of chapter 471 of title 49, United
States Code; or
(iv) sections 1884, 1891-1902, and former section
1641(b)(2), of title 50, appendix, United States Code.
(3) Families.--The term ``families'' has the meaning given
such term in section 3 of the United States Housing Act of
1937.
(4) Rule.--The term ``rule'' means any rule for which the
agency publishes a general notice of proposed rulemaking
pursuant to section 553(b) of title 5, United States Code, or
any other law, including any rule of general applicability
governing grants by an agency to State and local governments
for which the agency provides an opportunity for notice and
public comment; except that such term does not include a rule
of particular applicability relating to rates, wages,
corporate or financial structures or reorganizations thereof,
prices, facilities, appliances, services, or allowances
therefor or to valuations, costs or accounting, or practices
relating to such rates, wages, structures, prices,
appliances, services, or allowances.
(5) Significant.--The term ``significant'' means increasing
consumers' cost of housing by more than $100,000,000 per
year.
(k) Development.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
the enactment of this title, the Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development shall develop model initial and final
housing impact analyses under this section and shall cause
such model analyses to be published in the Federal Register.
The model analyses shall define the primary elements

[[Page H10693]]

of a housing impact analysis to instruct other agencies on
how to carry out and develop the analyses required under
subsections (a) and (c).
(l) Judicial Review.--
(1) Determination by agency.--Except as otherwise provided
in paragraph (2), any determination by an agency concerning
the applicability of any of the provisions of this title to
any action of the agency shall not be subject to judicial
review.
(2) Other actions by agency.--Any housing impact analysis
prepared under subsection (c) or (e) and the compliance or
noncompliance of the agency with the provisions of this title
shall not be subject to judicial review. When an action for
judicial review of a rule is instituted, any housing impact
analysis for such rule shall constitute part of the whole
record of agency action in connection with the review.
(3) Exception.--Nothing in this subsection bars judicial
review of any other impact statement or similar analysis
required by any other law if judicial review of such
statement or analysis is otherwise provided by law.

SEC. 103. GRANTS FOR REGULATORY BARRIER REMOVAL STRATEGIES.

(a) Authorization of Appropriations.--Subsection (a) of
section 1204 of the Housing and Community Development Act of
1992 (42 U.S.C. 12705c(a)) is amended to read as follows:
``(a) Funding.--There is authorized to be appropriated for
grants under subsections (b) and (c) $15,000,000 for fiscal
year 1999 and each fiscal year thereafter through fiscal year
2003.''.
(b) Consolidation of State and Local Grants.--Subsection
(b) of section 1204 of the Housing and Community Development
Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 12705c(b)) is amended--
(1) in the subsection heading, by striking ``State Grants''
and inserting ``Grant Authority'';
(2) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by inserting
after ``States'' the following: ``and units of general local
government (including consortia of such governments)'';
(3) in paragraph (3), by striking ``a State program to
reduce State and local'' and inserting ``State, local, or
regional programs to reduce'';
(4) in paragraph (4), by inserting ``or local'' after
``State''; and
(5) in paragraph (5), by striking ``State''.
(c) Repeal of Local Grants Provision.--Section 1204 of the
Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 (42 U.S.C.
12705c) is amended by striking subsection (c).
(d) Application and Selection.--The last sentence of
section 1204(e) of the Housing and Community Development Act
of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 12705c(e)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``and for the selection of units of general
local government to receive grants under subsection (f)(2);
and
(2) by inserting before the period at the end the
following: ``and such criteria shall require that grant
amounts be used in a manner consistent with the strategy
contained in the comprehensive housing affordability strategy
for the jurisdiction pursuant to section 105(b)(4) of the
Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act''.
(e) Selection of Grantees.--Subsection (f) of section 1204
of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 (42
U.S.C. 12705c(f)) is amended to read as follows:
``(f) Selection of Grantees.--To the extent amounts are
made available to carry out this section, the Secretary shall
provide grants on a competitive basis to eligible grantees
based on the proposed uses of such amounts, as provided in
applications under subsection (e).''.
(f) Technical Amendments.--Section 107(a)(1) of the Housing
and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5307(a)(1))
is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (G), by inserting ``and'' after the
semicolon at the end;
(2) by striking subparagraph (H); and
(3) by redesignating subparagraph (I) as subparagraph (H).

SEC. 104. ELIGIBILITY FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANTS.

(a) In General.--Section 104(c)(1) of the Housing and
Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5304(c)(1)) is
amended by inserting before the comma the following: ``,
which shall include making a good faith effort to carry out
the strategy established under section 105(b)(4) of such Act
by the unit of general local government to remove barriers to
affordable housing''.
(b) Rule of Construction.--The amendment made by subsection
(a) may not be construed to create any new private right of
action.

SEC. 105. REGULATORY BARRIERS CLEARINGHOUSE.

Section 1205 of the Housing and Community Development Act
of 1992 (42 U.S.C. 12705d) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking
``receive, collect, process, and assemble'' and inserting
``serve as a national repository to receive, collect,
process, assemble, and disseminate'';
(B) in paragraph (1)--
(i) by striking ``, including'' and inserting
``(including''; and
(ii) by inserting before the semicolon at the end the
following: ``), and the prevalence and effects on affordable
housing of such laws, regulations, and policies'';
(C) in paragraph (2), by inserting before the semicolon the
following: ``, including particularly innovative or
successful activities, strategies, and plans''; and
(D) in paragraph (3), by inserting before the period at the
end the following: ``, including particularly innovative or
successful strategies, activities, and plans'';
(2) in subsection (b)--
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(3) by making available through a World Wide Web site of
the Department, by electronic mail, or otherwise, provide to
each housing agency of a unit of general local government
that serves an area having a population greater than 100,000,
an index of all State and local strategies and plans
submitted under subsection (a) to the clearinghouse, which--
``(A) shall describe the types of barriers to affordable
housing that the strategy or plan was designed to ameliorate
or remove; and
``(B) shall, not later than 30 days after submission to the
clearinghouse of any new strategy or plan, be updated to
include the new strategy or plan submitted.''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new subsections:
``(c) Organization.--The clearinghouse under this section
shall be established within the Office of Policy Development
of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and shall
be under the direction of the Assistant Secretary for Policy
Development and Research.
``(d) Timing.--The clearinghouse under this section (as
amended by section 105 of the Affordable Housing Barrier
Removal Act of 1998) shall be established and commence
carrying out the functions of the clearinghouse under this
section not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment
of such Act. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
may comply with the requirements under this section by
reestablishing the clearinghouse that was originally
established to comply with this section and updating and
improving such clearinghouse to the extent necessary to
comply with the requirements of this section as in effect
pursuant to the enactment of such Act.''.
TITLE II--HOMEOWNERSHIP THROUGH MORTGAGE INSURANCE AND LOAN GUARANTEES

SEC. 201. ADJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGES.

Section 251(c) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C.
1715z-16(c)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``(c) The'' and inserting ``(c)(1) Except
as provided in paragraph (2), the''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(2)(A) The Secretary may, not less than 30 days after
submitting to the Congress a written finding under
subparagraph (B), insure under this section in the fiscal
year for which the finding is submitted an aggregate number
of mortgages and loans not exceeding 40 percent of the
aggregate number of mortgages and loans insured by the
Secretary under this title during the preceding fiscal year.
``(B) A finding under this subparagraph is a finding that--
``(I) the limitation under paragraph (1) on authority to
insure mortgages and loans during a fiscal year will be
reached before the end of that fiscal year;
``(II) an increase in such limitation is necessary to meet
the demand for insurance under this section during the fiscal
year;
``(III) the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund is actuarily
sound; and
``(IV) an increase in such limitation will not adversely
impact the actuarial soundness of the Mutual Mortgage
Insurance Fund.''.

SEC. 202. HOUSING INSPECTION STUDY.

The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct
a study regarding the inspection of properties purchased with
loans insured under section 203 of the National Housing Act.
The study shall evaluate--
(1) the feasibility of requiring inspections of properties
purchased with loans insured under such section;
(2) the level of financial losses or savings to the Mutual
Mortgage Insurance Fund that are likely to occur if
inspections are required on properties purchased with loans
insured under such section;
(3) the potential impact on the process of buying a home if
inspections of properties purchased with loans insured under
such section are required, including the process of buying a
home in underserved areas where losses to the Mutual Mortgage
Insurance Fund are greatest;
(4) the difference, if any, in the quality of homes
purchased with loans insured under such section that are
inspected before purchase and such homes that are not
inspected before purchase;
(5) the cost to homebuyers of requiring inspections before
purchase of properties with loans insured under such section;
(6) the extent, if any, to which requiring inspections of
properties purchased with loans insured under such section
will result in adverse selection of loans insured under such
section; and
(7) homebuyer knowledge regarding property inspections and
the extent to which such knowledge affects the decision of
homebuyers to opt for or against having a property inspection
before purchasing a home.

SEC. 203. DEFINITION OF AREA.

(a) Discretion To Enlarge Areas and Median Price in
MSA's.--Section 203(b)(2) of

[[Page H10694]]

the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1709(b)(2)) is amended,
the first sentence after subparagraph (B), by inserting
before the period the following: ``; except that the
Secretary may provide that any county or statistical area,
together with any counties contiguous or proximate to such
county or statistical area, be treated as a single area for
purposes of the preceding sentence; and except that the
median 1-family housing price for any metropolitan
statistical area shall be equal to the median 1-family
housing price of the county within the area that has the
highest such median price''.
(b) Median Price in Expanded MSA's.--The first sentence
after subparagraph (B) of section 203(b)(2) of the National
Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1709(b)(2)), as amended by subsection
(a) of this section, is further amended by inserting before
the period at the end the following: ``; and except that for
fiscal year 1999 the median 1-family housing price for any
area (for purposes of the preceding sentence) that consists
of a metropolitan statistical area together with the counties
contiguous or proximate to such metropolitan statistical area
shall be equal to the median 1-family housing price of the
county within such area (for purposes of the preceding
sentence) that has the highest such median price''.

SEC. 204. EXTENSION OF LOAN TERM FOR MANUFACTURED HOME LOTS.

Section 2(b)(3)(E) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C.
1703(b)(3)(E)) is amended by striking ``fifteen'' and
inserting ``twenty''.

SEC. 205. REPEAL OF REQUIREMENTS FOR APPROVAL FOR INSURANCE
PRIOR TO START OF CONSTRUCTION.

The National Housing Act is amended--
(1) in section 203 (12 U.S.C. 1709)--
(A) in subsection (b)(2), by striking the 4th sentence in
the first undesignated paragraph following subparagraph (B);
and
(B) in subsection (i), by striking ``(or, in any case'' and
all that follows through ``90 centum)''; and
(2) in section 220(d)(3)(A)(i) (12 U.S.C.
1715k(d)(3)(A)(i)), by striking ``(but, in any case'' and all
that follows through ``90 per centum)''.

SEC. 206. REHABILITATION DEMONSTRATION GRANT PROGRAM.

(a) Short Title.--Effective immediately after the enactment
of the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban
Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act,
1999, section 599G of such Act is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsections (a), (b), (c), (d), (e),
(f), and (g) as subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), and
(h), respectively; and
(2) by inserting before subsection (b) (as so redesignated)
the following new subsection:
``(a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the
`Joseph P. Kennedy II Homeownership Rehabilitation
Demonstration Grant Act'.''.
(b) Availability of MMIF.--Section 205 of the National
Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1711) is amended by adding at the end
the following new subsection:
``(i) Availability for Rehabilitation Program.--Amounts in
the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund shall be available to the
Secretary during fiscal year 1999 to carry out the program
under section 599G of the Quality Housing and Work
Responsibility Act of 1998, except that the Secretary may not
use more than an aggregate of $25,000,000 from the Mutual
Mortgage Insurance Fund for such purpose.''.
TITLE III--SECTION 8 HOMEOWNERSHIP OPTION

SEC. 301. DOWNPAYMENT ASSISTANCE.

(a) Amendments.--Section 8(y) of the United States Housing
Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(y)) is amended--
(1) by redesignating paragraph (7) as paragraph (8); and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (6) the following new
paragraph:
``(7) Downpayment assistance.--
``(A) Authority.--A public housing agency may, in lieu of
providing monthly assistance payments under this subsection
on behalf of a family eligible for such assistance and at the
discretion of the public housing agency, provide assistance
for the family in the form of a single grant to be used only
as a contribution toward the downpayment required in
connection with the purchase of a dwelling for fiscal year
2000 and each fiscal year thereafter to the extent provided
in advance in appropriations Acts.
``(B) Amount.--The amount of a downpayment grant on behalf
of an assisted family may not exceed the amount that is equal
to the sum of the assistance payments that would be made
during the first year of assistance on behalf of the family,
based upon the income of the family at the time the grant is
to be made.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a)
shall take effect immediately after the amendments made by
section 555(c) of the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility
Act of 1998 take effect pursuant to such section.
TITLE IV--HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAM

SEC. 401. REAUTHORIZATION.

Section 205 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable
Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12724) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 205. AUTHORIZATION.

``(a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated
to carry out this title $1,600,000,000 for fiscal year 1999
and such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years
2000 through 2003, of which--
``(1) not more than $25,000,000 in each such fiscal year
shall be for community housing partnership activities
authorized under section 233; and
``(2) not more than $15,000,000 in each such fiscal year
shall be for activities in support of State and local housing
strategies authorized under subtitle C.
``(b) Prohibition of Set-Asides.--Except as provided in
subsection (a) of this section and section 217(a)(3), amounts
appropriated pursuant to subsection (a) or otherwise to carry
out this title shall be used only for formula-based grants
allocated pursuant to section 217 and may not be otherwise
used unless the provision of law providing for such other use
specifically refers to this subsection and specifically
states that such provision modifies or supersedes the
provisions of this subsection.''.

SEC. 402. ELIGIBILITY OF LIMITED EQUITY COOPERATIVES AND
MUTUAL HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS.

(a) Congressional Findings.--Section 202(10) of the
Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C.
12721(10)) is amended by inserting ``mutual housing
associations,'' after ``limited equity cooperatives,''.
(b) Definitions.--Section 104 of the Cranston-Gonzalez
National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12704) is
amended--
(1) by redesignating paragraph (23) as paragraph (22);
(2) by redesignating paragraph (24) (relating to the
definition of ``insular area'') as paragraph (23); and
(3) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
``(26) The term `limited equity cooperative' means a
cooperative housing corporation which, in a manner determined
by the Secretary to be acceptable, restricts income
eligibility of purchasers of membership shares of stock in
the cooperative corporation or the initial and resale price
of such shares, or both, so that the shares remain available
and affordable to low-income families.
``(27) The term `mutual housing association' means a
private entity that--
``(A) is organized under State law;
``(B) is described in section 501(c) of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 and exempt from taxation under section
501(a) of such Code;
``(C) owns, manages, and continuously develops affordable
housing by providing long-term housing for low- and moderate-
income families;
``(D) provides that eligible families who purchase
membership interests in the association shall have a right to
residence in a dwelling unit in the housing during the period
that they hold such membership interest; and
``(E) provides for the residents of such housing to
participate in the ongoing management of the housing.''.
(c) Eligibility.--Section 215 of the Cranston-Gonzalez
National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12745) is
amended--
(1) in subsection (b), by adding after and below paragraph
(4) the following:

``Housing that is owned by a limited equity cooperative or a
mutual housing association may be considered by a
participating jurisdiction to be housing for homeownership
for purposes of this title to the extent that ownership or
membership in such a cooperative or association,
respectively, constitutes homeownership under State or local
laws.''; and
(2) in subsection (a), by adding at the end the following
new paragraph:
``(6) Limited equity cooperatives and mutual housing
associations.--Housing that is owned by a limited equity
cooperative or a mutual housing association may be considered
by a participating jurisdiction to be rental housing for
purposes of this title to the extent that ownership or
membership in such a cooperative or association,
respectively, constitutes rental of a dwelling under State or
local laws.''.

SEC. 403. LEVERAGING AFFORDABLE HOUSING INVESTMENT THROUGH
LOCAL LOAN POOLS.

(a) Eligible Investments.--Section 212(b) of the Cranston-
Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12742(b))
is amended by inserting after ``interest subsidies'' the
following: ``, advances to provide reserves for loan pools or
to provide partial loan guarantees,''.
(b) Timely Investment of Trust Funds.--Section 218(e) of
the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42
U.S.C. 12748) is amended to read as follows:
``(e) Investment Within 15 Days.----
``(1) In general.--The participating jurisdiction shall,
not later than 15 days after funds are drawn from the
jurisdiction's HOME Investment Trust Fund, invest such funds,
together with any interest earned thereon, in the affordable
housing for which the funds were withdrawn.
``(2) Loan pools.--In the case of a participating
jurisdiction that withdraws Trust Fund amounts for investment
in the form of an advance for reserves or partial loan
guarantees under a program providing such credit enhancement
for loans for affordable housing, the amounts shall be
considered to be invested for purposes of paragraph (1) upon
the completion of both of the following actions:
``(A) Control of the amounts is transferred to the program.
``(B) The jurisdiction and the entity operating the program
enter into a written agreement that--
``(i) provides that such funds may be used only in
connection with such program;

[[Page H10695]]

``(ii) defines the terms and conditions of the loan pool
reserve or partial loan guarantees; and
``(iii) provides that such entity shall ensure that amounts
from non-Federal sources have been contributed, or are
committed for contribution, to the pool available for loans
for affordable housing that will be backed by such reserves
or loan guarantees in an amount equal to 10 times the amount
invested from Trust Fund amounts.''.
(c) Expiration of Right To Withdraw Funds.--Section 218(g)
of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42
U.S.C. 12748(g)) is amended to read as follows:
``(g) Expiration of Right To Draw Funds.--
``(1) In general.--If any funds becoming available to a
participating jurisdiction under this title are not placed
under binding commitment to affordable housing within 24
months after the last day of the month in which such funds
are deposited in the jurisdiction's HOME Investment Trust
Fund, the jurisdiction's right to draw such funds from the
HOME Investment Trust Fund shall expire. The Secretary shall
reduce the line of credit in the participating jurisdiction's
HOME Investment Trust Fund by the expiring amount and shall
reallocate the funds by formula in accordance with section
217(d).
``(2) Loan pools.--In the case of a participating
jurisdiction that withdraws Trust Fund amounts for investment
in the manner provided under subsection (e)(2), the amounts
shall be considered to be placed under binding commitment to
affordable housing for purposes of paragraph (1) of this
subsection at the time that the amounts are obligated for use
under, and are subject to, a written agreement described in
subsection (e)(2)(B).''.
(d) Treatment of Mixed Income Loan Pools as Affordable
Housing.--
(1) In general.--Section 215 of the Cranston-Gonzalez
National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12745) is amended
by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(c) Loan Pools.--Notwithstanding subsections (a) and (b),
housing financed using amounts invested as provided in
section 218(e)(2) shall qualify as affordable housing only if
the housing complies with the following requirements:
``(1) In the case of housing that is for homeownership--
``(A) of the units financed with amounts so invested--
``(i) not less than 75 percent are principal residences of
owners whose families qualify as low-income families--

``(I) in the case of a contract to purchase existing
housing, at the time of purchase;
``(II) in the case of a lease-purchase agreement for
existing housing or for housing to be constructed, at the
time the agreement is signed; or
``(III) in the case of a contract to purchase housing to be
constructed, at the time the contract is signed;

``(ii) all are principal residences of owners whose
families qualify as moderate-income families--

``(iii) all comply with paragraphs (3) and (4) of
subsection (b), except that paragraph (3) shall be applied
for purposes of this clause by substituting `subsection
(c)(2)(B)' and `low- and moderate-income homebuyers' for
`paragraph (2)' and `low-income homebuyers', respectively;
and
``(B) units made available for purchase only by families
who qualify as low-income families shall have an initial
purchase price that complies with the requirements of
subsection (b)(1).
``(2) In the case of housing that is for rental, the
housing--
``(A) complies with subparagraphs (D) through (F) of
subsection (a)(1);
``(B)(i) has not less than 75 percent of the units occupied
by households that qualify as low-income families and is
occupied only by households that qualify as moderate-income
families; or
``(ii) temporarily fails to comply with clause (i) only
because of increases in the incomes of existing tenants and
actions satisfactory to the Secretary are being taken to
ensure that all vacancies in the housing are being filled in
accordance with clause (i) until such noncompliance is
corrected; and
``(C) bears rents, in the case of units made available for
occupancy only by households that qualify as low-income
families, that comply with the requirements of subsection
(a)(1)(A).

Paragraphs (4) and (5) of subsection (a) shall apply to
housing that is subject to this subsection.''.
(2) Definition.--Section 104 of the Cranston-Gonzalez
National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12704), as amended
by section 402 of this Act, is further amended by adding at
the end the following new paragraph:
``(28) The term `moderate income families' means families
whose incomes do not exceed the median income for the area,
as determined by the Secretary with adjustments for smaller
and larger families, except that the Secretary may establish
income ceilings higher or lower than the median income for
the area on the basis of the Secretary's findings that such
variations are necessary because of prevailing levels of
construction costs or fair market rents, or unusually high or
low family incomes.''.

SEC. 404. LOAN GUARANTEES.

Subtitle A of title II of the Cranston-Gonzalez National
Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12741 et seq.) is amended
by adding at the end the following new section:

``SEC. 227. LOAN GUARANTEES.

``(a) Authority.--The Secretary may, upon such terms and
conditions as the Secretary may prescribe, guarantee and make
commitments to guarantee, only to such extent or in such
amounts as provided in appropriations Acts, the notes or
other obligations issued by eligible participating
jurisdictions or by public agencies designated by and acting
on behalf of eligible participating jurisdictions for
purposes of financing (including credit enhancements and debt
service reserves) the acquisition, new construction,
reconstruction, or moderate or substantial rehabilitation of
affordable housing (including real property acquisition, site
improvement, conversion, and demolition), and other related
expenses (including financing costs and relocation expenses
of any displaced persons, families, businesses, or
organizations). Housing funded under this section shall meet
the requirements of this subtitle.
``(b) Requirements.--Notes or other obligations guaranteed
under this section shall be in such form and denominations,
have such maturities, and be subject to such conditions as
may be prescribed by the Secretary. The Secretary may not
deny a guarantee under this section on the basis of the
proposed repayment period for the note or other obligation,
unless the period is more than 20 years or the Secretary
determines that the period otherwise causes the guarantee to
constitute an unacceptable financial risk.
``(c) Limitation on Total Notes and Obligations.--The
Secretary may not guarantee or make a commitment to guarantee
any note or other obligation if the total outstanding notes
or obligations guaranteed under this section on behalf of the
participating jurisdiction issuing the note or obligation
(excluding any amount defeased under a contract entered into
under subsection (e)(1)) would thereby exceed an amount equal
to 5 times the amount of the participating jurisdiction's
latest allocation under section 217.
``(d) Use of Program Funds.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of this subtitle, funds allocated to the
participating jurisdiction under this subtitle (including
program income derived therefrom) are authorized for use in
the payment of principal and interest due on the notes or
other obligations guaranteed pursuant to this section and the
payment of such servicing, underwriting, or other issuance or
collection charges as may be specified by the Secretary.
``(e) Security.--To assure the full repayment of notes or
other obligations guaranteed under this section, and payment
of the issuance or collection charges specified by the
Secretary under subsection (d), and as a prior condition for
receiving such guarantees, the Secretary shall require the
participating jurisdiction (and its designated public agency
issuer, if any) to--
``(1) enter into a contract, in a form acceptable to the
Secretary, for repayment of such notes or other obligations
and the other specified charges;
``(2) pledge as security for such repayment any allocation
for which the participating jurisdiction may become eligible
under this subtitle; and
``(3) furnish, at the discretion of the Secretary, such
other security as may be deemed appropriate by the Secretary
in making such guarantees, which may include increments in
local tax receipts generated by the housing assisted under
this section or disposition proceeds from the sale of land or
housing.
``(f) Repayment Authority.--The Secretary may,
notwithstanding any other provision of this subtitle or any
other Federal, State, or local law, apply allocations pledged
pursuant to subsection (e) to any repayments due the United
States as a result of such guarantees.
``(g) Full Faith and Credit.--The full faith and credit of
the United States is pledged to the payment of all guarantees
made under this section. Any such guarantee made by the
Secretary shall be conclusive evidence of the eligibility of
the notes or other obligations for such guarantee with
respect to principal and interest, and the validity of any
such guarantee so made shall be incontestable in the hands of
a holder of the guaranteed obligations.
``(h) Tax Status.--With respect to any obligation
guaranteed pursuant to this section, the guarantee and the
obligation shall be designed in a manner such that the
interest paid on such obligation shall be included in gross
income for purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
``(i) Monitoring.--The Secretary shall monitor the use of
guarantees under this section by eligible participating
jurisdictions. If the Secretary finds that 50 percent of the
aggregate guarantee authority for any fiscal year has been
committed, the Secretary may impose limitations on the amount
of guarantees any 1 participating jurisdiction may receive
during that fiscal year.
``(j) Guarantee of Trust Certificates.--
``(1) Authority.--The Secretary may, upon such terms and
conditions as the Secretary deems appropriate, guarantee the
timely payment of the principal of and interest on

[[Page H10696]]

such trust certificates or other obligations as may--
``(A) be offered by the Secretary or by any other offeror
approved for purposes of this subsection by the Secretary;
and
``(B) be based on and backed by a trust or pool composed of
notes or other obligations guaranteed or eligible for
guarantee by the Secretary under this section.
``(2) Full faith and credit.--To the same extent as
provided in subsection (g), the full faith and credit of the
United States is pledged to the payment of all amounts which
may be required to be paid under any guarantee by the
Secretary under this subsection.
``(3) Subrogation.--In the event the Secretary pays a claim
under a guarantee issued under this section, the Secretary
shall be subrogated fully to the rights satisfied by such
payment.
``(4) Other powers and rights.--No State or local law, and
no Federal law, shall preclude or limit the exercise by the
Secretary of--
``(A) the power to contract with respect to public
offerings and other sales of notes, trust certificates, and
other obligations guaranteed under this section, upon such
terms and conditions as the Secretary deems appropriate;
``(B) the right to enforce, by any means deemed appropriate
by the Secretary, any such contract; and
``(C) the Secretary's ownership rights, as applicable, in
notes, certificates or other obligations guaranteed under
this section, or constituting the trust or pool against which
trust certificates or other obligations guaranteed under this
section are offered.
``(k) Aggregate Limitation.--The total amount of
outstanding obligations guaranteed on a cumulative basis by
the Secretary under this section shall not at any time exceed
$2,000,000,000.''.
TITLE V--LOCAL HOMEOWNERSHIP INITIATIVES

SEC. 501. REAUTHORIZATION OF NEIGHBORHOOD REINVESTMENT
CORPORATION.

Section 608(a)(1) of the Neighborhood Reinvestment
Corporation Act (42 U.S.C. 8107(a)(1)) is amended by striking
the first sentence and inserting the following: ``There are
authorized to be appropriated to the corporation to carry out
this title $90,000,000 for each of fiscal years 1999 through
2003. Of any amounts made available pursuant to this
subsection for fiscal year 1999, $25,000,000 shall be for a
pilot homeownership initiative, including an evaluation by an
independent third party to determine its effectiveness.''.

SEC. 502. HOMEOWNERSHIP ZONES.

Section 186 of the Housing and Community Development Act of
1992 (42 U.S.C. 12898a) is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 186. HOMEOWNERSHIP ZONE GRANTS.

``(a) Authority.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development may make grants to units of general local
government to assist homeownership zones. Homeownership zones
are contiguous, geographically defined areas, primarily
residential in nature, in which large-scale development
projects are designed to reclaim distressed neighborhoods by
creating homeownership opportunities for low- and moderate-
income families. Projects in homeownership zones are intended
to serve as a catalyst for private investment, business
creation, and neighborhood revitalization.
``(b) Eligible Activities.--Amounts made available under
this section may be used for projects that include any of the
following activities in the homeownership zone:
``(1) Acquisition, construction, and rehabilitation of
housing.
``(2) Site acquisition and preparation, including
demolition, construction, reconstruction, or installation of
public and other site improvements and utilities directly
related to the homeownership zone.
``(3) Direct financial assistance to homebuyers.
``(4) Homeownership counseling.
``(5) Relocation assistance.
``(6) Marketing costs, including affirmative marketing
activities.
``(7) Other project-related costs.
``(8) Reasonable administrative costs (up to 5 percent of
the grant amount).
``(9) Other housing-related activities proposed by the
applicant as essential to the success of the homeownership
zone and approved by the Secretary.
``(c) Application.--To be eligible for a grant under this
section, a unit of general local government shall submit an
application for a homeownership zone grant in such form and
in accordance with such procedures as the Secretary shall
establish.
``(d) Selection Criteria.--The Secretary shall select
applications for funding under this section through a
national competition, using selection criteria established by
the Secretary, which shall include--
``(1) the degree to which the proposed activities will
result in the improvement of the economic, social, and
physical aspects of the neighborhood and the lives of its
residents through the creation of new homeownership
opportunities;
``(2) the levels of distress in the homeownership zone as a
whole, and in the immediate neighborhood of the project for
which assistance is requested;
``(3) the financial soundness of the plan for financing
homeownership zone activities;
``(4) the leveraging of other resources; and
``(5) the capacity to successfully carry out the plan.
``(e) Grant Approval Amounts.--The Secretary may establish
a maximum amount for any grant for any funding round under
this section. A grant may not be made in an amount that
exceeds the amount that the Secretary determines is necessary
to fund the project for which the application is made.
``(f) Program Requirements.--A homeownership zone proposal
shall--
``(1) provide for a significant number of new homeownership
opportunities that will make a visible improvement in an
immediate neighborhood;
``(2) not be inconsistent with such planning and design
principles as may be prescribed by the Secretary;
``(3) be designed to stimulate additional investment in
that area;
``(4) provide for partnerships with persons or entities in
the private and nonprofit sectors;
``(5) incorporate a comprehensive approach to
revitalization of the neighborhood;
``(6) establish a detailed time-line for commencement and
completion of construction activities; and
``(7) provide for affirmatively furthering fair housing.
``(g) Income Targeting.--At least 51 percent of the
homebuyers assisted with funds under this section shall have
household incomes at or below 80 percent of median income for
the area, as determined by the Secretary.
``(h) Environmental Review.--For purposes of environmental
review, decisionmaking, and action pursuant to the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and other provisions of law
that further the purposes of such Act, a grant under this
section shall be treated as assistance under the HOME
Investment Partnerships Act and shall be subject to the
regulations issued by the Secretary to implement section 288
of such Act.
``(i) Review, Audit, and Reporting.--The Secretary shall
make such reviews and audits and establish such reporting
requirements as may be necessary or appropriate to determine
whether the grantee has carried out its activities in a
timely manner and in accordance with the requirements of this
section. The Secretary may adjust, reduce, or withdraw
amounts made available, or take other action as appropriate,
in accordance with the Secretary's performance reviews and
audits under this section.
``(j) Authorization.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to carry out this section $25,000,000 for fiscal
year 1999 and such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year
2000, to remain available until expended.''.

SEC. 503. LEASE-TO-OWN.

(a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress
that residential tenancies under lease-to-own provisions can
facilitate homeownership by low- and moderate-income families
and provide opportunities for homeownership for such families
who might not otherwise be able to afford homeownership.
(b) Report.--Not later than the expiration of the 3-month
period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act,
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall submit a
report to the Congress--
(1) analyzing whether lease-to-own provisions can be
effectively incorporated within the HOME investment
partnerships program, the public housing program, the tenant-
based rental assistance program under section 8 of the United
States Housing Act of 1937, or any other programs of the
Department to facilitate homeownership by low- or moderate-
income families; and
(2) any legislative or administrative changes necessary to
alter or amend such programs to allow the use of lease-to-own
options to provide homeownership opportunities.

SEC. 504. LOCAL CAPACITY BUILDING.

Section 4 of the HUD Demonstration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C.
9816 note) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting ``National Association
of Housing Partnerships,'' after ``Humanity,''; and
(2) in subsection (e), by striking ``$25,000,000'' and all
that follows and inserting ``, for each fiscal year, such
sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.''.
TITLE VI--MANUFACTURED HOUSING IMPROVEMENT

SEC. 601. SHORT TITLE AND REFERENCES.

(a) Short Title.--This title may be cited as the
``Manufactured Housing Improvement Act''.
(b) References.--Whenever in this title an amendment is
expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, a
section or other provision, the reference shall be considered
to be made to that section or other provision of the National
Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of
1974 (42 U.S.C. 5401 et seq.).

SEC. 602. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

Section 602 (42 U.S.C. 5401) is amended to read as follows:

``findings and purposes

``Sec. 602. (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that--
``(1) manufactured housing plays a vital role in meeting
the housing needs of the Nation; and
``(2) manufactured homes provide a significant resource for
affordable homeownership and rental housing accessible to all
Americans.
``(b) Purposes.--The purposes of this title are--
``(1) to facilitate the acceptance of the quality,
durability, safety, and affordability of manufactured housing
within the Department of Housing and Urban Development;

[[Page H10697]]

``(2) to facilitate the availability of affordable
manufactured homes and to increase homeownership for all
Americans;
``(3) to provide for the establishment of practical,
uniform, and, to the extent possible, performance-based
Federal construction standards;
``(4) to encourage innovative and cost-effective
construction techniques;
``(5) to protect owners of manufactured homes from
unreasonable risk of personal injury and property damage;
``(6) to establish a balanced consensus process for the
development, revision, and interpretation of Federal
construction and safety standards for manufactured homes and
related regulations for the enforcement of such standards;
``(7) to ensure uniform and effective enforcement of
Federal construction and safety standards for manufactured
homes; and
``(8) to ensure that the public interest in, and need for,
affordable manufactured housing is duly considered in all
determinations relating to the Federal standards and their
enforcement.''.

SEC. 603. DEFINITIONS.

(a) In General.--Section 603 (42 U.S.C. 5402) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ``dealer'' and inserting
``retailer'';
(2) in paragraph (12), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(3) in paragraph (13), by striking the period at the end
and inserting a semicolon; and
(4) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
``(14) `administering organization' means the recognized,
voluntary, private sector, consensus standards body with
specific experience in developing model residential building
codes and standards involving all disciplines regarding
construction and safety that administers the consensus
standards development process;
``(15) `consensus committee' means the committee
established under section 604(a)(3);
``(16) `consensus standards development process' means the
process by which additions, revisions, and interpretations to
the Federal manufactured home construction and safety
standards and enforcement regulations shall be developed and
recommended to the Secretary by the consensus committee;
``(17) `primary inspection agency' means a State agency or
private organization that has been approved by the Secretary
to act as a design approval primary inspection agency or a
production inspection primary inspection agency, or both;
``(18) `design approval primary inspection agency' means a
State agency or private organization that has been approved
by the Secretary to evaluate and either approve or disapprove
manufactured home designs and quality control procedures;
``(19) `production inspection primary inspection agency'
means a State agency or private organization that has been
approved by the Secretary to evaluate the ability of
manufactured home manufacturing plants to comply with
approved quality control procedures and with the Federal
manufactured home construction and safety standards
promulgated hereunder; and
``(20) `monitoring'--
``(A) means the process of periodic review of the primary
inspection agencies, by the Secretary or by a State agency
under an approved State plan pursuant to section 623, in
accordance with regulations recommended by the consensus
committee and promulgated in accordance with section 604(b),
which process shall be for the purpose of ensuring that the
primary inspection agencies are discharging their duties
under this title; and
``(B) may include the periodic inspection of retail
locations for transit damage, label tampering, and retailer
compliance with this title.''.
(b) Conforming Amendments.--The National Manufactured
Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974 is
amended--
(1) in section 613 (42 U.S.C. 5412), by striking ``dealer''
each place it appears and inserting ``retailer'';
(2) in section 614(f) (42 U.S.C. 5413(f)), by striking
``dealer'' each place it appears and inserting ``retailer'';
(3) in section 615 (42 U.S.C. 5414)--
(A) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ``dealer'' and
inserting ``retailer'';
(B) in subsection (b)(3), by striking ``dealer or dealers''
and inserting ``retailer or retailers''; and
(C) in subsections (d) and (f), by striking ``dealers''
each place it appears and inserting ``retailers'';
(4) in section 616 (42 U.S.C. 5415), by striking ``dealer''
and inserting ``retailer''; and
(5) in section 623(c)(9), by striking ``dealers'' and
inserting ``retailers''.

SEC. 604. FEDERAL MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY
STANDARDS.

Section 604 (42 U.S.C. 5304) is amended--
(1) by striking subsections (a) and (b) and inserting the
following new subsections:
``(a) Establishment.--
``(1) Authority.--The Secretary shall establish, by order,
appropriate Federal manufactured home construction and safety
standards, each of which--
``(A) shall--
``(i) be reasonable and practical;
``(ii) meet high standards of protection consistent with
the enumerated purposes of this title; and
``(iii) where appropriate, be performance-based and stated
objectively; and
``(B) except as provided in subsection (b), shall be
established in accordance with the consensus standards
development process.
``(2) Consensus standards and regulatory development
process.--
``(A) Initial agreement.--Not later than 180 days after the
date of enactment of the Manufactured Housing Improvement
Act, the Secretary shall enter into a contract with an
administering organization. The contractual agreement shall--
``(i) terminate on the date on which a contract is entered
into under subparagraph (B); and
``(ii) require the administering organization to--

``(I) appoint the initial members of the consensus
committee under paragraph (3);
``(II) administer the consensus standards development
process until the termination of that agreement; and
``(III) administer the consensus development and
interpretation process for procedural and enforcement
regulations and regulations specifying the permissible scope
and conduct of monitoring until the termination of that
agreement.

``(B) Competitively procured contract.--Upon the expiration
of the 4-year period beginning on the date on which all
members of the consensus committee are appointed under
paragraph (3), the Secretary shall, using competitive
procedures (as such term is defined in section 4 of the
Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act), enter into a
competitively awarded contract with an administering
organization. The administering organization shall administer
the consensus process for the development and interpretation
of the Federal standards, the procedural and enforcement
regulations and regulations specifying the permissible scope
and conduct of monitoring in accordance with this title.
``(C) Performance review.--The Secretary--
``(i) shall periodically review the performance of the
administering organization; and
``(ii) may replace the administering organization with
another qualified technical or building code organization,
pursuant to competitive procedures, if the Secretary
determines in writing that the administering organization is
not fulfilling the terms of the agreement or contract to
which the administering organization is subject or upon the
expiration of the agreement or contract.
``(3) Consensus committee.--
``(A) Purpose.--There is established a committee to be
known as the `consensus committee', which shall, in
accordance with this title--
``(i) provide periodic recommendations to the Secretary to
adopt, revise, and interpret the Federal manufactured housing
construction and safety standards in accordance with this
subsection;
``(ii) provide periodic recommendations to the Secretary to
adopt, revise, and interpret the procedural and enforcement
regulations, including regulations specifying the permissible
scope and conduct of monitoring in accordance with this
subsection; and
``(iii) be organized and carry out its business in a manner
that guarantees a fair opportunity for the expression and
consideration of various positions and for public
participation.
``(B) Membership.--The consensus committee shall be
composed of--
``(i) 25 voting members appointed, subject to approval by
the Secretary, by the administering organization from among
individuals who are qualified by background and experience to
participate in the work of the consensus committee; and
``(ii) 1 member appointed by the Secretary to represent the
Secretary on the consensus committee, who shall be a
nonvoting member.
``(C) Disapproval.--The Secretary may disapprove, in
writing with the reasons set forth, the appointment of an
individual under subparagraph (B)(i).
``(D) Selection procedures and requirements.--Each member
shall be appointed in accordance with the selection
procedures, which shall be established by the Secretary and
which shall be based on the procedures for consensus
committees promulgated by the American National Standards
Institute (or successor organization), except that the
American National Standards Institute interest categories
shall be modified for purposes of this paragraph to ensure
equal representation on the consensus committee of the
following interest categories:
``(i) Home producers.--Five persons representing
manufacturers of manufactured homes.
``(ii) Other business interests.--Five persons representing
other business interests involved in the manufactured housing
industry such as retailers, installers, lenders, insurers,
suppliers of products, and community owners. The business
interests represented in this category shall not be owned or
controlled by manufacturers represented under clause (i).
``(iii) Consumers.--Five persons representing homeowners
and consumer interests, such as consumer organizations,
community organizations, recognized consumer leaders, and
manufactured homeowners owners and occupants.
``(iv) Public officials.--Five persons who are State or
local officials such as building code enforcement or
inspection officials, fire marshals, and including
representatives of State administrative agencies.

[[Page H10698]]

``(v) General interest.--Five persons representing the
public such as architects, engineers, homebuilders,
academicians, and developers.
``(E) Additional qualifications.--An individual appointed
under clause (iii), (iv), or (v) of subparagraph (D) shall
not have--
``(i) a significant financial interest in any segment of
the manufactured housing industry; or
``(ii) a significant relationship to any person engaged in
the manufactured housing industry.
``(F) Meetings.--
``(i) Notice; open to public.--The consensus committee
shall provide advance notice of each meeting of the consensus
committee to the Secretary and publish advance notice of each
such meeting in the Federal Register. All meetings of the
consensus committee shall be open to the public.
``(ii) Reimbursement.--Members of the consensus committee
in attendance at the meetings shall be reimbursed for their
actual expenses as authorized by section 5703 of title 5,
United States Code, for persons employed intermittently in
Government service.
``(G) Inapplicability of other laws.--
``(i) Advisory committee act.--The consensus committee
shall not be considered to be an advisory committee for
purposes of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
``(ii) Title 18.--The members of the consensus committee
shall not be subject to section 203, 205, 207, or 208 of
title 18, United States Code, to the extent of their proper
participation as members of the consensus committee.
``(iii) Ethics in government act of 1978.--The Ethics in
Government Act of 1978 shall not apply to members of the
consensus committee to the extent of their proper
participation as members of the consensus committee.
``(H) Administration.--The consensus committee and the
administering organization shall--
``(i) operate in conformance with the procedures
established by the American National Standards Institute for
the development and coordination of American National
Standards; and
``(ii) apply to the American National Standards Institute
and take such other actions as may be necessary to obtain
accreditation from the American National Standards Institute.
``(I) Staff.--The administering organization shall, upon
the request of the consensus committee, provide reasonable
staff resources to the consensus committee. Upon a showing of
need, the Secretary shall furnish technical support to any of
the various interest categories on the consensus committee.
``(J) Date of initial appointments.--The initial
appointments of all of the members of the consensus committee
shall be completed not later than 90 days after the date on
which an administration agreement under paragraph (2)(A) is
completed with the administering organization.
``(4) Revisions of standards.--
``(A) In general.--Beginning on the date on which all
members of the consensus committee are appointed under
paragraph (3), the consensus committee shall, not less than
once during each 2-year period--
``(i) consider revisions to the Federal manufactured home
construction and safety standards; and
``(ii) submit proposed revised standards and regulations to
the Secretary in the form of a proposed rule, including an
economic analysis.
``(B) Publication of proposed revised standards.--
``(i) Publication by secretary.--The consensus committee
shall provide a proposed revised standard under subparagraph
(A)(ii) to the Secretary who shall, not later than 30 days
after receipt, publish such proposed revised standard in the
Federal Register for notice and comment. Unless clause (ii)
applies, the Secretary shall provide an opportunity for
public comment on such proposed revised standard and any such
comments shall be submitted directly to the consensus
committee without delay.
``(ii) Publication of rejected proposed revised
standards.--If the Secretary rejects the proposed revised
standard, the Secretary shall publish the rejected proposed
revised standard in the Federal Register with the reasons for
rejection and any recommended modifications set forth.
``(C) Presentation of public comments; publication of
recommended revisions.--
``(i) Presentation.--Any public comments, views, and
objections to a proposed revised standard published under
subparagraph (B) shall be presented by the Secretary to the
consensus committee upon their receipt and in the manner
received, in accordance with procedures established by the
American National Standards Institute.
``(ii) Publication by the secretary.--The consensus
committee shall provide to the Secretary any revisions
proposed by the consensus committee, which the Secretary
shall, not later than 7 calendar days after receipt, cause to
be published in the Federal Register as a notice of the
recommended revisions of the consensus committee to the
standard, a notice of the submission of the recommended
revisions to the Secretary, and a description of the
circumstances under which the proposed revised standards
could become effective.
``(iii) Publication of rejected proposed revised
standards.--If the Secretary rejects the proposed revised
standard, the Secretary shall publish the rejected proposed
revised standard in the Federal Register with the reasons for
rejection and any recommended modifications set forth.
``(5) Review by the secretary.--
``(A) In general.--The Secretary shall either adopt,
modify, or reject a standard, as submitted by the consensus
committee under paragraph (4)(A).
``(B) Timing.--Not later than 12 months after the date on
which a standard is submitted to the Secretary by the
consensus committee, the Secretary shall take action
regarding such standard under subparagraph (C).
``(C) Procedures.--If the Secretary--
``(i) adopts a standard recommended by the consensus
committee, the Secretary shall--

``(I) issue a final order without further rulemaking; and
``(II) cause the final order to be published in the Federal
Register;

``(ii) determines that any standard should be rejected, the
Secretary shall--

``(I) reject the standard; and
``(II) cause to be published in the Federal Register a
notice to that effect, together with the reason or reasons
for rejecting the proposed standard; or

``(iii) determines that a standard recommended by the
consensus committee should be modified, the Secretary shall--

``(I) cause the proposed modified standard to be published
in the Federal Register, together with an explanation of the
reason or reasons for the determination of the Secretary; and
``(II) provide an opportunity for public comment in
accordance with section 553 of title 5, United States Code.

``(D) Final order.--Any final standard under this paragraph
shall become effective pursuant to subsection (c).
``(6) Failure to act.--If the Secretary fails to take final
action under paragraph (5) and to publish notice of the
action in the Federal Register before the expiration of the
12-month period beginning on the date on which the proposed
standard is submitted to the Secretary under paragraph
(4)(A)--
``(A) the recommendations of the consensus committee--
``(i) shall be considered to have been adopted by the
Secretary; and
``(ii) shall take effect upon the expiration of the 180-day
period that begins upon the conclusion of such 12-month
period; and
``(B) not later than 10 days after the expiration of such
12-month period, the Secretary shall cause to be published in
the Federal Register a notice of the failure of the Secretary
to act, the revised standard, and the effective date of the
revised standard, which notice shall be deemed to be an order
of the Secretary approving the revised standards proposed by
the consensus committee.
``(b) Other Orders.--
``(1) Regulations.--The Secretary may issue procedural and
enforcement regulations as necessary to implement the
provisions of this title. The consensus committee may submit
to the Secretary proposed procedural and enforcement
regulations and recommendations for the revision of such
regulations.
``(2) Interpretative bulletins.--The Secretary may issue
interpretative bulletins to clarify the meaning of any
Federal manufactured home construction and safety standard or
procedural and enforcement regulation. The consensus
committee may submit to the Secretary proposed interpretative
bulletins to clarify the meaning of any Federal manufactured
home construction and safety standard or procedural and
enforcement regulation.
``(3) Review by consensus committee.--Before issuing a
procedural or enforcement regulation or an interpretative
bulletin--
``(A) the Secretary shall--
``(i) submit the proposed procedural or enforcement
regulation or interpretative bulletin to the consensus
committee; and
``(ii) provide the consensus committee with a period of 120
days to submit written comments to the Secretary on the
proposed procedural or enforcement regulation or the
interpretative bulletin; and
``(B) if the Secretary rejects any significant comment
provided by the consensus committee under subparagraph (A),
the Secretary shall provide a written explanation of the
reasons for the rejection to the consensus committee; and
``(C) following compliance with subparagraphs (A) and (B),
the Secretary shall--
``(i) cause the proposed regulation or interpretative
bulletin and the consensus committee's written comments along
with the Secretary's response thereto to be published in the
Federal Register; and
``(ii) provide an opportunity for public comment in
accordance with section 553 of title 5, United States Code.
``(4) Required action.--The Secretary shall act on any
proposed regulation or interpretative bulletin submitted by
the consensus committee by approving or rejecting the
proposal within 120 days from the date the proposal is
received by the Secretary. The Secretary shall either--
``(A) approve the proposal and cause the proposed
regulation or interpretative bulletin to be published for
public comment in accordance with section 553 of title 5,
United States Code; or
``(B) reject the proposed regulation or interpretative
bulletin and--
``(i) provide a written explanation of the reasons for
rejection to the consensus committee; and

[[Page H10699]]

``(ii) cause the proposed regulation and the written
explanation for the rejection to be published in the Federal
Register.
``(5) Emergency orders.--If the Secretary determines, in
writing, that such action is necessary in order to respond to
an emergency which jeopardizes the public health or safety,
or to address an issue on which the Secretary determines that
the consensus committee has not made a timely recommendation,
following a request by the Secretary, the Secretary may issue
an order that is not developed under the procedures set forth
in subsection (a) or in this subsection, if the Secretary--
``(A) provides to the consensus committee a written
description and sets forth the reasons why emergency actions
is necessary and all supporting documentation; and
``(B) issues and publishes the order in the Federal
Register.
``(6) Changes.--Any statement of policies, practices, or
procedures relating to construction and safety standards,
inspections, monitoring, or other enforcement activities
which constitutes a statement of general or particular
applicability and future offset and decisions to implement,
interpret, or prescribe law of policy by the Secretary is
subject to the provisions of subsection (a) or (b) of this
subsection. Any change adopted in violation of the provisions
of subsection (a) or (b) of this subsection is void.'';
``(7) Transition.--Until the date that the consensus
committee is appointed pursuant to section 704(a)(3), the
Secretary may issue proposed orders that are not developed
under the procedures set forth in this section for new and
revised standards.
(2) in subsection (d), by adding at the end the following:
``Federal preemption under this subsection shall be broadly
and liberally construed to ensure that disparate State or
local requirements or standards do not affect the uniformity
and comprehensiveness of the standards promulgated hereunder.
(3) by striking subsection (e);
(4) in subsection (f), by striking the matter preceding
paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
``(e) Considerations in Establishing and Interpreting
Standards and Regulations.--The consensus committee, in
recommending standards, regulations, and interpretations, and
the Secretary, in establishing standards or regulations, or
issuing interpretations under this section, shall--'';
(5) by striking subsection (g);
(6) in the first sentence of subsection (j), by striking
``subsection (f)'' and inserting ``subsection (e)''; and
(7) by redesignating subsections (h), (i), and (j), as
subsections (f), (g), and (h), respectively.

SEC. 605. ABOLISHMENT OF NATIONAL MANUFACTURED HOME ADVISORY
COUNCIL.

Section 605 (42 U.S.C. 5404) is hereby repealed.

SEC. 606. PUBLIC INFORMATION.

Section 607 (42 U.S.C. 5406) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) by inserting ``to the Secretary'' after ``submit''; and
(B) by adding at the end the following: ``The Secretary
shall submit such cost and other information to the consensus
committee for evaluation.'';
(2) in subsection (d), by inserting ``, the consensus
committee,'' after ``public''; and
(3) by striking subsection (c) and redesignating
subsections (d) and (e) as subsections (c) and (d),
respectively.

SEC. 607. RESEARCH, TESTING, DEVELOPMENT, AND TRAINING.

(a) In General.--Section 608(a) (42 U.S.C. 5407(a)) is
amended--
(1) in paragraph (2), by striking ``and'' at the end;
(2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end and
inserting a semicolon; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
``(4) encouraging the government sponsored housing entities
to actively develop and implement secondary market
securitization programs for FHA manufactured home loans and
those of other loan programs, as appropriate, thereby
promoting the availability of affordable manufactured homes
to increase homeownership for all people in the United
States; and
``(5) reviewing the programs for FHA manufactured home
loans and developing any changes to such programs to promote
the affordability of manufactured homes, including changes in
loan terms, amortization periods, regulations, and
procedures.''.
(b) Definitions.--Section 608 (42 U.S.C. 5407) is amended
by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the
following definitions shall apply:
``(1) Government sponsored housing entities.--The term
`government sponsored housing entities' means the Government
National Mortgage Association of the Department of Housing
and Urban Development, the Federal National Mortgage
Association, and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.
``(2) FHA manufactured home loans.--The term `FHA
manufactured home loan' means a loan that--
``(A) is insured under title I of the National Housing Act
and is made for the purpose of financing alterations,
repairs, or improvements on or in connection with an existing
manufactured home, the purchase of a manufactured home, the
purchase of a manufactured home and a lot on which to place
the home, or the purchase only of a lot on which to place a
manufactured home; or
``(B) otherwise insured under the National Housing Act and
made for or in connection with a manufactured home.''.

SEC. 608. FEES.

Section 620 (42 U.S.C. 5419) is amended to read as follows:

``authority to establish fees

``Sec. 620. (a) In General.--In carrying out inspections
under this title, in developing standards and regulations
pursuant to section 604, and in facilitating the acceptance
of the affordability and availability of manufactured housing
within the Department, the Secretary may--
``(1) establish and collect from manufactured home
manufacturers such reasonable fees as may be necessary to
offset the expenses incurred by the Secretary in connection
with carrying out the responsibilities of the Secretary under
this title, including--
``(A) conducting inspections and monitoring;
``(B) providing funding to States for the administration
and implementation of approved State plans under section 623,
including reasonable funding for cooperative educational and
training programs designed to facilitate uniform enforcement
under this title; these funds may be paid directly to the
States or may be paid or provided to any person or entity
designated to receive and disburse such funds by cooperative
agreements among participating States, provided that such
person or entity is not otherwise an agent of the Secretary
under this title;
``(C) providing the funding for a noncareer administrator
and Federal staff personnel for the manufactured housing
program;
``(D) administering the consensus committee as set forth in
section 604; and
``(E) facilitating the acceptance of the quality,
durability, safety, and affordability of manufactured housing
within the Department; and
``(2) use any fees collected under paragraph (1) to pay
expenses referred to in paragraph (1), which shall be exempt
and separate from any limitations on the Department of
Housing and Urban Development regarding full-time equivalent
positions and travel.
``(b) When using fees under this section, the Secretary
shall ensure that separate and independent contractors are
retained to carry out monitoring and inspection work and any
other work that may be delegated to a contractor under this
title.
``(c) Prohibited Use.--Fees collected under subsection (a)
shall not be used for any purpose or activity not
specifically authorized by this title unless such activity
was already engaged in by the Secretary prior to the date of
enactment of this title.
``(d) Modification.--Any fee established by the Secretary
under this section shall only be modified pursuant to
rulemaking in accordance with section 553 of title 5, United
States Code.
``(e) Appropriation and Deposit of Fees.--
``(1) In general.--There is established in the Treasury of
the United States a fund to be known as the `Manufactured
Housing Fees Trust Fund' for deposit of all fees collected
pursuant to subsection (a). These fees shall be held in trust
for use only as provided in this title.
``(2) Appropriation.--Such fees shall be available for
expenditure only to the extent approved in an annual
appropriation Act.''.

SEC. 609. ELIMINATION OF ANNUAL REPORT REQUIREMENT.

The National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety
Standards Act of 1974 is amended--
(1) by striking section 626 (42 U.S.C. 5425); and
(2) by redesignating sections 627 and 628 (42 U.S.C. 5426,
5401 note) as sections 626 and 627, respectively.

SEC. 610. EFFECTIVE DATE.

The amendments made by this title shall take effect on the
date of enactment of this Act, except that the amendments
shall have no effect on any order or interpretive bulletin
that is published as a proposed rule pursuant to section 553
of title 5, United States Code, on or before such date.

SEC. 611. SAVINGS PROVISION.

(a) Standards and Regulations.--The Federal manufactured
home construction and safety standards (as such term is
defined in section 603 of the National Manufactured Housing
Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974) and all
regulations pertaining thereto in effect immediately before
the date of the enactment of this Act shall apply until the
effective date of a standard or regulation modifying or
superseding the existing standard or regulation which is
promulgated under subsection (a) or (b) of section 604 of the
National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety
Standards Act of 1974, as amended by this title.
(b) Contracts.--Any contract awarded pursuant to a Request
for Proposal issued before the date of enactment of this Act
shall remain in effect for a period of 2 years from the date
of enactment of this Act or for the remainder of the contract
term, whichever period is shorter.
TITLE VII--INDIAN HOUSING HOMEOWNERSHIP

SEC. 701. INDIAN LANDS TITLE REPORT COMMISSION.

(a) Establishment.--Subject to sums being provided in
advance in appropriations Acts, there is established a
Commission to be known as the Indian Lands Title Report
Commission (hereafter in this section referred to as the
``Commission'').
(b) Membership.--

[[Page H10700]]

(1) Appointment.--The Commission shall be composed of 12
members, appointed not later than 90 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act as follows:
(A) 4 members shall be appointed by the President.
(B) 4 members shall be appointed by the Chairman of the
Committee on Banking and Financial Services of the House of
Representatives.
(C) 4 members shall be appointed by the Chairman of the
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the
Senate.
(2) Qualifications.--
(A) Members of tribes.--At all times, not less than 7 of
the members of the Commission shall be members of federally
recognized Indian tribes.
(B) Experience in land title matters.--All members of the
Commission shall have experience in and knowledge of land
title matters relating to Indian trust lands.
(3) Chairman.--The Chairman of the Commission shall be one
of the members of the Commission appointed under paragraph
(1)(C), as elected by the members of the Commission.
(4) Vacancies.--Any vacancy on the Commission shall not
affect its powers, but shall be filled in the manner in which
the original appointment was made.
(5) Travel expenses.--Members of the Commission shall serve
without pay, but each member shall receive travel expenses,
including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in accordance with
sections 5702 and 5703 of title 5, United States Code.
(c) Functions.--The Commission shall analyze the system of
the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the Department of the
Interior for maintaining land ownership records and title
documents and issuing certified title status reports relating
to Indian trust lands and, pursuant to such analysis,
determine how best to improve or replace the system--
(1) to ensure prompt and accurate responses to requests for
title status reports;
(2) to eliminate any backlog of requests for title status
reports; and
(3) to ensure that the administration of the system will
not in any way impair or restrict the ability of Native
Americans to obtain conventional loans for purchase of
residences located on Indian trust lands, including any
actions necessary to ensure that the system will promptly be
able to meet future demands for certified title status
reports, taking into account the anticipated complexity and
volume of such requests.
(d) Report.--Not later than the date of the termination of
the Commission under subsection (g), the Commission shall
submit a report to the Committee on Banking and Financial
Services of the House of Representatives and the Committee on
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate describing
the analysis and determinations made under subsection (c).
(e) Powers.--
(1) Hearings and sessions.--The Commission may, for the
purpose of carrying out this section, hold hearings, sit and
act at times and places, take testimony, and receive evidence
as the Commission considers appropriate.
(2) Staff of federal agencies.--Upon request of the
Commission, the head of any Federal department or agency may
detail, on a reimbursable basis, any of the personnel of that
department or agency to the Commission to assist it in
carrying out its duties under this section.
(3) Obtaining official data.--The Commission may secure
directly from any department or agency of the United States
information necessary to enable it to carry out this section.
Upon request of the Chairperson of the Commission, the head
of that department or agency shall furnish that information
to the Commission.
(4) Mails.--The Commission may use the United States mails
in the same manner and under the same conditions as other
departments and agencies of the United States.
(5) Administrative support services.--Upon the request of
the Commission, the Administrator of General Services shall
provide to the Commission, on a reimbursable basis, the
administrative support services necessary for the Commission
to carry out its responsibilities under this section.
(6) Staff.--The Commission may appoint personnel as it
considers appropriate, subject to the provisions of title 5,
United States Code, governing appointments in the competitive
service, and shall pay such personnel in accordance with the
provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of
that title relating to classification and General Schedule
pay rates.
(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--To carry out this
title, there is authorized to be appropriated $500,000. Such
sums shall remain available until expended.
(g) Termination.--The Commission shall terminate upon the
expiration of the 1-year period beginning upon the completion
of the appointment of all the members of the Commission under
subsection (b)(1).
TITLE VIII--TRANSFER OF UNOCCUPIED AND SUBSTANDARD HUD-HELD HOUSING TO
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONS

SEC. 801. TRANSFER OF UNOCCUPIED AND SUBSTANDARD HUD-HELD
HOUSING TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONS.

Section 204 of the Departments of Veterans Affairs and
Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies
Appropriations Act, 1997 (12 U.S.C. 1715z-11a) is amended--
(1) by striking ``Flexible Authority'' and inserting
``Disposition of HUD-Owned Properties. (a) Flexible Authority
for Multifamily Projects.--''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(b) Transfer of Unoccupied and Substandard Housing to
Local Governments and Community Development Corporations.--
``(1) Transfer authority.--Notwithstanding the authority
under subsection (a) and the last sentence of section 204(g)
of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1710(g)), the
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall, to the
maximum extent practicable (in the determination of the
Secretary), transfer ownership of any qualified HUD property
to a unit of general local government having jurisdiction for
the area in which the property is located or to a community
development corporation which operates within such a unit of
general local government in accordance with this subsection,
but only in the determination of the Secretary--
``(A) to the extent that units of general local government
and community development corporations consent to transfer;
``(B) in the case of single family property, to the extent
that costs to the Federal Government under this subsection do
not exceed the costs to the Federal Government of disposing
of similar property under the procedures for single family
property under section 204 of the National Housing Act (12
U.S.C. 1710) (as added by sections 601 and 602 of the
Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban
Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act,
1999), or under such other procedures as are in effect
immediately before the enactment of this title, as
applicable; and
``(C) in the case of multifamily property, to the extent
that costs to the Federal Government under this subsection do
not exceed the costs to the Federal Government of disposing
of similar property under the procedures for disposition of
such properties as are in effect immediately before the
enactment of this title.
``(2) Qualified hud properties.--For purposes of this
subsection, the term `qualified HUD property' means any
property that is owned by the Secretary and is--
``(A) an unoccupied multifamily housing project;
``(B) a substandard multifamily housing project; or
``(C) an unoccupied single family property that--
``(i) has been determined by the Secretary not to be an
eligible property under section 204(h) of the National
Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1710(h)); or
``(ii) is an eligible property under such section 204(h),
but--

``(I) is not subject to a specific sale agreement under
such section; and
``(II) has been determined by the Secretary to be
inappropriate for continued inclusion in the program under
such section 204(h) pursuant to paragraph (10) of such
section.

``(3) Timing.--The Secretary shall establish procedures
that provide for--
``(A) time deadlines for transfers under this subsection;
``(B) notification to units of general local government and
community development corporations of qualified HUD
properties in their jurisdictions;
``(C) such units and corporations to express interest in
the transfer under this subsection of such properties;
``(D) a right of first refusal for transfer of qualified
HUD properties to such units and corporations, under which
that the Secretary shall accept an offer to purchase such a
property made by such a unit or corporation during a period
established by the Secretary, but in the case of an offer
made by a community development corporation only if the offer
provides for purchase on a cost recovery basis; and
``(E) a written explanation, to any unit of general local
government or community development corporation making an
offer to purchase a qualified HUD property under this
subsection that is not accepted, of such offer was not
acceptable.
``(4) Other disposition.--With respect to any qualified HUD
property, if the Secretary does not receive an acceptable
offer to purchase the property pursuant to the procedure
established under paragraph (3), the Secretary shall dispose
of the property to the unit of general local government in
which property is located or to community development
corporations located in such unit of general local government
on a negotiated, competitive bid, or other basis, on such
terms as the Secretary deems appropriate.
``(5) Satisfaction of indebtedness.--Before transferring
ownership of any qualified HUD property pursuant to this
subsection, the Secretary shall satisfy any indebtedness
incurred in connection with the property to be transferred,
by canceling the indebtedness.
``(6) Determination of status of properties.--To ensure
compliance with the requirements of this subsection, the
Secretary shall take the following actions:
``(A) Upon enactment.--Upon the enactment of the American
Homeownership Act of 1998, the Secretary shall promptly
assess each residential property owned by the Secretary to
determine whether such property is a qualified HUD property.
``(B) Upon acquisition.--Upon acquiring any residential
property, the Secretary shall

[[Page H10701]]

promptly determine whether the property is a qualified HUD
property.
``(C) Updates.--The Secretary shall periodically reassess
the residential properties owned by the Secretary to
determine whether any such properties have become qualified
HUD properties.
``(7) Tenant leases.--This subsection shall not affect the
terms or the enforceability of any contract or lease entered
into with respect to any residential property before the date
that such property becomes a qualified HUD property.
``(8) Use of property.--Property transferred under this
subsection shall be used only for appropriate neighborhood
revitalization efforts, including homeownership, rental
units, commercial space, and parks, consistent with local
zoning regulations, local building codes, and subdivision
regulations and restrictions of record.
``(9) Inapplicability to properties made available for
homeless.--Notwithstanding any other provision of this
subsection, this subsection shall not apply to any properties
that the Secretary determines are to be made available for
use by the homeless pursuant to subpart E of part 291 of
title 24, Code of Federal Regulations, during the period that
the properties are so available.
``(10) Protection of existing contracts.--This subsection
may not be construed to alter, affect, or annul any legally
binding obligations entered into with respect to a qualified
HUD property before the property becomes a qualified HUD
property.
``(11) Definitions.--For purposes of this subsection, the
following definitions shall apply:
``(A) Community development corporation.--The term
`community development corporation' means a nonprofit
organization whose primary purpose is to promote community
development by providing housing opportunities for low-income
families.
``(B) Cost recovery basis.--The term `cost recovery basis'
means, with respect to any sale of a residential property by
the Secretary, that the purchase price paid by the purchaser
is equal to or greater than or equal to the costs incurred by
the Secretary in connection with such property during the
period beginning on the date on which the Secretary acquires
title to the property and ending on the date on which the
sale is consummated.
``(C) Multifamily housing project.--The term `multifamily
housing project' has the meaning given the term in section
203 of the Housing and Community Development Amendments of
1978.
``(D) Residential property.--The term `residential
property' means a property that is a multifamily housing
project or a single family property.
``(E) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary
of Housing and Urban Development.
``(F) Severe physical problems.--The term `severe physical
problems' means, with respect to a dwelling unit, that the
unit--
``(i) lacks hot or cold piped water, a flush toilet, or
both a bathtub and a shower in the unit, for the exclusive
use of that unit;
``(ii) on not less than 3 separate occasions during the
preceding winter months, was uncomfortably cold for a period
of more than 6 consecutive hours due to a malfunction of the
heating system for the unit;
``(iii) has no functioning electrical service, exposed
wiring, any room in which there is not a functioning
electrical outlet, or has experienced 3 or more blown fuses
or tripped circuit breakers during the preceding 90-day
period;
``(iv) is accessible through a public hallway in which
there are no working light fixtures, loose or missing steps
or railings, and no elevator; or
``(v) has severe maintenance problems, including water
leaks involving the roof, windows, doors, basement, or pipes
or plumbing fixtures, holes or open cracks in walls or
ceilings, severe paint peeling or broken plaster, and signs
of rodent infestation.
``(G) Single family property.--The term `single family
property' means a 1- to 4-family residence.
``(H) Substandard.--The term `substandard' means, with
respect to a multifamily housing project, that 25 percent or
more of the dwelling units in the project have severe
physical problems.
``(I) Unit of general local government.--The term `unit of
general local government' has the meaning given such term in
section 102(a) of the Housing and Community Development Act
of 1974.
``(J) Unoccupied.--The term `unoccupied' means, with
respect to a residential property, that the unit of general
local government having jurisdiction over the area in which
the project is located has certified in writing that the
property is not inhabited.
``(12) Regulations.--
``(A) Interim.--Not later than 30 days after the date of
the enactment of the American Homeownership Act of 1998, the
Secretary shall issue such interim regulations as are
necessary to carry out this subsection.
``(B) Final.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the
enactment of the American Homeownership Act of 1998, the
Secretary shall issue such final regulations as are necessary
to carry out this subsection.''.

SEC. 802. AMENDMENT TO REVITALIZATION AREA DISPOSITION
PROGRAM.

Effective immediately after the enactment of the
Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban
Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act,
1999, section 204(h) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C.
1710(h)) (as added by section 602(2) of such Act) is
amended--
(1) by redesignating paragraph (10) as paragraph (11); and
(2) by inserting after paragraph (9) the following new
paragraph:
``(10) Properties for which no interest is expressed.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, if
the Secretary determines that continued inclusion of an
eligible property in the program under this subsection is
inappropriate because of a failure over time of any
prospective purchasers to express interest in purchasing the
property or in entering into a sale agreement covering
properties in the area in which the property is located, the
Secretary may determine that such property shall be subject
to the provisions of section 204(b) of the Departments of
Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and
Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 (12 U.S.C.
1715z-11a(b)).''.

SEC. 803. REPORT ON REVITALIZATION ZONES FOR HUD-OWNED SINGLE
FAMILY PROPERTIES.

Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
shall submit a report to the Congress identifying--
(1) any areas that have been designated as revitalization
areas pursuant to section 204(h)(3) of the National Housing
Act (as added by section 602(2) of the Departments of
Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and
Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999);
(2) any areas for which such designation has been
requested;
(3) any areas for which such designation is being
considered by the Secretary; and
(4) the eligible properties in designated revitalization
areas for which the Secretary has a reasonable expectation of
successfully transferring ownership pursuant to section
204(h) of the National Housing Act.

SEC. 804. TECHNICAL CORRECTION TO INCOME TARGETING PROVISIONS
FOR PROJECT-BASED ASSISTANCE.

Effective immediately after the enactment of the
Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban
Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act,
1999, section 16(c)(3) of the United States Housing Act of
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437n(c)(3)) (as added by section 513(a) of
such Appropriations Act), is amended by inserting after ``40
percent'' the following: ``shall be available for leasing
only by families whose incomes at the time of commencement of
occupancy do not exceed 30 percent of the area median income,
as determined by the Secretary with adjustments for smaller
and larger families.''.

SEC. 805. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO THE MULTIFAMILY ASSISTED
HOUSING REFORM AND AFFORDABILITY ACT OF 1997.

(a) Section 8 Contract Renewal Policy for Fiscal Year 1999
and Subsequent Years.--Section 524 of the Multifamily
Assisted Housing Reform and Affordability Act of 1997 (42
U.S.C. 1437 note; 111 Stat. 1408-1409) is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(2), by inserting after
``Notwithstanding paragraph (1)'' the following: ``and
subject to section 516 of this subtitle'';
(2) in subsection (a)(2)(B), by striking ``and financing''
and inserting ``and the primary financing'';and
(3) by inserting at the end the following new subsections:
``(b) Inapplicability to Projects Subject to
Restructuring.--This section shall not apply to projects
restructured under this subtitle.
``(c) Savings Provisions.--Upon the repeal of this subtitle
pursuant to section 579, the provisions of sections 512(2)
and 516 (as in effect immediately before such repeal) shall
apply with respect to this section.''.
(b) Repeal of Contract Renewal Authority Under Section
405(a).--Section 405(a) of the Balanced Budget Downpayment
Act, I (42 U.S.C. 1437f note; 110 Stat.44-45), is hereby
repealed.
(c) Exemptions From Restructuring.--Section 514(h)(1) of
the Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and Affordability Act
of 1997 (42 U.S.C. 1437 note; 111 Stat. 1396) is amended to
read as follows:
``(1) the primary financing for the project was provided by
a unit of State government or a unit of general local
government (or an agency or instrumentality of either) and
the primary financing involves mortgage insurance under the
National Housing Act, such that implementation of a mortgage
restructuring and rental assistance sufficiency plan under
this Act would be in conflict with applicable law or
agreements governing such financing;''.
(d) Mandatory Renewal of Project-Based Assistance.--Section
515(c)(1) of the Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and
Affordability Act of 1997 (42 U.S.C. 1437 note; 111 Stat.
1397) is amended by inserting ``or'' after the semicolon at
the end of subparagraph (B).
(e) Partial Payments of Claims.--Section 541 of the
National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1735f-19) is amended--
(1) by striking ``1978 or'' and inserting ``1978) or''; and
(2) by striking ``)))'' and inserting ``))''.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Lazio) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio).

[[Page H10702]]

Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 6 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the American Home Ownership
Act of 1998. Today the House of Representatives completes a triple
crown in improving housing for America.
Our first victory for housing was this Congress' passage of
legislation to help the homeless of America get off the streets and
into warm, stable homes. Just last week the House and Senate
overwhelmingly passed the second crown, the Quality Housing and Work
Responsibility Act, a landmark bill which transforms public housing
into dynamic neighborhoods where opportunity and hope abounds.
Mr. Speaker, we have helped the homeless. We have empowered public
housing residents. Today we will grab that triple crown for American
housing. We will give more Americans what they need to own their own
homes. We say it is the American dream, owning your own home. All over
America, families are working hard and saving their money to make this
dream a reality.
For millions of Americans, the price of a home is still unaffordable.
No matter how much some low income families work and save, quality
affordable housing remains beyond their reach. Today, we can give those
families the tools that they need to buy their first homes. We can
expand homeownership opportunities by giving meaningful mortgage
assistance, by removing the barriers to affordable housing, and by
working together with the successful private sector. The American
Homeownership Act will do all of these things.
This bill has support from both sides of the aisle, and I want to
compliment the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), and I want
to say a few things later on about the gentleman.
The Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity reported this
bill out on a vote of 17 to nothing, and the administration supports
this bill as well.
First let me go through the six central provisions of this
legislation. First we will empower local housing authorities so that
they can be more flexible and creative. Local authorities will be
allowed to let their public housing residents apply their monthly
public housing assistance toward buying their own home.
We also create a home loan guarantee program so that local
communities can tap into future home grants by use for better long-term
affordable housing development. We provide more homeownership
opportunities by allowing local officials to create needed loan pools
made up of both private and public funds.
This bill expands homeownership in a second vital way, by reducing
the excessive regulations which drastically increase the cost of
housing production. According to recent estimates, unnecessary
governmental regulation adds 20 to 35 percent to the cost of a new
home, placing it beyond the reach of many Americans. That is thousands
of dollars being used for housing fees, money that could be instead
used for housing improvement, education or savings.
We are going to reduce those unnecessary regulatory barriers by
requiring that all Federal agencies include a housing impact analysis
with any proposed regulation. I want to thank the gentleman from
California for his work on this.
By doing this, local nonprofits and community development groups can
offer less expensive alternatives and the home buyer will pay less for
a new home.
Mr. Speaker, the manufactured housing industry has come a long way
since this industry first began to fill a gap in our Nation's housing
needs. Millions of Americans now live in this affordable alternative.
In fact, one-third of new homeowners in Texas are manufactured housing
owners, but because HUD has been unable to keep up with changing times,
the manufactured housing industry operates under outdated and truly
dangerous standards and codes. We must do something for the families
living in manufactured housing whose personal safety and security is in
imminent danger.
This brings me to the third provision of this bill, which is to
modernize the way the manufactured housing industry is overseen.
Ensuring national uniformed standards and codes for the construction of
manufactured homes will make the families living there feel safe and
comfortable while still keeping these homes affordable.
Mr. Speaker, modernizing oversight of the manufactured housing
industry cannot wait any longer.
The fourth major provision of the American Homeownership Act will
give underserved Americans a chance to own their own home. We will take
homes which HUD has seized through foreclosure and transfer them to
nonprofit housing organizations which are efficient and community
minded, and I want to thank the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Watts) and
the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Talent).
These nonprofits will then be able to pass these homes on to low
income families. This program will help many low income urban families
realize their dream of having their own homes.
Briefly, Mr. Speaker, a fifth critical provision of this bill, we
asked the GAO to do a study of the feasibility of requiring pre-
purchase inspections of single family homes which have been financed
with an FHA loan. We hear these nightmare stories of home buyers
finding hidden problems only after they have signed the papers and put
their savings into a home.
We hope that this study can help us decide whether mandatory
inspections could protect home buyers, including those who are the most
vulnerable.
A sixth provision of the American Homeownership Act will empower
public/private housing partnerships. In our recently-passed public
housing reform legislation, we extended the authority for Habitat for
Humanity. Now we will encourage even more local capacity building by
self-help housing organizations so that we may have even more
organizations like Habitat for Humanity in our Nation's communities.
Let me close, Mr. Speaker, by saying this: The American Homeownership
Act will be a critical tool in our efforts to empower more Americans,
especially low income families, to buy their own homes. Homeownership
is so valuable because it can positively uplift so many lives in our
communities. Homeowners feel satisfied because they are taking care of
their families. Homeowners feel financial and personal independence
because they have a solid asset. Homeowners will take more care in
improving the safety and upkeep of their neighborhoods because they
have a stake in the area. Finally, homeowners will contribute to their
communities since they have gained personal security for their
families.
Let me say finally, if I can, to the gentleman from Massachusetts
(Mr. Kennedy), this may be the last opportunity I have on this floor to
tell him what a pleasure it has been to work with him. I think this may
be the last bill that we have been able to work with jointly. He has
been certainly a credit to the State of Massachusetts, the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, his party and the House of Representatives, and I
wish him well.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time
as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3899, the Lazio
homeownership bill or whatever name he just came up with for this. I
would have stuck with the original.
Before I talk about the merits of the bill, I want to express my deep
appreciation for all the hard work the gentleman from Long Island, New
York (Mr. Lazio) has put into this bill.
Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio) and I do not
agree on a lot of policy issues that come before this chamber but one
thing we do agree on is the importance of homeownership to the American
people. Those who seek to climb the ladder of the American dream have a
real champion in the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio), who believes
passionately, as I do, in the role of homeownership in lifting working
families toward some pleasure of prosperity and security.
I want to return the compliment that the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Lazio) gave and say what a pleasure it has been to work with him over
the course of these last several years.
I also want to take a brief moment to express my appreciation and
support to the ranking democrat on the Committee on Banking and
Financial Services,

[[Page H10703]]

the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce), who has done yeomen's work
not just on banking and securities and insurance issues but on housing
issues as well, and his leadership even on this bill was critical to
being able to see the legislation come before the House floor this
morning with the bipartisan support that it has.

{time} 1145

I also want to thank the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Vento), who
has been such a stalwart supporter of the FHA program and making
certain that the FHA program survives and is around and is in healthy
shape as we enter the 21st century.
This bill also should receive great credit because of the very hard
work of the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Roemer). There is not anybody
in this Chamber who has worked harder to make sure that the
manufactured housing industry's concerns about the lack of adjustments
by HUD on new rules and regulations that are critically necessary for
the industry to move forward, there is not anyone who has done a better
job of bringing those issues forward than the gentleman from Indiana
(Mr. Roemer). He has done it, despite very, very great odds at certain
points throughout the last year or so. I hope people understand what a
tremendous job he has done on this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I support this bill. It is a bipartisan measure to make
the dream of homeownership more real for millions of Americans looking
for a way to provide for their families and their futures. The bill
authorizes HUD's Home Bank to allow communities to borrow funds against
the future home receipts to create affordable housing.
It authorizes HUD's Homeownership Zone Proposal for fiscal 1999,
creating affordable home opportunities in distressed neighborhoods. The
bill provides more funding for the Single-family Home Rehabilitation
Demonstration Program, an innovative strategy to help nonprofits and
local governments leverage private sector rehab loans to expand
homeownership opportunities.
It also expands the FHA low down payment single-family opportunities
by increasing the FHA loan limit in counties around urban centers and
increasing the availability of adjustable rate mortgages.
Mr. Speaker, we have seen in Boston the key to the renaissance of
older neighborhoods is homeownership. Residents who own a piece of the
block care more deeply about their neighborhoods and are more likely to
vote, are more likely to organize block watches and demand an equitable
share of city services.
The bill takes important steps towards achieving those goals. At the
same time, we have seen included in this legislation updates to the
manufactured housing standards in ways that manage both industry and
consumer concerns. The most important provision negotiated over the
last few days gives HUD the ultimate authority over this process. We
have also taken care of potential problems in the property disposition
and barriers section of the bill.
Mr. Speaker, the bill builds on the tremendous record this
administration has compiled in promoting homeownership opportunities.
Under President Clinton's leadership, our national homeownership rate
has hit a record level of over 67 percent. Some 6 million more American
families now own homes than when President Clinton took office.
Mr. Speaker, we ought to give credit to the President as well as his
HUD Secretary, Andrew Cuomo, for these gains. But we also have to
recognize our role in stimulating the growth of homeownership. And I
just want to again say that I believe that Secretary Cuomo's leadership
in reviving FHA and giving people around the country the sense that HUD
is moving forward into the future with new management techniques,
downsizing considerably and just using those resources towards
providing homeownership, is a demonstration of the key leadership role
he has played. This bill provides for young families even greater
opportunities and we ought to pass it.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
distinguished gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach), the chairman of the
Committee on Banking and Financial Services. Without his work and
leadership, we would not be at this point today on any of these housing
initiatives.
Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Lazio) for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, today we have an opportunity to redemonstrate our
commitment to giving every American the opportunity to own their own
home. The American Homeownership Act, fashioned by the able chairman of
the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, the gentleman
from New York (Mr. Lazio), facilitates homeownership for all Americans,
including families that would not otherwise be able to afford homes, by
removing barriers to affordable housing, improving FHA mortgage
insurance, reauthorizing the home investment partnership program, and
increasing local homeownership initiatives as well as improving
manufactured housing. I would like to comment on two specific aspects
of the bill.
First, at the State and local level, the creation of the
Homeownership Investment Partnership program will leverage affordable
housing through local loan pools and the Home Loan Guarantee program.
In addition, the bill authorizes Homeownership Zone Grants to serve as
a catalyst for private investment.
Second, the bill helps to eliminate excessive regulations that can
add thousands of dollars to the cost of a new home. All Federal
agencies were required to include a housing impact analysis with any
proposed regulations in order to detect any significant negative impact
on the availability of affordable housing.
Homeownership is a fundamental aspect of the American dream. It is
advanced in many ways, from lower interest rates made possible by a
restrained monetary policy, to more constrained budgets, to direct
infusions of governmental assistance, to less costly regulation. This
bill is modest, but it is part and parcel of a comprehensive commitment
of this Congress to increase homeownership in America.
In this context, I urge its approval and would particularly like to
thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce), ranking member of the
full committee, and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy),
ranking member of the subcommittee.
Finally, in this regard I would like to pay particular tribute to the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), who is retiring, for his
many contributions to the country through his work in the Committee on
Banking and Financial Services and for being such a strong advocate of
consumers and the disadvantaged in our society. His leadership will be
missed.
Mr. Speaker, today we have an opportunity to redemonstrate our
commitment to giving every American the opportunity to own their own
home. The ``American Homeownership Act of 1998,'' fashioned by the able
Chairman of the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, Mr.
Lazio, facilitates homeownership for all Americans, including families
that would not otherwise be able to afford homes by removing barriers
to affordable housing, improving FHA mortgage insurance, reauthorizing
the HOME Investment Partnership Program, increasing local homeownership
initiatives and improving manufactured housing.
I'd like to comment on two specific aspects of this bill.
First, at the state and local level, the creation of the HOME
investment partnership program will leverage affordable housing through
local loan pools and a HOME loan guarantee program. In addition, the
bill authorizes homeownership zone grants to serve as a catalyst for
private investment, business creation, and neighborhood revitalization.
Second, the bill helps to eliminate excessive regulations that add
thousands of dollars to the cost of a new home. All Federal agencies
will be required to include a housing impact analysis with any proposed
regulations in order to detect any significant negative impact on the
availability of affordable housing.
Homeownership is a fundamental aspect of the American dream. It is
advanced in many ways, from lower interest rates made possible by a
restrained monetary policy and more constrained budgets to direct
infusions of governmental assistance to less costly regulations. This
bill is modest, but it is part and parcel of a comprehensive commitment
of this Congress to increase homeownership in America.

[[Page H10704]]

In this context I urge approval of H.R. 3899 and again want to thank
Mr. Lazio for his hard work on this and other housing legislation this
session, as well as note the contributions of the ranking minority
Member of the Committee, Mr. LaFalce and the Housing Subcommittee, Mr.
Kennedy, for their roles in making this such a historic session in
terms of housing and community development.
Finally, I'd like to join my colleagues in paying tribute to Mr.
Kennedy, who is retiring after this session, for his many contributions
to this country through his work on the Banking Committee, where he has
been such a committed spokesman for consumers and the disadvantaged in
our society. His leadership will be missed.
Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce), the ranking member of the
committee.
(Mr. LaFALCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, I too would like to congratulate the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio), chairman of the subcommittee, and
the distinguished gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), ranking
member, for the fine work they have done on the American Homeownership
Act of 1998.
There were eight titles within the bill. On six of the titles, I had
no qualms whatsoever because of the cooperative relationship we have
had in working those difficulties out. I did have reservations, though,
as of last Friday, on two of the titles, one dealing with manufactured
housing and one dealing with the Talent-Watts bill.
I also have some qualms about the fact that we are bypassing the
committee process, going from subcommittee to the floor, bypassing the
full ranking committee. However, since it is the end of the session and
since the bill does so many very good things, I did not think it
totally inappropriate for us to use this short circuit process, so long
as some difficulties I had with those two titles could be accommodated.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that over a weekend-long process, we were
able to accommodate it. With respect to Talent-Watts, I thought there
were some inconsistencies between the approach that was taken in the
VA-HUD bill and the approach that is taken in the Talent-Watts bill.
However, we have been able to include language saying that the
Secretary of HUD has the power not to implement it if it would increase
costs to the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, and that has
adequately satisfied my concerns enough to go forward.
With respect to the Manufactured Housing Institute section, we have a
difficulty here. We must proceed much more expeditiously in the future
than we have in the past, both in articulating and promulgating
standards and enforcing those standards, and we have not proceeded
quickly enough. By the same token, I was not too pleased with the
composition of the consensus committee nor with the right of the
consensus committee on its own to publish its recommendations in the
Federal Register.
We have, therefore, negotiated an amendment that makes it clear that
it is the prerogative of the Secretary to publish those and he has the
right also in publishing them to, at the same time, simultaneously put
down each and every reservation or qualm he might have with those
consensus committee recommendations.
Though I do think there are other provisions that still need to be
worked on before we can enact this into law, finally, I do think that
we have come very, very far on a very good bill, enough to go forward
and send this on to the Senate.
Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
distinguished gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter), a member of the
Committee on Banking and Financial Services.
(Mr. BEREUTER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this
legislation. I want to thank our distinguished colleagues, the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio) and the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), the chairman and ranking member of the
subcommittee, for their great work, as well as that of the gentleman
from Iowa (Mr. Leach) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce).
Mr. Speaker, there are four specific provisions among many others
that I want to commend to my colleagues. First of all, this act has a
provision which applies a common median one-family housing price to the
entire metropolitan statistical area (MSA) together with the counties
contiguous or proximate to such SMA which is equal to the median price
in the county within the area that has the highest such median price.
This will cause a very positive change in the non-metropolitan areas'
housing programs in those counties adjacent to those metropolitan areas
as well as all areas within the MSA.
Number two, I am pleased about the Manufactured Housing Improvement
Act provisions which establish a consensus committee of consumers,
industry experts, and government officials to advise the Department of
Housing and Urban Development on safety standards and regulations in
the enforcement of manufactured homes.
Three, there is a provision which also creates the Indian Lands Title
Report Commission to improve the procedures of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs and the way they conduct title reviews in connection with the
sale of Indian lands, expecially as it relates to home mortgages. This
Member has a special interest in making sure this works because of the
Section 504 Native American Loan Guarantee Program, and I think those
changes will help solve a current bureaucratic problem that is delaying
the implementation of the Section 504 program in the home areas of our
country.
Fourth and finally, I want to thank the distinguished gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy) for his role in working with me in
establishing some grant approval of selection standards with respect to
the Rehabilitation Demonstration Grant program, which is his
initiative. I think that the criteria we developed together will ensure
a more equitable use of these funds across the whole country with these
appropriate standards, and I thank him for his effort to work with me
on this language.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, I think this is an excellent bill. It needs
to become law, with its many important provisions. I urge support.
Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Minnesota (Mr. Vento).
(Mr. VENTO asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. VENTO. Mr. Speaker, I rise in somewhat qualified support. I know
that some provisions in this have received a lot of work. I think it is
obvious when we are not going regular order, it makes it very difficult
to, in fact, try to digest all of the aspects of a measure like this. I
think there have been hearings on this, but we have not moved this
through the regular procedure. It is not unusual at the end of a
session, in fact, Mr. Speaker, to move on measures that have passed the
House and Senate and are the product of work between them. I guess we
are sending it to the Senate with the hope that they will accept it,
this product hasn't passed either Chamber.
There are some provisions in this bill that are very important, like
the reauthorization and the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, the
Home Investment Partnership block grant, the HOME funds and other
reauthorizations of known programs. So, I think that many of us that
support housing have a lively interest in this bill.
I remain concerned about the feasibility, of other provisions in this
bill, and it is my understanding that there have been some
qualifications put in with regard to drawing on various types of FHA
funding programs. It was not too many years ago, Mr. Speaker, that
there was a lot of concern and there were alarm bells going off with
various reports from the Price Waterhouse accounting firm concerning
the status of the FHA funds. I know, as a defender of the FHA program
at that time, that that criticism had a pretty sharp edge, and I think
we have to be cognizant today of that History as we begin to spread
those dollars out from within the fund and the reserve to make certain
that it does fulfill the mission of insurance that it is intended to
provide in terms of low down payment FHA program.
There are also some concerns with this bill because many of the
provisions that are dealt with in this bill,

[[Page H10705]]

especially those dealing with manufactured housing, had raised
opposition from some of the powerful groups that had long been involved
with the issues of manufactured housing and have often stood up and
spoken out for the consumer. And at this time, because of the last-
minute agreement with regards such provisions these advocates have not
had the opportunity to review those provisions. I hope, obviously, when
they have that opportunity, they will recognize that while they
certainly did not get everything they wanted, there is a balance that
was struck, here that is workable and will safeguard and ensure the
goals that we all share, and that is to make manufactured housing a
bigger and better part of meeting homeownership opportunities into the
future.
But as we look at those that live in manufactured housing, a lot of
them are the elderly, a lot are low-income families, so we want to make
certain that they get the value that is intended in terms of purchasing
or making a decision with regard to manufactured housing ownership.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in qualified support for H.R. 3899. As a Member
with long service on the Banking Committee and the Housing
Subcommittee, I am, of course, highly supportive of efforts to increase
home ownership opportunities. The Federal government needs to be a
strong partner by developing and maintaining viable programs that meet
market place tests and that also serve real consumer and community
needs. That is why I am a strong supporter of FHA mortgage insurance,
pre- and post-purchase home ownership counseling, the secondary market
entities, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, Mortgage Revenue Bonds, and of
course, the Mortgage Interest Deduction.
Included in this bill are the reauthorizations other housing programs
like Neighborhood Housing Services at the Neighborhood Reinvestment
Corporation, and the Home Investment Partnership Block Grant. I worked
on restructuring and modernizing Neighborhood Reinvestment several
years back with my then Colleague, Chalmers Wylie. Twin Cities
Neighborhood Housing Services are among the most effective
organizations in the St. Paul-Minneapolis area. They are the embodiment
of using resources and partnerships to increase homeownership and to
weave together neighborhood and communities for our futures.
So there are some important basis to support this bill today. One of
those reasons should be because the regulation of safety and other
marketplace changes of manufactured housing has become out-dated. The
process needs to improved. I have worked with some of my other
colleagues in the past on trying to get more staffing at HUD to
accomplish that objective along with other recommendations of the
Manufactured Housing Commission set up by law several years back. We
have been close to solving this public policy dilemma, but close only
counts in horse shoe and hand grenades. This bill attempts to insure
that the fees will go to help with the staffing expenses.
I remain concerned, however, especially at this time of year, it is
important to have as much consensus as possible on policy changes that
are being sought. In this instance, some changes sought to help update
the manufactured housing code remain an uneasy agreement finalized
within the last hours, consequently groups representing consumers: the
AARP and the Consumer's Union haven't had the opportunity to review
such modifications. AARP reminds us in a letter, over two million
persons aged 65 and over live in manufacture homes. Over a third of the
purchasers of manufactured housing are age 50 and older. Additionally,
as a long-time participant in the manufactured housing arena, their
views and position should be given weight and consideration, but given
the time frame and changes they and we are handicapped in evaluating
this final product.
Not going regular order has also left these key players, and likely
the States who have a role in the regulation and enforcement of
manufactured housing standards in the dark as to what changes are still
being made, with little opportunity to voice concerns about proposals
and how the policy path being forged with affect them. Some of their
issues, such as the important warranty initiative, have been left by
the wayside. That is an unfortunate way to make important public policy
that could affect millions of consumers around this country.
While there have been some modifications made, up until today, they
are limited and strained in addressing the concerns regarding the
composition of the consensus committee and the proper role of the
Secretary and the Department of Housing and Urban Development in
setting regulations for safety and for enforcement of those standards.
However, the new changes to allow a 30 day period by HUD to review, and
then publish, alter, or not publish proposed regulations with
explanation for any changes is a step in the right direction. I was
concerned that this bill would tip the appropriate balance between the
private and public sectors and ultimately tie the hands of this or a
future Secretary of HUD, even as it turned the federal regulatory
process on its head in an unprecedented manner. This change was crucial
to gaining my support for this bill, despite my strong reservations
about the process.
As a supporter of manufactured housing, I do regret that we are in
this forced position here today with this bill. As this bill will pass,
I only hope we can work this out going forward so that we will indeed
achieve a ``win win'' for all--the industry, consumers and the
regulators--for more modernized manufactured housing federal standards
that are affordable and safe for consumers and home purchase--the most
important transaction most families ever make.
Further, I understand that although the Administration supports the
objective of H.R. 3899, the official Statement of Administration Policy
indicates that the Administration has several remaining concerns about
this bill, including the transfer of ownership of certain FHA multi-
and single-family properties to community development corporations or
units of local government, raising the ARM cap to 40% (with an
increased premium for mortgages over 30%), adding specialized
analytical requirements to the Federal rule making process, allowing
PHAs to capitalize Section 8 subsidies for downpayment assistance
without requirements that families otherwise qualify for a mortgage or
if may families subsequently default, relaxing the income targeting
requirements of the HOME program, and authorizing a new HOME loan
guarantee program that is inconsistent with existing Federal credit
program standards. I do indeed hope that we can continue to work to
prefect this legislation, if not in this session then as soon as the
106th Congress convenes in a regular order process and trust that some
differences are attributed to the lack of regular order that too often
prevails at the end of the session
Finally, there are many provisions in the bill, but I want to commend
Secretary Cuomo, the Members of Congress, the gentleman from New York
(Chairman Lazio) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy),
ranking member, especially, who will be regrettably completing his
service in the House this year. The gentleman from Massachusetts has
been a catalyst for change, a voice of the disenfranchised in this
society for all the years he has served. I wish him well. He has served
us well, and the people of this Nation.

{time} 1200

Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Campbell), who is
responsible for large sections of this bill. I want to thank him
publicly for his work on this.
Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. Speaker, no one deserves credit more than the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio), chairman of our subcommittee, not
only because he knows this field so well and his heart is so strongly
in the right place, but also because of his tenacity. We would not be
here today except for him. He deserves the credit.
I do want to draw attention to the part of the bill that deals with
lowering barriers that are created by government. This is an unusual
topic because those of us who serve in government try to think we are
doing the right thing, with clean heart and pure motives. Sometimes,
however, we add to

[[Page H10706]]

the cost of affordable housing so much by what we do that the housing
is no longer affordable. That is true at the State and local level and
true at the Federal level.
At the Federal level we can do a little bit more, and what this bill
does is to provide that whenever a Federal decision is made, such as
the closing of a military base or siting an interstate or helping to
build an airport, the federal agency involved must bear in mind that
there is going to be an effect on affordable housing. And if somebody
can propose a way of accomplishing the legitimate Federal goal with
less deleterious effect on affordable housing, then the federal agency
is obliged to consider that alternative and adopt it. That is in this
bill, and I think it is an improvement in the Federal regulatory
system, benefiting public housing.
We cannot and should not, directly affect the State and local
governments, but we, in the Federal Government, can and do set aside
$15 million, not by an increase in taxes to pay for it but from funds
already in the law, for those State and local units of government that
undertake steps to make their barriers less.
A classic example here is a State that will impose a fee on home
building on the basis of the children that a new housing development
will put into the school system. A state ought to make that fee less,
if it is affordable housing, and make it higher, if it is a higher
priced house. I think that is a fair approach that would accomplish
both objectives of education and affordable housing.
We cannot mandate that, but we can reward those States that undertake
a system like that on their own. And we do that in this bill. I am
proud to support this bill. I want to repeat thanks to my good friend
the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio), but for whom we would not have
this bill, or its title I, in which I have invested so much of my time.
Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes and 30
seconds to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Roemer), who has done such a
great job on bringing this bill forward.
Mr. ROEMER. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New York
(Mr. Lazio) for his tenacity in getting a bill. I want to thank my good
friends the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Vento) and the gentleman from
New York (Mr. LaFalce) for their support in getting more people into
more affordable homes, and I want to especially point out my thanks and
gratitude for a member who has decided to go back home, the gentleman
from Massachusetts (Mr. Joe Kennedy), a friend of mine, somebody who
has been very gracious to me in my service here in the House, somebody
whose dad was a hero to me and whose dad once said, when one of us
prospers, all of us prosper. When one of us falters, so do we all. I
think his dad is very proud of Joe Kennedy standing up for the homeless
and the voiceless throughout his career in the House of
Representatives.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this bill, H.R. 3899, which
has one goal in mind, to put the dream of homeownership within the
reach of more Americans. Study after study has shown that homeownership
strengthens the family unit and contributes greatly to the stability of
our society. H.R. 3899 will alleviate problems in part by helping more
people get mortgages through government programs. However, the real key
to this legislation is the commitment it makes to bolster the
manufactured housing industry and increase the supply of this vital
source to affordable housing.
Manufactured housing is already one of the fastest growing sources of
housing in America. The industry provides nearly one-third of the
single family homes sold each year in America. With an average cost of
about $40,000, manufactured homes provide a real opportunity for first-
time home buyers, young families and senior citizens to realize the
American dream of owning a home.
There was a time when manufactured housing consisted primarily of
trailers and mobile homes. Mr. Speaker, those days are gone.
With the development of new technology and safety innovations, the
manufactured housing industry today produces top quality homes which
are comparable in every respect as site-built homes. Unfortunately, Mr.
Speaker, and the reason we are here, is the Federal rules governing the
manufactured housing industry have not kept pace with this technology.
Indeed, the industry is operating under rules that were put forward in
1974. Let us bring those rules forward with some badly needed common
sense and fairness to the HUD code.
I have participated in many of these talks to bring this bill
forward. I want to personally thank Secretary Cuomo, who has worked so
assiduously on this bill, and Bill Apgar for their personal involvement
and commitment to the drafting of this bill.
This bill will create a consensus committee to work with HUD to help
improve the management of the Federal manufactured housing program.
This bill also seeks to encourage uniform and effective enforcement of
Federal construction and safety standards for manufactured homes, while
reserving the regulation of installation standards and enforcement to
the States.
Mr. Speaker, I have a large manufactured housing industry in my
district, and I know that is true throughout the United States. Support
this good bill to provide more housing opportunities for more
Americans.
Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert), cochairman of
the Manufactured Housing Caucus.
Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the American
Homeownership Act, and I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr.
McIntosh).
Mr. McINTOSH. Mr. Speaker, let me first say thanks to the chairman
for this. This bill is excellent. The chairman deserves a lot of
commendation for bringing it to the floor, especially with regard to
manufactured housing.
Let me ask two questions: Does the preemption language in this bill
change or alter in any way any existing duty or responsibility of the
manufacturer with respect to the installation of the home?
Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. CALVERT. I yield to the gentleman from New York.
Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, no, this does not change any
aspect of installation.
Mr. McINTOSH. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield,
and as I understand it, the law today, under the law today the
manufacturer's responsibility with respect to the installation of the
home is determined by State law?
Mr. LAZIO of New York. Yes, that is correct. It will continue to be
the case under the provisions of this law.
Mr. McINTOSH. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support this legislation.
Mr. CALVERT. Mr. Speaker, let me first thank the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Lazio), the subcommittee chairman, for his hard work on this
bill. As cochairman of the House Manufactured Housing Caucus, I can
assure you of his dedication to improving our Nation's housing supply
and giving all Americans the chance to own a home.
Mr. Speaker, two of our Nation's largest social problems are the need
for greater access to affordable homes and the need to move people away
from the dependency on subsidized housing. Manufactured housing, the
fastest growing segment of the housing industry, helps solve these
problems. The affordability of these homes allows senior citizens,
young families and single parents to realize the American dream of
homeownership.
Congress must help people reach this goal by considering the positive
impact of manufactured homes when making housing policy. By improving
the quality, safety and affordability of these homes, the American
Homeownership Act does just this.
A yes vote on this bill is a yes vote for seniors, single parents,
and young home buyers who want a place to call their own. It is a vote
for the American dream. I urge a yes vote.
Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton).
(Mrs. CLAYTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend her
remarks.)
Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I also wanted to compliment the gentleman
from New York (Mr. Lazio) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.
Kennedy) for bringing this bill and

[[Page H10707]]

their leadership. I also want to say our appreciation on behalf of all
those who care about housing, care about the poor and for his
leadership and his service not only to Congress but to this Nation.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3899, the American
Homeownership Act. Although I know there are provisions that every item
in there is not picture perfect, but nevertheless this is indeed a big
step in the right direction if we want to make sure that the American
people have the opportunity for the American dream, to afford a home of
their own.
There are many hard working citizens whose income does not stretch
far enough to fulfill the dream of homeownership. Despite their
efforts, their dreams and hopes are shattered. They work as hard as
other citizens but the cost of homeownership is out of reach.
Therefore, H.R. 3899 will begin the process of restoring hope to those
in our society who are not looking for a free ride but are hoping for
freedom of choice so they may live and have the opportunity to afford a
decent place.
Passage of this bill will be a demonstration that hard work is not in
vain. It also is important to recognize that the American Homeownership
Act will have a positive impact on future generations of working
families. Millions of children are witnesses to the hard work performed
by their parents. Many of these children are living in substandard
apartments or houses because their working parents have been denied an
opportunity to own the home that they would hope to have to live in and
to raise their families.
Therefore, H.R. 3899 provides many opportunities, many provisions
that speak to that, not only in terms of the mobile homes or what we
called manufactured housing. In North Carolina, unfortunately or
fortunately, we have more manufactured homes. So obviously having
standards would allow them to have it and the requirement
opportunities.
I commend my colleagues to vote for this.
Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Metcalf), a member of the Committee on
Banking and Financial Services and also chairman of the Housing Caucus.
(Mr. METCALF asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. METCALF. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3899.
H.R. 3899 provides greater opportunities for homeownership by
increasing the FHA adjustable rate mortgages, the ARMs, while
protecting the FHA program. The Secretary of HUD will have the
discretion to increase the number of ARMs to make homeownership a
reality for more people.
This is a very popular program, especially when interest rates are
low. I want to thank my colleague the gentleman from California (Mr.
Campbell) for his leadership in reducing Federal barriers to
homeownership. His provisions are included in this legislation.
For the past 3 years Congress has transferred decisions and
responsibilities to local communities. This process, however, is not
simply about giving local communities funds through block grants, it is
equally important to provide communities the flexibility from Federal
mandates and regulations. Much of this can be achieved by identifying
government imposed barriers and their impact on the cost and supply of
housing.
Lastly, this legislation creates a consensus committee for developing
standards in the manufacturing housing industry. Manufactured housing
is often underutilized, but is a very feasible opportunity for
increasing homeownership, especially for first time home buyers.
Today we take a step forward in helping make homeownership a reality
for more people. I want to thank the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach)
and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio) for their efforts in
bringing this legislation to the floor.
Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Weygand).
(Mr. WEYGAND asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. WEYGAND. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend the
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Joe Kennedy) for his outstanding
leadership and work on this bill and so many others. He has always been
there to help those less fortunate and his tenure here in Congress will
be sorely missed. He has really been a leader in this and I thank him.
I also want to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio) for
helping us on a couple of issues that were sticking points and that we
wanted to work out.
One of the most important things about this bill is that we are
trying to increase the amount of homeownership in distressed areas.
This bill helps do that. Section 8 funding for such things as a down
payment, allowing the one year of section 8 assistance to go to a down
payment, is an important part to provide some assistance to people who
have ownership in distressed areas.
Another part is the removal of barriers that would preclude many of
the things that we want to do in these areas being included. The
gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter) had mentioned that it is so
important that we push away some of the Federal barriers that presently
preclude affordable housing from being a true part of our cities and
towns.
The other part is something that we came up with in committee. That
was the horrific stories that we read and heard about with regard to
housing inspections. So many people came to us in committee and said
that they wanted homeownership, they went and they worked very hard to
provide the down payment, finally had their dream home, only to walk
into that home and find out that it was not habitable.
We worked and struggled very hard on the issue of inspections to be
sure that loans, the people that took out loans would have the housing
that they wanted and would be habitable. The gentleman from New York
(Mr. Lazio) and I have worked on the issue about housing inspections
and I know that we are working with HUD on this so that we will have a
system that does not duplicate the existing requirements that we have
in place in cities and towns and States but also have a Federal system
that is reasonable and that does not take away some of the present
requirements that we have in cities and towns and State government.
I want to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio) for allowing
us to have this study and look forward to working with him in the
future. Lastly, again I would like to thank the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy) for his tremendous leadership on this bill.

{time} 1215

Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I ask the Chair to clarify
how much time is remaining on the debate.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Shimkus). The gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy) has 1 minute remaining. The gentleman from
New York (Mr. Lazio) has 4 minutes remaining.
Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of
my time.
Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the
distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), one of our leaders
of our State, the dean of the New York delegation, the chairman of the
Committee on International Relations.
(Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3899, the
American Homeownership Act, introduced by the distinguished gentleman
from New York (Mr. Lazio) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.
Kennedy), who we will soon miss for his premature retirement. We thank
him for his good works over the years.
I commend both gentlemen's efforts in bringing this legislation to
the floor today to help expand homeownership opportunities for all
Americans as we approach the next century.
This bill will allow families to benefit from the availability of
flexible capital for homeownership and to be able to use Federal
housing vouchers for the payment of monthly mortgages for a new home
and will cut through the red tape and regulations that have prevented
Americans from purchasing homes in the past.

[[Page H10708]]

This measure also promotes the ability of the private sector to
produce affordable housing without excessive government regulation.
Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to support this measure to help all
American families to pursue the American dream and be able to own their
own homes.
Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may
consume to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs. Roukema), a member of
the Committee on Banking and Financial Services.
(Mrs. ROUKEMA asked and was given permission to revise and extend her
remarks.)
Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this
legislation. Our colleague, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman),
took the words out of my mouth. This is expanding the American dream
for millions of Americans. I want to thank the gentleman from New York
(Mr. Lazio) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy).

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of HR 3899, the American Home
ownership Act of 1998. I have cosponsored this legislation which enjoys
wide bipartisan support.
A good job at a good wage. The ability to raise a family in comfort.
Sending your children to college so that they make their own way in the
world. These are major components of the Great American Dream. Integral
to this dream--owning the roof over your family's head--owning a house
to call a home.
My Colleagues, in one of the richest nations on earth, owning your
own home should be more than just a dream. That is why it is important
for us to continue to seek ways to make home ownership more affordable
and more accessible. This legislation takes a significant step forward
in helping hard-working Americans obtain that dream of owning their own
home.
The American Home ownership Act allows families receiving federal
rental vouchers to use the assistance toward monthly mortgage payments.
Local housing authorities are given authority to provide residents with
down payment assistance in lieu of monthly public housing assistance. I
am particularly pleased to see that this bill does not include
provisions requiring mandatory FHA home inspections. Instead, it
includes a GAO study that will investigate the need for mandatory
inspections.
In addition, it creates a HOME Loan Guarantee program to allow
communities to tap into future HOME grants for affordable housing
development. The Act also provides grant authority for use in ``Home
ownership Zones''--designed areas where large scale development
projects are designed to reclaim distressed neighborhoods by creating
Home ownership opportunities for low and moderate income families.
By some estimates, unnecessary government regulation adds 20 to 35
percent to the cost of a new home. For many hard working families, this
20 to 35 percent represents the difference between owning a house or
continuing to reside in rental property. This legislation recognizes
this difficult fact and requires all Federal agencies to include a
housing impact analysis with any proposed regulation to certify such
regulation have no significant negative impact on the availability of
affordable housing.
Finally, this legislation includes provisions that will promote the
quality, safety and affordability of manufactured homes by ensuring
uniform standards and codes for construction across the country.
I want to commend the Chairman of the Housing Subcommittee, Mr.
Lazio, for his hard work on this important legislation--I urge my
colleagues to support this import bill.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. KENNEDY of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I yield the final minute
of the debate to the gentleman from Chicago, Illinois (Mr. Davis).
(Mr. DAVIS of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and
extend his remarks.)
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, let me commend and congratulate
the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio) and the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), the ranking member, and all of the members
of the committee for bringing this important legislation to us.
The American dream, for many, have not been realized because they
have not been able to experience the ownership of a home. This
legislation opens up opportunities for individuals to receive mortgage
assistance, but also for manufactured housing to really come on-line. I
think it is one of the most important pieces of legislation that we
have seen and will see.
I represent a district that has 175,000 people who live at or below
the poverty level. This will go a long ways, Mr. Speaker, towards
providing them with opportunities to experience homeownership.
Again, I commend the chairman, the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Lazio) and certainly the ranking member and say that we are going to
miss the voice of the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy) as a
voice for the underrepresented, the dispossessed, and all of those in
America who are still looking for the American dream. Go with peace.
Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
(Mr. LAZIO of New York asked and was given permission to revise and
extend his remarks and include extraneous material).
Mr. LAZIO of New York. Mr. Speaker, in yesterday's New York Times, an
editorial was published which was entitled ``A Win-Win On Housing.'' It
was really written about the public housing bill that had been passed
by the House and the Senate and was on its way to the President for
signature, but it could well have been written about this bill as well,
because this is indeed a win-win on housing.
We have worked closely with the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.
Kennedy) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce). We have
incorporated ideas from many people, ranging from the administration.
I want to particularly salute Bill Apgar, who is the FHA
Commissioner, for his constructive work with this committee, with the
gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach), the chairman of the full committee,
the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) and the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr.
Baker), two important members of our committee, and the gentleman from
New Mexico (Mr. Redmond), who had input and helped draft provisions
that dealt with native American housing, all of whom were very
significant in terms of moving this forward.
I would just say to the Members of this body, if we can think back
and remember the first time we went to a closing when somebody put the
keys of our first house in our hand how we felt; that sense of pride,
that sense of having the satisfaction of knowing that we can provide
for our family, the peace of mind of knowing that we will not be going
through a series of unstable housing situations, but in fact we are
going to have something of our very own, a place where we can put our
roots down in, a place that we can raise our children in or just
appreciate and grasp the greatest ambition that we have had.
This bill I think does that. It will bring that promise of
homeownership, what has been referred to many times as the dream of
homeownership for America to countless Americans whose names we will
never remember or never hear, but people who will have more satisfying
lives, will have a greater peace of mind, will be able to raise their
family and provide them the greatest fruits of life because of the
dream of homeownership.
It is a uniquely American institution in the sense that we have the
highest rate of homeownership of any of our industrialized neighbors.
It is very much a part of the growth of America.
What we do with this bill is we try to look to creative tools to
enhance that, especially for low-income Americans to try to get them
into their first home, to share in the fruit of homeownership. It would
not have been possible without the cooperation of many people.
I want to, again, thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.
Kennedy) for his friendship, he is an easy person to get along with,
for his hard work and for his dedication.
If I can, I just want to again point to the attention of the House to
what will be the Joseph P. Kennedy, II Homeownership Rehabilitation
Demonstration Grant Act, which is the brainchild of the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), to try to help those people who have their
own home but struggle to try to find and way to rehab their own place,
whether it is a new roof or a new boiler. Keep them in those
neighborhoods. Give them the peace of mind to that there is an outlet
out there in order to finance these basic needs.
It is typical of the interest of the gentleman from Massachusetts
(Mr.

[[Page H10709]]

Kennedy) of low-income Americans that he would have authored that. I
urge my colleagues to support this important bill.
The New York times editorial referred to and additional material are
as follows:

[From the New York Times, Oct. 13, 1998]

A Win-Win on Housing

Ever since the Republicans took control of Congress, the
new majority has struggled with the Clinton Administration
over the issue of low-income housing. Last week the two sides
came together and passed a measure that blends conservative
and liberal concerns. It is a major achievement for both the
Administration and Congress.
Republicans have long wanted to give low-income working
people a greater share of subsidized housing, while Democrats
wanted to favor the poorest of the poor, who have no
resources to obtain shelter at market rates. Both sides and
have a point. Housing projects need to include stable
families with working adults who can serve as role models for
other residents. When homelessness exploded in the 1980's too
many apartments in some projects were turned over to
extremely indigent families, tipping the community balance.
But the Republicans' proposed solutions went too far. One
particularly bad idea was to change the income mix eligible
for rent subsidy vouchers, a program that does not suffer
from the same problems as traditional housing projects.
Unlike public housing residents, who live in a closed
community, people who receive the vouchers are dispersed
throughout the private housing market. To the delight of
housing advocates, the final bill creates 90,000 much-needed
new vouchers and requires that 75 percent go to the poorest
of the poor. The bill relaxes some of the income limits for
housing project to make room for more of the working poor,
although many units must still be reserved for the very poor.
In New York City, 40 percent of project residents would have
to have incomes at or below $15,000, but other residents
would be able to make up to $40,150.
Other compromises were equally sensible. The Republicans
got concessions aimed at rewarding effort, including very
modest community service requirements. Democrats got
additional controls to make sure that allowing more high-
income families does not lead to racial or economic
segregation. The bill bows to the animal lobby's demand that
all public housing residents be allowed to keep animals, but
officials in cities like New York, where vicious dogs have
long terrorized residents of some large projects, will now
apparently be able to impose reasonable restrictions.
Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo and Representative Rick
Lazio of Long Island, the Republican point man on housing
issues, have represented two poles in this long struggle.
This bill is a win for both men. Mr. Cuomo, and his
predecessor Henry Cisneros, have given what was known as the
Federal Government's worst-run bureaucracy some credibility
with Congress. Mr. Lazio has finally won his long battle to
make public housing a bipartisan issue. While some
Republicans will always have an ideological objection to
Federal housing subsidies, Mr. Lazio has always argued that
many others can be brought around, once they are convinced
that the system is well run and aimed at encouraging self-
sufficiency. We believe he is right, and this bill may be a
big step in that direction.

H.R. 3899, THE ``AMERICAN HOMEOWNERSHIP ACT OF 1998''

Section-by-Section Analysis

Section 1. Short Title and Table of Contents.
States that the act may be cited as the ``American
Homeownership Act of 1998.''
Section 2. Findings and purpose.
Congressional findings are that expanding homeownership
opportunities should be a national priority, that there is an
abundance of conventional capital available, and that
communities possess ample will and creativity to provide
opportunities uniquely designed to assist their citizens to
achieve homeownership. Purposes of the act are to encourage
homeownership by families not otherwise able to afford
homeownership, to promote the ability of the private sector
to produce affordable housing without excessive government
regulation, to expand homeownership through tax incentives
such as the home mortgage-interest deduction, and to
facilitate the availability of capital for homeownership
opportunities.

Title I: Removal of Barriers to Affordable Housing

Section 101. Short title.
This title may be referred to as the ``Affordable Housing
Barrier Removal Act of 1998.''
Section 102. Housing impact analysis.
Requires that all proposed federal regulations include a
housing impact analysis so that a federal agency can certify
that a proposed regulation would have no significant
deleterious impact upon housing affordability. If a proposed
rule would have a negative impact, then an opportunity is
given to groups to offer an alternative that achieves the
stated objectives with a less deleterious impact on housing.
HUD is directed to create model impact analyses that other
agencies can use for these purposes.
Section 103. Grants for regulatory barrier removal
strategies.
Authorizes $15 million through FY 2003 for grants to
States, local governments, and eligible consortia for
regulatory barrier removal strategies. This is
reauthorization of the same amount under an already existing
CDBG setaside (Section 107(a)(1)(H)). Grants provided for
these purposes must be used in coordination with the local
comprehensive housing affordability strategy (``CHAS'').
Section 104. Eligibility for community development block
grants.
Requires a jurisdiction as a condition of eligibility under
the CDBG program to make a good faith effort to reduce
barriers to affordable housing identified in the CHAS
submitted by the jurisdiction to HUD, without creating any
new private right of action.
Section 105. Regulatory barriers clearinghouse.
Creates within HUD's Office of Policy Development and
Research a ``Regulatory Barriers Clearinghouse'' to collect
and disseminate information on, among other things, the
prevalence of regulatory barriers and their effects on
availability of affordable housing, and successful barrier
removal strategies.

Title II: Homeownership Through FHA Mortgage Insurance

Section 201. Adjustable rate mortgages.
Provides the Secretary with discretion, upon submitting to
Congress a written findings of unmet demand, to increase the
number of adjustable rate mortgages (``ARMs'') the Department
insures by an amount not to exceed 40% of the prior year's
number of mortgages. The Secretary must report to Congress,
prior to taking such action, that such increase shall not
adversely affect the actuarial soundness of the FHA fund.]
Section 202. Housing inspection study.
Requires a GAO study of the inspection process for FHA
properties, comparing or estimating the potential financial
losses and savings to the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund
between a system that would require a mandatory FHA
inspection and the current optional inspection. The study
would also review the potential impact of a mandatory FHA
system on the homebuying process, particularly including
underserved area where FHA losses are the greatest and
whether there is a housing quality and/or financial
difference in inspected homes and those without inspections.
The study would also review the current option practice and
report whether consumers understand the availability of
independent inspections, financed by FHA and whether their
choices for an inspection are affected or pressured by market
or economic forces.
Section 203. Definition of area.
Provides the Secretary of HUD with discretion to provide
that any county or statistical area, together with any
counties proximate or contiguous with such area, may be
treated as a single area for purposes of determining the FHA
limit for such area by using the highest limit within the
newly defined area. This allows the Secretary the discretion
to rationalize FHA limits in areas where strict adherence to
existing metropolitan statistical areas limit homeownership
opportunities.
Sec. 204. Extension of Loan Term for Manufactured Home Lots.
Extends the loan terms for manufactured home lots financed
by insured financial institutions from 15 years, 32 days to
20 years, 32 days.
Sec. 205. Repeal of Requirements for Approval for Insurance
Prior to Start of Construction.
This section would repeal FHA requirements that required
newly constructed homes to be insured at a 90% Loan-to-Value
ratio unless it was approved before construction or met
consumer protection or warranty plans or was completed more
that one year before insurance was requested. After
enactment, newly constructed homes would be subject to the
same requirements as older homes, which would allow higher
loan-to-value ratios up to 97%.
Sec. 206. Rehabilitation Demonstration Grant Program.
Makes available funding for a rehabilitation grant program
established in the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility
Act of 1998 (Section 599G), for fiscal year 1999, from funds
in the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund in an amount not to
exceed $25 million. Renames the legislation establishing the
program the ``Joseph P. Kennedy II Homeownership
Rehabilitation Demonstration Grant Act.''

Title III: Section 8 Homeownership Option

Section 301. Down-payment assistance.
PHAs are authorized to provide down-payment assistance in
the form of a single grant, in lieu of monthly assistance.
Such down-payment assistance shall not exceed the total
amount of monthly assistance received by the tenant for the
first year of assistance. For FY 2000 and thereafter,
assistance under this section shall be available to the
extent sums are appropriated.

Title IV: HOME Investment Partnership Program

Section 401. Reauthorization.
Reauthorizes the HOME Investment Partnerships Program
through FY 2003, at $1.6 billion for FY 99, and thereafter at
such sums as appropriated.

[[Page H10710]]

Section 402. Eligibility of limited equity cooperatives and
mutual housing associations.
Amends HOME to make eligible mutual housing associations
and limited equity cooperatives.
Section 403. Leveraging affordable housing investment through
local loan pools.
Allows HOME funds to be used as leverage in connection with
the creation of greater ``loan pools'' (ten times the amount
of the HOME funds invested in such a pool) without imposing
the HOME income restrictions on the entire pool (i.e. allows
``mixed-income'' pools.)
Section 404. Loan guarantees.
Creates a HOME Loan Guarantee program, by adding a
provision allowing the Secretary to guarantee (similar to
CDBG loan guarantees) the obligations of participating
jurisdictions made in connection with affordable housing
efforts by pledging as security a participating
jurisdiction's future HOME allocations (up to five times the
latest allocation).

Title V: Local Home Ownership Initiatives

Section 501. Reauthorization of Neighborhood Reinvestment
Corporation.
Reauthorizes the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation at
$90 million for FY 99 (including $25 million for a pilot
homeownership initiative) and at $90 million thereafter
through FY 2003.
Section 502. Homeownership zones.
Provides grants for use in ``Homeownership Zones'', which
are designated areas in which large scale development
projects are designed to reclaim distressed neighborhoods by
creating homeownership opportunities for low and moderate
income families. Authorizes $25 million in grants for FY 1999
through FY 2000, to remain available until expended.
Sections 503. Lease-to-own.
Provides for a sense of the Congress that residential
tenancies under lease to own provisions can facilitate
homeownership by low and moderate income families. Requires
the Secretary to provide a report to Congress within 3 months
after enactment of the act, analyzing whether lease to own
provision can be incorporated within the HOME investment
partnerships program, the public housing program, and other
federally-assisted housing programs.
Section 504. Local capacity building.
Amends Section 4 of Public Law 103-120 (the ``HUD
Demonstration Act''), to add the National Association of
Housing Partnerships as an intermediary organization eligible
for federal grants to develop the capacity and ability of
community development corporations and community housing
development organizations to undertake community development
and affordable housing projects.

Title VI: Manufactured Housing Improvement

Section 601. Short Title and references.
States that this title may be cited as the ``Manufactured
Housing Improvement Act.''
Section 602. Findings and purposes.
Current law provisions are replaced with a more positive,
detailed statement of the original intent of Congress when it
enacted the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety
Standards Act. Adds a consensus standards development process
to the purpose of the Act. Expresses the continuing need to
facilitate the availability of affordable manufactured homes
as well as the need for objective, performance-based
standards and enhanced consumer protection.
Section 603--Definitions.
Adds several definitions to Section 603 of current law
concerning the consensus committee and the consensus
standards development process set forth in Section 604 of
this bill. Adds a definition for the monitoring function and
related definitions for primary inspection agency and design
approval primary inspection agency duties, which had not
been previously defined. Consensus committee recommends
specific regulations regarding these functions to the
Secretary of HUD. The term ``dealer'' has been replaced
throughout with the term ``retailer.''
Section 604. Federal manufactured home construction and
safety standards.
Section 604 of the existing manufactured housing regulation
is revised to establish a ``Consensus Committee'' that would
submit recommendations to the Secretary of HUD for
developing, amending and revising both the Federal
Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards and the
enforcement regulations. Establishes requirements as to when
recommendations made by the Consensus Committee to the
Secretary are to be published by the Secretary in the Federal
Register for public comment.
The members of the Consensus Committee will be appointed,
subject to approval by the Secretary, by an administering
organization, which shall be a recognized, voluntary, private
consensus standards body with specific experience in
developing model residential building codes. The committee
shall be composed of 25 qualified individuals including
general interest groups such as academicians, researchers,
architects, and homebuilders.
The revisions to section 604 would also clarify the scope
of federal preemption to ensure that disparate state or local
requirements do not affect the uniformity and comprehensive
nature of the federal standards. At the same time, the bill
would reinforce the proposition that installation standards
and regulations remain under the exclusive authority of each
state.
Section 605. Abolishment of the National Manufactured Home
Advisory Council.
Section 605 of existing law would be repealed, abolishing
the National Manufactured Home Advisory Council, which is
replaced by the consensus committee formed under Section 604.
Section 606. Public information.
Amends current requirements governing cost information of
any new standards submitted by manufacturers to the Secretary
by requiring the Secretary to submit such cost information to
the consensus committee for evaluation.
Sec. 607. Research, testing, development, and training.
Requires HUD Secretary to conduct research, testing,
development and training necessary to carry out the purposes
of facilitating manufactured housing, including encouraging
GSE's to develop and implement secondary market
securitization programs for FHA manufactured home loans, and
reviewing the programs for FHA manufactured home loans and
developing any changes to such programs to promote the
affordability of manufactured homes.
Section 608. Fees.
Amends current section 620 by allowing the Secretary to use
industry label fees for current activities, conducting
inspections and monitoring, providing funding to states for
administration and implementation of approved state plans
under existing section 623, hiring additional program staff,
for additional travel funding, funding of a non-career
administrator to oversee the program, and for the costs of
administration of the consensus committee. Prohibits the use
of label fees to fund any activity not expressly authorized
by the act, makes expenditure of label fees subject to annual
Congressional appropriations review, and eliminates HUD's
annual report requirement. Requires HUD to be accountable for
any fee increase by requiring notice and comment rulemaking.
Section 609. Elimination of annual report requirement.
Eliminates existing annual reporting by the Secretary to
Congress on manufactured housing standards.
Section 610. Effective date.
Effective date of the legislation is the date of enactment,
except that interpretive bulletins or orders published as a
proposed rule prior to the date of enactment shall be
unaffected.
Section 611. Savings provision.
Existing manufactured housing standards are maintained in
effect until the effective date of the Federal manufactured
home construction and safety standards pursuant to the
amendments made by this act.

Title VII: Indian Housing Homeownership

Section 701. Indian Lands Title Report Commission.
Subject to amounts appropriated, creates an Indian Lands
Title Report Commission to develop recommended approaches to
improving how the Bureau of Indian Affairs conducts title
reviews in connection with the sale of Indian lands. Receipt
of a certificate from BIA is a prerequisite to any sales
transaction on Indian lands, and the current procedure is
overly burdensome and presents a regulatory barrier to
increasing homeownership on Indian lands.
The Commission is composed of 12 members with knowledge of
Indian land title issues (4 appointed by the President, 4 by
the President from recommendations made by the Chairman of
the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
Committee, and 4 by President from recommendations made by
the Chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Financial
Services). Authorized at $500.000.

Title VIII. Transfer of Unoccupied and Substandard HUD-Held Housing to
Local Governments and Community Development Corporations.

Section 801. Amends Section 204 of the VA, HUD and
Independent Agencies Act of 1997, which sets forth the
authority of the HUD Secretary to engage in property
disposition activities. Requires the HUD Secretary to
transfer, to the maximum extent practicable, ownership of
eligible properties (HUD-owned substandard multifamily,
unoccupied multifamily, or unoccupied single-family
properties to a unit of local government having jurisdiction
for the area where the property is located, or to a community
development corporation within such jurisdiction, on certain
terms and conditions. Eligible properties do not include any
property subject to a specific sale agreement under section
204(h) of the National Housing Act, as amended by Section 602
of the FY 99 VA, HUD and Independent Agencies Appropriations
Act. Requires the HUD Secretary to issue a report within 6
months of enactment of the Act identifying any communities
designated as ``revitalization communities'' pursuant to
section 204(h) of the National Housing Act, as amended. HUD
shall be required to implement the provisions of this section
to the extent their implementation do not increase the costs
to the federal government under existing current HUD
disposition programs.
Sec. 802. Amendment to Revitalization Area Disposition
Program.
Properties eligible for disposition under Section 602 of
the FY 99 VA, HUD and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act
for

[[Page H10711]]

which the Secretary determines continued inclusion is
inappropriate because of a failure of any prospective
purchaser to express an interest in such property, may be
eligible for disposition under the program set forth in this
Title.
Sec. 803. Report on Revitalization Zones for HUD-Owned Single
Family Properties.
Requires the Secretary of HUD, no later than 6 months after
enactment of this Act, to provide a report to Congress
identifying the revitalization areas designated by the
Secretary in accordance with the disposition program
established under Section 602 of the FY 99 VA, HUD and
Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, areas which have
requested such designation or which the Secretary is
considering designating as such areas, and eligible
properties in such revitalization areas for which the
Secretary has a reasonable expectation of transferring to
other entities.
Sec. 804. Technical Corrections to Income Targeting
Provisions for Project-Based Assistance.
Makes a technical corrections to public housing reform
legislation included in the VA, HUD FY 99 Appropriations Act
regarding targeting of Section 8 project-based assistance.
Sec. 805. Technical Corrections to Title V of the VA, HUD,
and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act of 1997.
Makes certain technical and clarifying corrections to the
HUD Section 8 Portfolio Restructuring program established
under Title V of the VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies
Appropriations Act of 1997.
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the American
Homeownership Act; but first of all, let me commend and congratulate
Chairman Lazio, Ranking Member Kennedy and all Members of the Committee
for bringing this important legislation to the floor.
Home ownership is a real part of the American dream. Unfortunately,
thousands of low and moderate income citizens have not been able to
experience the joy and the benefits of home ownership.
I represent a district where 175,000 people live at or below the
poverty-level: therefore, for many of them home ownership has not been
an option.
This bill provides greatly needed resources and puts manufactured
housing full square in the mix of housing development, especially in
low and moderate income communities. Again, I commend and congratulate
Chairman Lazio and Ranking Member Kennedy. In addition, as Mr. Kennedy
prepares to leave us, Joe, you have given your voice and your talents
to the needs of the poor, helpless and hopeless members of our society.
We're going to miss your voice and your passion and as you leave, go
in peace.
Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of
manufactured housing in America and H.R. 3899, the American
Homeownership Act of 1998. As the co-chairman of the House Manufactured
Housing Caucus and as an original cosponsor of H.R. 3634, the
Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 1998, I am pleased that a
negotiated version of H.R. 3634 is included in Title VII of H.R. 3899
that we consider today.
Manufactured housing is a large and growing component of our efforts
to address the shortage of affordable housing across North Carolina and
the nation. The economic impact of the manufactured housing industry in
North Carolina is remarkable: over 15,000 people are employed by the
industry in manufacturing facilities and retail operations, providing a
total economic pact of over $3 billion each year.
The manufactured housing industry also generates hundreds of good
paying jobs at about one dozen plants in my district alone, perhaps the
most of any Congressional District in the country. This industry's
economic presence is an essential component of many North Carolina
communities, and makes a big difference in our quality of life.
The experience of North Carolina mirrors that of communities across
America. Manufactured housing represents one-third of all new single-
family homes sold in the U.S., and it is the fastest growing segment of
the housing industry. The manufactured housing industry provides
quality homes at a price that is within reach of almost every American
family, about $38,300, without land.
At a time when home ownership is becoming harder to obtain, when more
than 5.3 million Americans are paying over 50% of their incomes on
rent, and when we have a renewed focus on transferring people away from
dependency on public housing, it just makes sense to support the
manufactured housing industry.
However, the industry is being regulated by the Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) under a 24-year old Federal manufactured
housing program statute. Manufactured homes have changed tremendously
during this period and in many cases are virtually indistinguishable
from other types of homes.
I am pleased that officials at HUD and the manufactured housing
industry have negotiated acceptable language in H.R. 3899 that will
help revitalize the federal manufactured housing industry program at
HUD, address impediments to growth of this vital industry, and help
achieve our national priority of increasing home ownership
opportunities for many more Americans.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Lazio) that the House suspend the rules
and pass the bill, H.R. 3899, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

____________________