Saving America's Rural Housing Act of 2006

Bill: 109-hr-5039
Sponsor: Rep. Davis, Geoff [R-KY-4]
Introduced: 2006-03-29 in the House
Policy area: Housing and Community Development
Subjects: Administrative fees
Affordable housing
Apartment houses
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Commerce
Condominium (Housing)
Cooperative housing
Cost accounting
Data banks
Economics and Public Finance
Federal aid to housing
Federally-guaranteed loans
Finance and Financial Sector
Financial planning
Government Operations and Politics
Government lending
Government paperwork
Home ownership
Housing discrimination
Housing finance
Housing subsidies
Income tax
Interest
Landlord and tenant
Law
Leases
Low-income housing
Mortgage guaranty insurance
Mortgages
Rent
Rental housing
Residential rehabilitation
Rural housing
Science, Technology, Communications
Tax credits
Taxation

Summary:
action_date: 2006-03-29
text: 
Saving America's Rural Housing Act of 2006 - Amends the Housing Act of 1949 to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to implement a revitalization program to provide financial incentives and other assistance to owners of eligible projects through voluntary long-term use agreements entered into between the project owners and the Secretary.
 
Prescribes implementation guidelines, including requirements for a long-term viability plan, a financial restructuring plan, and revitalization incentives.
 
Revises the authority of the Secretary to make loans to private nonprofit corporations, consumer cooperatives, and Indian tribes to provide rental or cooperative housing and related facilities for elderly or handicapped persons, families of low or moderate income, or other persons and families of low income in rural areas (Section 515 financing).
 
Authorizes the Secretary, when entering into contracts involving Section 515 financing for new construction, to grant priority to projects in areas with a need for affordable low-income rental housing due to prepayment of Section 515 loans or insured loans.
 
Repeals certain restrictions on the prepayment of Section 515 loans or insured loans; but specifies new conditions on prepayment of such loans.
 
Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop a plan to administer requests to prepay Section 515 multifamily housing loans; and (2) make voucher assistance available to each low-income family who on the date of prepayment is residing in a dwelling unit if the owner prepays certain multifamily housing loans made under the Act.
 
Prescribes uses for such vouchers, including rental assistance, right to use an available rental dwelling unit, and homeownership.
 
Sets forth prepayment standards for pre-1989 loans.
 
Instructs the Secretary to establish and maintain a database of potential buyers of projects with specified loans. Restricts such database to persons who have expressed an interest in purchasing the projects at fair market value and maintaining them as affordable housing.

action_date: 2006-07-27
text: 
Saving America's Rural Housing Act of 2006 - (Sec. 3) Amends the Housing Act of 1949 with respect to multifamily rural housing and related facilities for elderly persons and families or other persons and families of low income, especially projects for which loans were made or insured by the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development under section 515 of such Act (section 515 loans).
 
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to implement a revitalization program to provide financial incentives and other assistance to owners of eligible rural multifamily housing projects through voluntary long-term use agreements between the project owners and the Secretary.
 
Prescribes implementation guidelines, including: (1) discretionary long-term viability plans for each project; (2) a financial restructuring plan for each project, based on its long-term viability plan, which may involve one or more specified revitalization incentives; (3) long-term use agreements to continue certain property use restrictions for the later of 20 years or the remaining term of any loans; (4) shared value agreements determining how proceeds are divided at the end of a loan term; and (5) rents under the long-term use agreement. Authorizes appropriations for the revitalization program.
 
Allows a project owner to propose a sale to a tenant-based condominium or cooperative.
 
Repeals the application of certain prepayment restrictions to multifamily rural housing loans, including authority for related equity loans to owners under an agreement to extend the low income use of a project as a condition for prepayment of the original loan.
 
Instructs the Secretary to develop a plan to administer: (1) prepayment requests for certain multifamily housing loans not made in connection with a revitalization project under this Act; and (2) tenant protection voucher assistance to tenants of projects whose loans are prepaid. 
 

 

 
Authorizes voucher assistance for: (1) communities with insufficient affordable housing alternatives; and (2) an elderly or disabled tenant who is eligible for a voucher and has a need to move to another community to be near immediate family or necessary medical services.
 
Authorizes tenant use of such tenant protection vouchers to make payments towards the purchase of a single-family home anywhere in the United States, subject to certain subsidy limits and other specified limitations.
 
Authorizes appropriations for annually renewable tenant protection vouchers for FY2007-FY2011.
 
Sets forth prepayment standards for section 515 loans made or insured before December 15, 1989. Prohibits approval of any offer to prepay such a loan during the 20-year period during which the project is subject to use restrictions under the loan.
 
Prohibits a project owner from selling a property, during a specified period after notifying tenants and the Secretary of intent to sell the property for which a loan was made, except to a purchaser who enters binding agreements for purchase at market rates necessary to continue the property use restrictions for 20 years.
 
Instructs the Secretary to establish and maintain a database of potential buyers of projects with section 515 loans who have expressed an interest in purchasing the projects at fair market value and maintaining them as affordable housing.
 
Requires the Secretary, upon receiving notice regarding prepayment of a project loan, to make publicly available electronically a notice containing information sufficient to notify persons with an interest in purchasing the project.
 



Legislative actions:
action_date: 2006-07-27
text: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 348.
action_date: 2006-07-27
text: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Financial Services. H. Rept. 109-604.
action_date: 2006-07-27
text: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Financial Services. H. Rept. 109-604.
action_date: 2006-06-14
text: Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.
action_date: 2006-06-14
text: Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
action_date: 2006-05-23
text: Forwarded by Subcommittee to Full Committee (Amended) .
action_date: 2006-05-23
text: Subcommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
action_date: 2006-04-25
text: Subcommittee Hearings Held.
action_date: 2006-04-21
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity.
action_date: 2006-03-29
text: Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
action_date: 2006-03-29
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2006-03-29
text: Introduced in House