I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4165

To amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 to authorize the Secretary

of Housing and Urban Development to enter into contracts with highperforming public housing agencies to provide for the development of

public housing in a manner that eliminates time-consuming interim review procedures otherwise required.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 12, 1994

Mr. BEREUTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs

A BILL

To amend the United States Housing Act of 1937 to authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

to enter into contracts with high-performing public housing agencies to provide for the development of public

housing in a manner that eliminates time-consuming interim review procedures otherwise required.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Public Housing Devel5 opment Reform Amendments’’.
2

•HR 4165 IH

1 SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO PROVIDE BY CONTRACT FOR ELIMI2 NATION OF REVIEW PROCESS.

3 Section 6 of the United States Housing Act of 1937

4 (42 U.S.C. 1437d) is amended by inserting after sub5 section (e) the following new subsection:

6 ‘‘(f) AUTHORITY TO ELIMINATE INTERIM REVIEW IN

7 DEVELOPMENT PROCESS FOR HIGH-PERFORMING

8 PHA’S.—

9 ‘‘(1) AUTHORITY.—In any contract for con10 tributions to cover the development or acquisition

11 cost of a public housing project by a public housing

12 agency that the Secretary determines is complying

13 with the management performance standards estab14 lished under subsection (j) in an exemplary manner,

15 the Secretary may include provisions described

16 under paragraph (2).

17 ‘‘(2) EXEMPTION FROM QUALIFIED DEVELOP18 MENT REQUIREMENTS.—The contract provisions re19 ferred to in paragraph (1) are provisions that ex20 empt the public housing project assisted under the

21 contract from review (by the Secretary or any field

22 or area office of the Department of Housing and

23 Urban Development) for compliance with qualified

24 development requirements or from any requirement

25 for approval (by the Secretary or any such office)

26 with such requirements, only during the period that
3

•HR 4165 IH

1 ends upon completion of the development or acquisi2 tion or at such other time occurring before comple3 tion, as may be agreed to by the Secretary and the

4 public housing agency.

5 ‘‘(3) REMEDIES.—Each contract for contribu6 tions that includes provisions described under para7 graph (2) shall include such additional provisions as

8 the Secretary considers necessary to ensure that,

9 upon completion of development or acquisition, the

10 public housing project assisted under the contract

11 complies with the qualified development require12 ments, which may include provisions—

13 ‘‘(A) authorizing the imposition of civil

14 monetary penalties against the public housing

15 agency if the Secretary determines, on the

16 record after notice and opportunity for a hear17 ing in accordance with section 553 of title 5,

18 United States Code, that the public housing

19 project does not comply with the qualified devel20 opment requirements regarding site or neigh21 borhood standards or environmental require22 ments, except that the amount of such penalties

23 may not exceed $10,000 for each such failure

24 to comply and the sum of the penalties imposed

25 against any public housing agency with respect
4

•HR 4165 IH

1 to public housing developed or acquired pursu2 ant to any single contract for contributions may

3 not exceed $1,000,000;

4 ‘‘(B) requiring specific performance suffi5 cient to correct any noncompliance and estab6 lishing deadlines for such specific performance;

7 ‘‘(C) authorizing the Secretary to withhold

8 payments (or portions of payments) to be made

9 under the contract upon completion of develop10 ment or acquisition (or after the expiration of

11 the period established under the contract pursu12 ant to paragraph (2)) to cover the actual devel13 opment cost of the project until the project

14 complies with qualified development require15 ments;

16 ‘‘(D) authorizing the Secretary to withhold

17 assistance for the operation of the project until

18 the project complies with qualified development

19 requirements; and

20 ‘‘(E) specifying any other lawful remedy

21 agreed to by the Secretary and the public hous22 ing agency.

23 ‘‘(4) DEFINITION OF ‘QUALIFIED DEVELOP24 MENT REQUIREMENTS’.—For purposes of this sub25 section, the term ‘qualified development require-
5

•HR 4165 IH

1 ments’ means requirements or standards under law,

2 or established pursuant to law by the Secretary, re3 garding the development or acquisition of public

4 housing, which shall include site and neighborhood

5 standards, design and construction standards, cost

6 guidelines, environmental requirements, zoning com7 pliance, selection of utilities, and such other require8 ments or standards as the Secretary may provide.

9 ‘‘(5) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—This sub10 section may not be construed to waive, alter, annul,

11 exempt, or affect the applicability of any qualified

12 development requirements to any public housing

13 project after the expiration of the period established

14 under the contract for the project pursuant to para15 graph (2).’’.

16 SEC. 3. CONSTRUCTION COMMENCEMENT REQUIREMENTS.

17 Section 5(k) of the United States Housing Act of

18 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437c(k)) is amended by adding at the

19 end the following new sentence: ‘‘A contract for contribu20 tions for development or acquisition of a public housing

21 project that includes provisions authorized under sub22 section 6(f) may waive or alter the applicability of the re23 quirements under this subsection with respect to the pub24 lic housing project.’’.

Æ