[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 17 (Thursday, January 30, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S1821]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. DOMENICI (for himself and Mr. Bingaman):
  S. 258. 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.
  The Cerro Grande fire severely reduced available housing in Los 
Alamos. Indeed, a major deterrent to new hires is the lack of housing 
choices in the city. 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 $65,00 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. 258

       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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