I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1191

To amend title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974

to ensure that communities receiving community development block

grants use such funds to benefit low- and moderate-income families.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 22, 2001

Mrs. MEEK of Florida (for herself, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN,

Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. WATERS, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. GREEN of Texas,

Mr. STARK, Ms. NORTON, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. WYNN, Mr.

CLYBURN, Mr. NADLER, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mr.

OWENS, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mr. BARRETT, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr.

CUMMINGS, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Ms.

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. FROST, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr.

CLAY, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mrs. CLAYTON,

Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. SERRANO, Mrs. THURMAN, Ms. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. PAYNE, Mr.

RUSH, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH, Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. DEUTSCH, and Mr. MALONEY of Connecticut) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services

A BILL

To amend title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to ensure that communities receiving

community development block grants use such funds to

benefit low- and moderate-income families.
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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 ‘‘Community Develop5 ment Block Grant Renewal Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. LOW- AND MODERATE-INCOME TARGETING RE7 QUIREMENT.

8 (a) TARGETING ASSISTANCE TO LOW-INCOME FAMI9 LIES.—

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 101(c) of the Hous11 ing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42

12 U.S.C. 5301(c)) is amended—

13 (A) by striking ‘‘not less than 70 percent’’;

14 (B) by inserting ‘‘80 percent’’ after ‘‘sec15 tion 108,’’; and

16 (C) by striking ‘‘and the Federal assist17 ance’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘and not less

18 than 40 percent of such aggregate assistance

19 and funds shall be used for the support of ac20 tivities that directly benefit persons of low in21 come. The Federal assistance’’.

22 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The Housing

23 and Community Development Act of 1974 is

24 amended—

25 (A) in section 104 (42 U.S.C. 5304)—
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1 (i) in subsection (a)(2)(A), by insert2 ing ‘‘and persons of low income’’ after

3 ‘‘moderate income’’;

4 (ii) in subsection (b)(3)—

5 (I) in clause (A), by striking ‘‘70

6 percent of such funds are used for ac7 tivities that benefit such persons dur8 ing such period’’ and inserting ‘‘80

9 percent of such funds are used for

10 support of activities that benefit per11 sons of low and moderate income dur12 ing such period, and 40 percent of

13 such funds are used for support of ac14 tivities that benefit persons of low in15 come during such period’’; and

16 (II) in clause (B), by inserting

17 ‘‘or persons of low income’’ after

18 ‘‘moderate income’’; and

19 (iii) in the third sentence of sub20 section (e), by inserting ‘‘and persons of

21 low income’’ before the period at the end;

22 and

23 (B) in section 106(d)(2)(D) (42 U.S.C.

24 5306(d)(2)(D)), by inserting ‘‘and the needs of

25 persons of low income’’ before the last comma.
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1 (b) TREATMENT OF DOWNTOWN AREAS.—Section

2 105(c)(2)(A) of the Housing and Community Develop3 ment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(c)(2)(A)), as amended

4 by the preceding provisions of this Act, is further amended

5 by adding at the end the following new clause:

6 ‘‘(iv) Notwithstanding any other provision of this sub7 paragraph, an activity that is designed to serve an area

8 generally shall not be considered to principally benefit per9 sons of low or moderate income, or to principally benefit

10 persons of low income, if such activity serves an area that

11 is not primarily residential in character.’’.

12 (c) ENSURING DIRECT BENEFIT.—Section 105(c) of

13 the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974

14 (42 U.S.C. 5305(c)) is amended by adding at the end the

15 following new paragraph:

16 ‘‘(5) In determining whether an assisted activity ben17 efits persons of low and moderate income or persons of

18 low income, for purposes of compliance with the require19 ments of section 101(c) and certification of such compli20 ance in accordance with section 104(b)(3), the grantee

21 shall consider the full range of direct effects of the assisted

22 activity.’’.
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1 SEC. 3. PROPORTIONAL TREATMENT OF BENEFIT FOR

2 LOW- AND MODERATE-INCOME FAMILIES.

3 (a) DEVELOPMENT AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

4 ACTIVITIES.—Section 105(c)(1) of the Housing and Com5 munity Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(c)(1))

6 is amended—

7 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A),

8 by inserting ‘‘or persons of low income’’ before the

9 comma;

10 (2) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘or of low

11 income, as applicable,’’ after ‘‘moderate income’’;

12 and

13 (3) in subparagraphs (B) and (C), by inserting

14 ‘‘or of low income, as applicable’’ after ‘‘moderate

15 income’’ each place such term appears.

16 (b) AREA BENEFIT ACTIVITIES.—Section

17 105(c)(2)(A) of the Housing and Community Develop18 ment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(c)(2)(A)) is

19 amended—

20 (1) by redesignating clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) as

21 subclauses (I), (II), and (III), respectively;

22 (2) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ after ‘‘(2)(A)’’;

23 (3) by inserting ‘‘(but only to the extent pro24 vided in clause (ii)) only’’ after ‘‘principally benefit

25 persons of low and moderate income’’; and
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1 (4) by adding at the end the following new

2 clause:

3 ‘‘(ii) In the case of any assisted activity that is de4 signed to serve an area generally and that, pursuant to

5 clause (i), is considered to principally benefit persons of

6 low and moderate income or persons of low income,

7 amounts provided under this title and used for such activ8 ity shall be considered, for purposes of compliance with

9 the requirements of section 101(c), to support an activity

10 that benefits low and moderate income persons or persons

11 of low income, as applicable, in the same proportion as

12 the proportion of the population of such area that is com13 prised of persons of low and moderate income or persons

14 of low income, as applicable.’’.

15 (c) HOUSING ACTIVITIES.—Section 105(c)(3) of the

16 Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42

17 U.S.C. 5305(c)(3)) is amended—

18 (1) by striking ‘‘or rehabilitation’’ and inserting

19 ‘‘, rehabilitation, or new construction’’; and

20 (2) by striking ‘‘only to the extent’’ and all that

21 follows and inserting the following: ‘‘or persons of

22 low income, as applicable, for purposes of compliance

23 with the requirements of section 101(c), in the

24 amount determined by multiplying (A) the amount

25 of funds provided under this title that are used for
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1 such activity, by (B) the percentage of the units in

2 such housing that, upon completion, will be occupied

3 by such persons.’’.

4 (d) JOB CREATION ACTIVITIES.—Section 105(c) of

5 the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974

6 (42 U.S.C. 5305(c)) is amended by striking paragraph (4)

7 and inserting the following new paragraph:

8 ‘‘(4) Any assisted activity described in paragraph

9 (14) or (17) of subsection (a) that is identified as prin10 cipally benefiting persons of low or moderate income or

11 persons of low income, by reason of compliance with para12 graph (1)(C) of this subsection, shall be considered to ben13 efit such persons, for purposes of compliance with the re14 quirements of section 101(c), in the amount determined

15 by multiplying (A) the amount of funds provided under

16 this title that are used for such activity, by (B) the per17 centage of employees involved in the activity that are per18 sons of low and moderate income or persons of low income,

19 as applicable.’’.

20 SEC. 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION.

21 Section 104(a) of the Housing and Community De22 velopment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5304(a)) is amended

23 by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

24 ‘‘(4) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘public

25 hearing’ means a hearing that is subject to, and held in
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1 accordance with, any State and local laws regarding re2 quirements for public hearings of the jurisdiction that is

3 the grantee.’’.

4 SEC. 5. PUBLIC MONITORING.

5 Section 105(a) of the Housing and Community De6 velopment Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5305(a)) is amended—

7 (1) in paragraph (22), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the

8 end;

9 (2) in paragraph (23), by striking the period at

10 the end and inserting a semicolon; and

11 (3) by inserting after paragraph (23) the fol12 lowing new paragraph:

13 ‘‘(24) provision of assistance to nonprofit orga14 nizations representing low- and moderate-income

15 persons for—

16 ‘‘(A) monitoring the use, by recipients, of

17 funds provided under this title; or

18 ‘‘(B) promoting or providing for public

19 participation required under paragraphs (1)

20 through (3) of section 104(a);

21 except that assistance under this paragraph shall

22 not be considered a planning activity under para23 graph (12) of this subsection, an administrative cost

24 under paragraph (13), or a public service under

25 paragraph (8); and’’.
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1 SEC. 6. APPLICABILITY.

2 The amendments made by this Act shall apply with

3 respect to fiscal year 2002 and all fiscal years thereafter

4 and to amounts appropriated for such fiscal years for com5 munity development block grants under title I of the

6 Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42

7 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.) .

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