IIB 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3873 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
JANUARY 24, 2008 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and 
Urban Affairs 
AN ACT 
To expedite the transfer of ownership of rural multifamily 
housing projects with loans made or insured under sec-
tion 515 of the Housing Act of 1949 so that such 
projects are rehabilitated and preserved for use for af-
fordable housing. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Section 515 Rural 
Housing Property Transfer Improvement Act of 2007’’. 
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds that— 
(1) providing rural housing for poor families in 
the United States has been an important goal, and 
the primary reason for enactment, of the Housing 
Act of 1949; 
(2) rural multifamily housing financed under 
the section 515 of the Housing Act of 1949 has been 
an essential resource for providing affordable hous-
ing for some of the Nation’s poorest families; 
(3) the majority of the approximately 16,000 
projects financed under section 515 that currently 
have loans outstanding were constructed more than 
25 years ago and need new financing in order to 
continue to provide decent, affordable housing for 
families eligible to reside in such housing; 
(4) many owners of such projects are working 
to transfer the properties, which often involves 
leveraging Federal resources with private and com-
mercial resources; and 
(5) the Secretary of Agriculture should protect 
the portfolio of section 515 projects by making ad-
ministrative and procedural changes to process own-
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ership transfers in a commercially reasonable time 
and manner when such transfers will further the 
preservation of such projects for use as affordable 
housing for families eligible to reside in such hous-
ing. 
SEC. 3. TRANSFERS OF SECTION 515 RURAL MULTIFAMILY 
HOUSING PROJECTS. 
Section 515(h) of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 
U.S.C. 1485) is amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘(1) CONDITION.—’’ after 
‘‘(h)’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraphs: 
‘‘(2) TRANSFERS FOR PRESERVATION AND REHA-
BILITATION OF PROJECTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall make 
such administrative and procedural changes as may 
be necessary to expedite the approval of applications 
to transfer ownership of projects for which a loan is 
made or insured under this section for the preserva-
tion, continued use restriction, and rehabilitation of 
such projects. Such changes may include changing 
approval procedures, increasing staff and resources, 
improving outreach to project sponsors regarding in-
formation that is required to be submitted for such 
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approvals, changing approval authority between na-
tional offices and the State and local offices, simpli-
fying approval requirements, establishing uniformity 
of transfer requirements among State offices, and 
any other actions which would expedite approvals. 
‘‘(B) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary of Agri-
culture shall consult with the Commissioner of the 
Internal Revenue Service and the Secretary of Hous-
ing and Urban Development, and take such actions 
as are appropriate in conjunction with such con-
sultation, to simplify the coordination of rules, regu-
lations, forms (including applications for transfers of 
project ownership), and approval requirements for 
housing projects for which assistance is provided by 
the Secretary of Agriculture and under any low-in-
come housing tax credits under section 42 of the In-
ternal Revenue Code of 1986 or tax-exempt housing 
bonds. The Secretary of Agriculture shall involve the 
State Rural Development offices of Department of 
Agriculture and the Administrator of the Rural 
Housing Service in the consultations under this sub-
paragraph as the Secretary considers appropriate. 
‘‘(C) PRESERVATION AND REHABILITATION.— 
The Secretary shall actively facilitate transfers of 
the ownership of projects that will result in the pres-
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SEC. 4. REPORT. 
Not later than July 1, 2008, the Secretary of Agri-
culture shall submit a report to the Committee on Finan-
cial Services of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of 
the Senate that— 
(1) identifies the actions that the Secretary has 
taken to coordinate with other Federal agencies, in-
cluding the Department of Housing and Urban De-
velopment and the Internal Revenue Service, and, in 
particular, with the program for rental assistance 
under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 
1937, the multifamily mortgage insurance programs 
under title II of the National Housing Act, the pro-
gram under section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code 
of 1986 for low-income housing tax credits, and the 
program for tax-exempt bonds under section 142 of 
such Code; 
(2) identifies and describes any resulting im-
provements within Rural Housing Service of the De-
partment of Agriculture in expediting the transfer of 
ownership of projects with loans made or insured 
under section 515 of the Housing Act of 1949; and 
(3) makes recommendations for any legislative 
changes that are needed for the prompt processing 
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of applications for such ownership transfers and for 
the transfer of such projects. 
Passed the House of Representatives January 23, 
2008. 
Attest: 
LORRAINE C. MILLER, 
Clerk. 
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