H. R. 3221—217 
insurance that the ratio of the loan proceeds to the actual cost 
of the project is less than 80 percent, subsection (a) of this section 
shall not apply. 
‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the following 
definitions shall apply:’’; and 
(5) by inserting ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—’’ after ‘‘227.’’. 
(c) OTHER PROVISIONS REGARDING TREATMENT OF MORTGAGES 
COVERING TAX CREDIT PROJECTS.—Title II of the National Housing 
Act is amended by inserting after section 227 (12 U.S.C. 1715r) 
the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 228. TREATMENT OF MORTGAGES COVERING TAX CREDIT 
PROJECTS. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘insured 
mortgage covering a tax credit project’ means a mortgage insured 
under any provision of this title that is executed in connection 
with the construction, rehabilitation, purchase, or refinancing of 
a multifamily housing project for which equity provided through 
any low-income housing tax credit pursuant to section 42 of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 42). 
‘‘(b) ACCEPTANCE OF LETTERS OF CREDIT.—In the case of an 
insured mortgage covering a tax credit project, the Secretary may 
not require the escrowing of equity provided by the sale of any 
low-income housing tax credits for the project pursuant to section 
42 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any other form of 
security, such as a letter of credit. 
‘‘(c) ASSET MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS.—In the case of an 
insured mortgage covering a tax credit project for which project 
the applicable tax credit allocating agency is causing to be per-
formed periodic inspections in compliance with the requirements 
of section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, such project 
shall be exempt from requirements imposed by the Secretary 
regarding periodic inspections of the property by the mortgagee. 
To the extent that other compliance monitoring is being performed 
with respect to such a project by such an allocating agency pursuant 
to such section 42, the Secretary shall, to the extent that the 
Secretary determines such monitoring is sufficient to ensure compli-
ance with any requirements established by the Secretary, accept 
such agency’s evidence of compliance for purposes of determining 
compliance with the Secretary’s requirements. 
‘‘(d) STREAMLINED PROCESSING PILOT PROGRAM.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a pilot 
program to demonstrate the effectiveness of streamlining the 
review process, which shall include all applications for mortgage 
insurance under any provision of this title for mortgages 
executed in connection with the construction, rehabilitation, 
purchase, or refinancing of a multifamily housing project for 
which equity provided through any low-income housing tax 
credit pursuant to section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code 
of 1986. The Secretary shall issue instructions for implementing 
the pilot program under this subsection not later than the 
expiration of the 180-day period beginning upon the date of 
the enactment of the Housing Tax Credit Coordination Act 
of 2008. 
‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—Such pilot program shall provide 
for—
H. R. 3221—218 
‘‘(A) the Secretary to appoint designated underwriters, 
who shall be responsible for reviewing such mortgage insur-
ance applications and making determinations regarding 
the eligibility of such applications for such mortgage insur-
ance in lieu of the processing functions regarding such 
applications that are otherwise performed by other 
employees of the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development; 
‘‘(B) submission of applications for such mortgage 
insurance by mortgagees who have previously been 
expressly approved by the Secretary; and 
‘‘(C) determinations regarding the eligibility of such 
applications for such mortgage insurance to be made by 
the chief underwriter pursuant to requirements prescribed 
by the Secretary, which shall include requiring submission 
of reports regarding applications of proposed mortgagees 
by third-party entities expressly approved by the chief 
underwriter.’’. 
SEC. 2835. OTHER HUD PROGRAMS. 
(a) SECTION 8 ASSISTANCE.— 
(1) PHA PROJECT-BASED ASSISTANCE.—Section 8(o)(13) of 
the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(13)) 
is amended— 
(A) in subparagraph (D)(i)— 
(i) by striking ‘‘building’’ and inserting ‘‘project’’; 
and 
(ii) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘For pur-
poses of this subparagraph, the term’’project‘‘ means 
a single building, multiple contiguous buildings, or 
multiple buildings on contiguous parcels of land.’’; 
(B) in the first sentence of subparagraph (F), by 
striking ‘‘10 years’’ and inserting ‘‘15 years’’; 
(C) in subparagraph (G)— 
(i) by inserting after the period at the end of the 
first sentence the following: ‘‘Such contract may, at 
the election of the public housing agency and the owner 
of the structure, specify that such contract shall be 
extended for renewal terms of up to 15 years each, 
if the agency makes the determination required by 
this subparagraph and the owner is in compliance 
with the terms of the contract.’’; and 
(ii) by adding at the end the following: ‘‘A public 
housing agency may agree to enter into such a contract 
at the time it enters into the initial agreement for 
a housing assistance payment contract or at any time 
thereafter that is before the expiration of the housing 
assistance payment contract.’’; 
(D) in subparagraph (H), by inserting before the period 
at the end of the first sentence the following: ‘‘, except 
that in the case of a contract unit that has been allocated 
low-income housing tax credits and for which the rent 
limitation pursuant to such section 42 is less than the 
amount that would otherwise be permitted under this 
subparagraph, the rent for such unit may, in the sole 
discretion of a public housing agency, be established at 
the higher section 8 rent, subject only to paragraph (10)(A)’’;
H. R. 3221—219 
(E) in subparagraph (I)(i), by inserting before the semi-
colon the following: ‘‘, except that the contract may provide 
that the maximum rent permitted for a dwelling unit shall 
not be less than the initial rent for the dwelling unit 
under the initial housing assistance payments contract cov-
ering the unit’’; and 
(F) by adding at the end the following new subpara-
graphs: 
‘‘(L) USE
IN
COOPERATIVE
HOUSING
AND
ELEVATOR 
BUILDINGS.—A public housing agency may enter into a 
housing assistance payments contract under this paragraph 
with respect to— 
‘‘(i) dwelling units in cooperative housing; and 
‘‘(ii) notwithstanding subsection (c), dwelling units 
in a high-rise elevator project, including such a project 
that is occupied by families with children, without 
review and approval of the contract by the Secretary. 
‘‘(M) REVIEWS.— 
‘‘(i) SUBSIDY LAYERING.—A subsidy layering review 
in accordance with section 102(d) of the Department 
of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 
1989 (42 U.S.C. 3545(d)) shall not be required for 
assistance under this paragraph in the case of a 
housing assistance payments contract for an existing 
structure, or if a subsidy layering review has been 
conducted by the applicable State or local agency. 
‘‘(ii) ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW.—A public housing 
agency shall not be required to undertake any environ-
mental review before entering into a housing assistance 
payments contract under this paragraph for an existing 
structure, except to the extent such a review is other-
wise required by law or regulation.’’. 
(2) VOUCHER
PROGRAM
RENT
REASONABLENESS.—Section 
8(o)(10) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 
1437f(o)(10)) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subparagraph; 
‘‘(F) TAX CREDIT PROJECTS.—In the case of a dwelling 
unit receiving tax credits pursuant to section 42 of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or for which assistance 
is provided under subtitle A of title II of the Cranston 
Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990, for 
which a housing assistance contract not subject to para-
graph (13) of this subsection is established, rent reasonable-
ness shall be determined as otherwise provided by this 
paragraph, except that— 
‘‘(i) comparison with rent for units in the private, 
unassisted local market shall not be required if the 
rent is equal to or less than the rent for other com-
parable units receiving such tax credits or assistance 
in the project that are not occupied by families assisted 
with tenant-based assistance under this subsection; 
and 
‘‘(ii) the rent shall not be considered reasonable 
for purposes of this paragraph if it exceeds the greater 
of— 
‘‘(I) the rents charged for other comparable 
units receiving such tax credits or assistance in
H. R. 3221—220 
the project that are not occupied by families 
assisted with tenant-based assistance under this 
subsection; and 
‘‘(II) the payment standard established by the 
public housing agency for a unit of the size 
involved.’’. 
(b) SECTION 202 HOUSING FOR ELDERLY PERSONS.—Subsection 
(f) of section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q(f)) 
is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘SELECTION CRITERIA.—’’ and inserting ‘‘INI-
TIAL SELECTION CRITERIA AND PROCESSING.— (1) SELECTION 
CRITERIA.—’’; 
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (7) as subpara-
graphs (A) through (G), respectively; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(2) DELEGATED PROCESSING.— 
‘‘(A) In issuing a capital advance under this subsection 
for any project for which financing for the purposes 
described in the last two sentences of subsection (b) is 
provided by a combination of a capital advance under sub-
section (c)(1) and sources other than this section, within 
30 days of award of the capital advance, the Secretary 
shall delegate review and processing of such projects to 
a State or local housing agency that— 
‘‘(i) is in geographic proximity to the property; 
‘‘(ii) has demonstrated experience in and capacity 
for underwriting multifamily housing loans that pro-
vide housing and supportive services; 
‘‘(iii) may or may not be providing low-income 
housing tax credits in combination with the capital 
advance under this section, and 
‘‘(iv) agrees to issue a firm commitment within 
12 months of delegation. 
‘‘(B) The Secretary shall retain the authority to process 
capital advances in cases in which no State or local housing 
agency has applied to provide delegated processing pursu-
ant to this paragraph or no such agency has entered into 
an agreement with the Secretary to serve as a delegated 
processing agency. 
‘‘(C) An agency to which review and processing is dele-
gated pursuant to subparagraph (A) may assess a reason-
able fee which shall be included in the capital advance 
amounts and may recommend project rental assistance 
amounts in excess of those initially awarded by the Sec-
retary. The Secretary shall develop a schedule for reason-
able fees under this subparagraph to be paid to delegated 
processing agencies, which shall take into consideration 
any other fees to be paid to the agency for other funding 
provided to the project by the agency, including bonds, 
tax credits, and other gap funding. 
‘‘(D) Under such delegated system, the Secretary shall 
retain the authority to approve rents and development 
costs and to execute a capital advance within 60 days 
of receipt of the commitment from the State or local agency. 
The Secretary shall provide to such agency and the project 
sponsor, in writing, the reasons for any reduction in capital