[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 67 (Wednesday, May 22, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4706-S4707]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DOMENICI:
  S. 2540. A bill to amend the definition of low-income families for 
purposes of the United States Housing Act of 1937; to the Committee on 
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, today I rise to bring the Senate's 
attention to a matter that is slowing Los Alamos County, NM, in its 
efforts to fully recover from the Cerro Grande Fire of May 10, 2000.
  It is an amazing irony to me that Los Alamos National Laboratory, in 
recent years facing declines in personnel, is again in the national 
news for its ability to help with counter-terrorism on many fronts. 
Along with this national attention and the needs of our Homeland 
Security Agency for advanced scientific means to detect and deter 
nuclear and biological attacks, LANL is now in the process of filling 
about 1,000 new positions.
  The irony is that the Cerro Grande fire severely reduced available 
housing in Los Alamos two years before our Nation turns once again to 
Los Alamos for its scientific talents. A major deterrent to new hires 
is the lack of housing

[[Page S4707]]

choices in Los Alamos. The housing market is even tighter because of 
the loss of about 400 housing units through the devastating Cerro 
Grande Fire. Los Alamos has a population of about 18,000 people.
  While we have Federal programs to help low and moderate income 
Americans find good housing, in Los Alamos these programs are 
ineffective due to the current practice of averaging Los Alamos County 
and Santa Fe County incomes into one Metropolitan Statistical Area, 
MSA. This is harmful to Los Alamos residents, where the median income 
is about $82,000 because the Federal programs use the MSA median income 
of about $65,000 to determine participation. Eighty percent of median 
income is a standard measure.
  Santa Fe's median income of about $40,000 thus becomes a significant 
factor for a Los Alamos teacher, fireman, or policeman seeking 
subsidized Federal assistance. Their incomes in Los Alamos are deemed 
to be too high to qualify for housing because 80 percent of $65,000 is 
used as the maximum allowed for assistance. Thus, $52,000 becomes the 
effective ceiling for assistance, when the actual 80 percent ceiling 
figure for Los Alamos incomes is about $65,000. This makes a huge 
difference in a high-priced and competitive market. The result is that 
developers are discouraged from applying for tax credits and other 
assistance programs because their applicants do not qualify to live in 
their new or remodeled housing projects.
  The Los Alamos County Manager reports that not a single County 
employee is eligible for housing created by the Low Income Housing Tax 
Credits. He, like many residents and the LANL recruiting effort, remain 
concerned that the limited housing supply has raised rents and sales 
prices. Los Alamos County is also landlocked by Federal government land 
ownership.
  There is a desperate need for affordable housing at a time when, once 
again, our nation is calling upon LANL for helping to meet its internal 
and international security needs.
  This situation also exists around the New York City area, where 
Westchester County incomes unfairly raise the metropolitan average to 
the detriment of the metropolitan housing market. In that case, 
Congress agreed to separate Westchester County to ease the housing 
market situation. All I am asking in my bill is to accomplish the same 
goal by allowing Los Alamos County to stand on its own in terms of HUD 
median income requirements. My bill does not simultaneously lower the 
Santa Fe County income to its actual median, but, rather, allows Santa 
Fe County to continue to use the higher median, because the Santa Fe 
housing market is also very unusual, and the two-county average helps 
make more Santa Fe residents eligible for Federal assistance on many 
fronts.
  I appreciate my colleagues attention to this matter, and I know the 
residents of Los Alamos County will be grateful for this assistance to 
allow more of them to make use of available HUD and other affordable 
housing assistance programs.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 2540

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

     SECTION 1. LOW-INCOME FAMILIES DEFINITION.

       Section 3(b)(2) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 
     (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)(2)) is amended--
       (1) by inserting ``and for Los Alamos County in the State 
     of New Mexico,'' after ``State of New York,'';
       (2) by inserting ``, Los Alamos,'' after ``does not include 
     Westchester'';
       (3) by inserting ``; Los Alamos,'' after ``portion included 
     Westchester''; and
       (4) by inserting before the period at the end the 
     following: ``; and Los Alamos County, New Mexico, in the 
     Santa Fe metropolitan area''.
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