‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of the monthly
assistance payment under this section with respect
to any dwelling unit shall be the difference between
the maximum monthly rent that the contract pro-
vides that the owner is to receive for the unit and
the rent the family is required to pay under section
3(a).
‘‘(2) INCREASES IN ASSISTANCE PAYMENTS.—
The Secretary shall take any action necessary, in-
cluding making contracts for assistance payments in
amounts exceeding the amounts required upon the
initial renting of dwelling units, reserving annual
contributions authority for the purpose of amending
assistance contracts, or allocating a portion of new
authorizations for the purpose of amending assist-
ance contracts, to ensure that assistance payments
are increased on a timely basis to cover increases in
maximum monthly rents or decreases in family in-
comes.
‘‘(3) REVIEWS OF FAMILY INCOMES.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Reviews of family in-
comes for purposes of this section shall be made
annually and shall be subject to the provisions
of section 904(e) of the Stewart B. McKinney
Homeless Assistance Amendments Act of 1988.
Any other reviews of family incomes under this
paragraph may be used only for the purpose of
ensuring that a family does not pay as rent for
a dwelling unit assisted under this section more
than the amount required under section 3(a).
‘‘(B) PROCEDURES.—The Secretary shall
establish procedures that are appropriate and
necessary to ensure that income data provided
to public housing agencies and owners by fami-
lies applying for or receiving assistance under
this section is complete and accurate. In estab-
lishing such procedures, the Secretary shall an-
nually select a random sample of families to au-
thorize the Secretary to obtain information on
the families for the purpose of income verifica-
tion, or to allow the families to provide such in-
formation themselves. Such information may in-
clude data concerning unemployment compensa-
tion and Federal income taxation and data re-
lating to benefits made available under the So-
cial Security Act, the Food Stamp Act of 1977,
or title 38, United States Code.
‘‘(C) CONFIDENTIALITY.—Any income in-
formation received pursuant to this paragraph
shall remain confidential and shall be used only
for the purpose of verifying incomes in order to
determine eligibility of families for benefits (and
the amount of such benefits, if any) under this
section.
‘‘(g) ELIGIBILITY
OF UNITS
FOR ASSISTANCE.—
Each assistance contract shall provide that assistance pay-
ments may be made only with respect to the following
dwelling units:
‘‘(1) OCCUPIED UNITS.—A dwelling unit under
lease for occupancy by a family determined to be a
low-income family at the time it initially occupies the
dwelling unit or by a family that qualifies to receive
assistance under this section pursuant to section 223
or 226 of the Low-Income Housing Preservation and
Resident Homeownership Act of 1990.
‘‘(2) 
UNOCCUPIED
UNITS.—An 
unoccupied
dwelling unit, but only if—
‘‘(A)(i) a family vacates the dwelling unit
before the expiration date of the lease for occu-
pancy, or (ii) a good faith effort is being made
to fill the unoccupied unit; and
‘‘(B) the costs of such vacancy are not
charged to or paid by the family vacating the
dwelling unit.
Payments for units referred to in this paragraph
may be made only for a period not exceeding 60
days, except that such payments may be made, in
the case of a newly constructed or substantially re-
habilitated project, after the expiration of such 60-
day period in an amount equal to the debt service
attributable to such an unoccupied dwelling unit for
a period not to exceed one year, if a good faith effort
is being made to fill the unit and the unit provides
decent, safe, and sanitary housing. No such payment
may be made after the expiration of such 60-day pe-
riod if the Secretary determines that the dwelling
unit is in a project which provides the owner with
revenues exceeding the costs incurred by such owner
with respect to such project.
‘‘(h) OTHER
PROVISIONS
OF
ASSISTANCE
CON-
TRACTS.—Contracts to make assistance payments entered
into by any public housing agency (or by the Secretary)
with an owner of existing housing units shall meet the
following requirements:
‘‘(1) CONTRACT TERM.—Each assistance con-
tract shall have a term of not less than one month
nor more than 180 months. The Secretary shall per-
mit public housing agencies to enter into assistance
contracts having terms of less than 12 months to the
extent necessary to avoid disruption in assistance to
eligible families if the annual contributions contract
for the agency under subsection (b) will expire with-
in 1 year.
‘‘(2) PREFERENCES.—Each assistance contract
shall provide that, in making assistance available
pursuant to the contract—
‘‘(A) for not less than 70 percent of the
families who initially receive project-based as-
sistance, and
‘‘(B) for not less than 90 percent of the
families who initially receive tenant-based as-
sistance in any 1-year period,
preference shall be given to families that (i) occupy
substandard housing (including families that are
homeless or living in a shelter for homeless families),
(ii) are paying more than 50 percent of family in-
come for rent, (iii) are involuntarily displaced (in-
cluding displacement because of disposition of a mul-
tifamily housing project under section 203 of the
Housing and Community Development Amendments
of 1978) at the time they are seeking assistance
under this section, or (iv) are residing in public
housing.
‘‘(3) SECONDARY PREFERENCES.—Each assist-
ance contract shall provide that, for any assistance
remaining in any 1-year period after assistance is
made available pursuant to paragraph (2), pref-
erence for such assistance shall be given to families
who qualify under a system of local preferences es-
tablished by the public housing agency in writing
and after public hearing to respond to local housing
needs and priorities, which may include—
‘‘(A) assisting very low-income families
who either reside in transitional housing as-
sisted under title IV of the Stewart B. McKin-
ney Homeless Assistance Act or participate in
a program designed to provide public assistance
recipients with greater access to employment
and educational opportunities;
‘‘(B) assisting families in accordance with
subsection (q)(1)(B);
‘‘(C) assisting families identified by local
public agencies involved in providing for the
welfare of children as having a lack of adequate
housing that is a primary factor in the immi-
nent placement of a child in foster care, or in
preventing the discharge of a child from foster
care and reunification with his or her family;