I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4197 

To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make 

grants to nonprofit community organizations for the development of 

open space on municipally owned vacant lots in urban areas. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 20, 2019 

Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make grants to nonprofit community organizations for the development of open space on municipally 

owned vacant lots in urban areas. 

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 ‘‘Revitalizing Cities 

5 Through Parks Enhancement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) open spaces and community parks are a 

2 critically important portion of urban infrastructure; 

3 (2) many inner-city areas suffer from a lack of 

4 public open space for community residents to use for 

5 recreation, social interaction, and relief from dense 

6 urban conditions; 

7 (3) vacant lots, many in public ownership as a 

8 result of tax foreclosures, are common in inner-city 

9 areas; 

10 (4) the recent economic recession substantially 

11 increased the number of such vacant lots; 

12 (5) such lots often become drug trafficking 

13 areas, thereby decreasing the value of surrounding 

14 property and leading to higher crime rates in inner15 city areas; and 

16 (6) the refurbishment of such lots, by removing 

17 garbage and rubble and creating well-lighted and 

18 maintained open spaces and community parks, 

19 would establish positive assets for surrounding com20 munities, provide positive outlets for community 

21 youth, increase property values, make other types of 

22 investment in the communities more attractive, and 

23 generally improve the quality of life for residents of 

24 the affected communities. 


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1 SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and 

3 Urban Development shall, to the extent amounts are pro4 vided in appropriation Acts pursuant to section 13, make 

5 grants under this Act to qualified community organiza6 tions for establishment of community open space in urban 

7 areas. 

8 (b) AMOUNT.—The aggregate amount of any grants 

9 made under this Act to any single qualified community 

10 organization in any single fiscal year may not exceed 

11 $250,000. 

12 SEC. 4. QUALIFIED COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS. 

13 A grant under this Act may be made only to a non14 profit organization that— 

15 (1) has among its purposes significant activities 

16 related to the improvement of the neighborhood, 

17 community, or city in which any property that is to 

18 be assisted with the grant under this Act is located; 

19 (2) has a history of serving such neighborhood, 

20 community, or city; 

21 (3) maintains, through significant representa22 tion on the organization’s governing board and oth23 erwise, accountability to residents of such neighbor24 hood, community, or city; and 

25 (4) complies with such standards of financial 

26 accountability as the Secretary may require. 


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1 SEC. 5. USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS. 

2 (a) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Amounts from a grant 

3 made under this Act may be used by the recipient of the 

4 grant only for costs relating to the establishment of com5 munity open space, as follows: 

6 (1) To develop eligible municipal real property 

7 for use as community open space, which shall in8 clude design, clearance, demolition, removal, beau9 tification, site improvements, and construction or in10 stallation of facilities and improvements for such 

11 property. 

12 (2) To lease or otherwise obtain the use of eligi13 ble municipal real property for establishment of 

14 community open space. 

15 (3) To maintain community open space. 

16 (4) To cover other administrative costs related 

17 to the establishment, development, maintenance, ad18 ministration, insurance, or management of the com19 munity open space, except that not more than 10 

20 percent of any single grant made under this Act may 

21 be used for costs under this paragraph. 

22 (b) DEVELOPMENT PLAN REQUIREMENT.—Amounts 

23 from a grant made under this Act may be used by the 

24 recipient of a grant only to carry out activities under sub25 section (a) that are described in the development plan of 

26 the recipient approved by the Secretary under section 7 


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1 or that are described in an amendment to the development 

2 plan approved by the Secretary under section 9. 

3 (c) COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT REQUIREMENTS.—A 

4 qualified community organization that applies for a grant 

5 under this Act shall provide for involvement by interested 

6 residents and organizations of the neighborhood, commu7 nity, or city in which the property to be assisted under 

8 the plan is located in— 

9 (1) establishing the development plan under 

10 section 7(b), which shall include— 

11 (A) making the proposed development plan 

12 available in a manner that, in the determination 

13 of the Secretary, provides interested parties a 

14 reasonable opportunity to examine its content 

15 and to submit comments on the proposed plan; 

16 and 

17 (B) holding one or more public hearings to 

18 obtain the views of interested parties regarding 

19 the proposed plan; and 

20 (2) carrying out activities under the develop21 ment plan, if the qualified community organization 

22 is a recipient. 


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1 SEC. 6. ELIGIBLE MUNICIPAL REAL PROPERTY. 

2 Amounts from a grant under this Act may be used 

3 for costs under section 5(a) relating to the establishment 

4 of community open space only on real property that— 

5 (1) is owned in fee simple by the unit of general 

6 local government in which the property is located; 

7 (2) is located in an urban area; 

8 (3) is free of structures, other than toilet or 

9 maintenance facilities for the community open space; 

10 and 

11 (4) is subject to a binding commitment, entered 

12 into by the unit of general local government that 

13 owns the property and the eligible community orga14 nization receiving the grant, that makes the property 

15 available for use and improvement under this Act as 

16 community open space for a period of not less than 

17 7 years. 

18 SEC. 7. APPLICATION AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide for 

20 nonprofit organizations to submit applications to the Sec21 retary for grants under this Act in such form and manner 

22 as the Secretary may require to carry out the purposes 

23 of this Act. 

24 (b) DEVELOPMENT PLAN.—The Secretary shall re25 quire each application to include a detailed plan for the 


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1 use of any amounts received from a grant under this Act, 

2 which shall include— 

3 (1) a description of any eligible municipal prop4 erty that is to be established as community open 

5 space using such grant amounts; 

6 (2) evidence of the ownership of the eligible mu7 nicipal property and the binding commitment re8 quired under section 6(4) for the property; 

9 (3) a description of the nonprofit organization 

10 applying for the grant that is sufficient to allow the 

11 Secretary to determine whether such organization is 

12 a qualified community organization; 

13 (4) a description of the activities under section 

14 5(a) to be conducted with amounts from the grant; 

15 (5) evidence of any commitments to make as16 sistance (other than assistance under this Act) avail17 able for use in developing or maintaining the com18 munity open space; 

19 (6) a description of the need for community 

20 open space in the neighborhood or community in 

21 which the eligible municipal property is located; 

22 (7) a description of how the nonprofit organiza23 tion will provide for the maintenance of the commu24 nity open space; 


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1 (8) a description of the community participation 

2 involved (pursuant to section 5(c)) in establishing 

3 the plan, and the provisions made (pursuant to such 

4 section) for community participation in developing, 

5 maintaining, administering, and managing the com6 munity open space; 

7 (9) a budget specifying all of the estimated 

8 costs relating to the project to establish and main9 tain the community open space; and 

10 (10) any other information the Secretary con11 siders appropriate to carry out this Act. 

12 SEC. 8. SELECTION AND GRANT AGREEMENTS. 

13 (a) SELECTION.—From among the applications sub14 mitted under section 7, the Secretary shall select qualified 

15 community organizations to receive grants under this Act 

16 pursuant to a competitive selection process. The Secretary 

17 shall review all applications received and may select only 

18 applications containing development plans that the Sec19 retary approves as feasible and cost-effective pursuant to 

20 the competitive selection process. 

21 (b) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The competitive selection 

22 process referred to in subsection (a) shall be based upon 

23 selection criteria, which shall include— 

24 (1) the extent of community involvement in the 

25 establishment, development, maintenance, adminisVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:44 Aug 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4197.IH H4197

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1 tration, or management of the community open 

2 space; 

3 (2) the extent of need for community open 

4 space in the neighborhood or community in which 

5 the eligible municipal property is located; 

6 (3) the extent to which the development plan 

7 for the community open space limits administrative 

8 and management costs relating to the community 

9 open space; and 

10 (4) the extent to which commitments have been 

11 made providing assistance (other than assistance 

12 under this Act) for use in establishing, developing, 

13 maintaining, administering, or managing the com14 munity open space. 

15 (c) GRANT AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary shall enter 

16 into agreements with each qualified community organiza17 tion selected to receive a grant under this section as the 

18 Secretary considers necessary to ensure that amounts pro19 vided under the grant are used in accordance with the re20 quirements of this Act to carry out the development plan 

21 approved under section 7 and any amendments to such 

22 plan approved under section 9. 

23 SEC. 9. AMENDMENTS TO DEVELOPMENT PLANS. 

24 The Secretary shall provide for recipients to submit 

25 amendments to development plans to the Secretary and 


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1 for the Secretary to review, and approve or disapprove, 

2 such amendments. 

3 SEC. 10. REPORTS. 

4 (a) RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary may require each 

5 recipient to submit to the Secretary such reports as the 

6 Secretary considers appropriate to determine whether the 

7 recipient is carrying out the development plan for any 

8 community open space for which the grant was made and 

9 is complying with the provisions of this Act and any agree10 ments entered into under section 8(c). 

11 (b) SECRETARY.—The Secretary shall submit a re12 port to the Congress not less than annually describing the 

13 grants made under this Act, the recipients of the grants, 

14 and the community open space provided with such grant 

15 amounts. 

16 SEC. 11. DEFINITIONS. 

17 For purposes of this Act, the following definitions 

18 shall apply: 

19 (1) COMMUNITY OPEN SPACE.—The term 

20 ‘‘community open space’’ means a parcel of real 

21 property that is used for open space, park, play22 ground, garden, or other recreational or other simi23 lar purposes and is generally open to and available 

24 for use by the public. 


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1 (2) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The term 

2 ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means a private organiza3 tion that— 

4 (A) is organized under State or local laws; 

5 and 

6 (B) has no part of its net earnings inuring 

7 to the benefit of any member, shareholder, 

8 founder, contributor, or individual. 

9 (3) QUALIFIED COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION.— 

10 The term ‘‘qualified community organization’’ means 

11 a nonprofit organization that complies with the re12 quirements under section 4 to be eligible to receive 

13 a grant under this Act. 

14 (4) RECIPIENT.—The term ‘‘recipient’’ means a 

15 qualified community organization that receives a 

16 grant under this Act. 

17 (5) URBAN AREA.—The term ‘‘urban area’’ 

18 means— 

19 (A) a city within a standard metropolitan 

20 statistical area (as established by the Office of 

21 Management and Budget) which is the central 

22 city of such area (as defined and used by such 

23 Office); or 


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1 (B) a city within such a standard metro2 politan statistical area which has a population 

3 of 50,000 or more. 

4 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

5 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. 

6 (7) UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT.— 

7 The term ‘‘unit of general local government’’ means 

8 any city, town, township, county, parish, village, or 

9 other general purpose political subdivision of a 

10 State. 

11 (8) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the 

12 States of the United States, the District of Colum13 bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Com14 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, 

15 the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and any other 

16 territory or possession of the United States. 

17 SEC. 12. REGULATIONS. 

18 The Secretary shall issue any regulations necessary 

19 to carry out this Act. 

20 SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

21 There is authorized to be appropriated for grants 

22 under this Act $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 

23 and 2022. 

Æ 


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