S 1481 IS
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1481
To amend section 811 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act to improve the program under such section for supportive housing for persons with disabilities.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 21, 2009
Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself and Mr. JOHANNS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
A BILL
To amend section 811 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act to improve the program under such section for supportive housing for persons with disabilities.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCES.
(a) Short Title- This Act may be cited as the ‘Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2009’.
(b) References- Except as otherwise expressly provided, wherever in this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment to, or repeal of, section 811 or any other provision of section 811, the reference shall be considered to be made to section 811 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013).
SEC. 2. TENANT-BASED RENTAL ASSISTANCE THROUGH CERTIFICATE FUND.
(a) Termination of Mainstream Tenant-Based Rental Assistance Program- Section 811 is amended--
‘(b) Authority To Provide Assistance- The Secretary is authorized to provide assistance to private nonprofit organizations to expand the supply of supportive housing for persons with disabilities, which shall be provided as--
‘(1) capital advances in accordance with subsection (d)(1), and
‘(2) contracts for project rental assistance in accordance with subsection (d)(2).’; and
(2) in subsection (d), by striking paragraph (4); and
(3) in subsection (l), by striking paragraph (1).
(b) Renewal Through Section 8- Section 811 is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
‘(p) Authorization of Appropriations for Section 8 Assistance-
‘(1) IN GENERAL- There is authorized to be appropriated for tenant-based rental assistance under section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) for persons with disabilities in fiscal year 2009 the amount necessary to provide a number of incremental vouchers under such section that is equal to the number of vouchers provided in fiscal year 2008 under the tenant-based rental assistance program under subsection (d)(4) of this section (as in effect before the date of the enactment of the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2009).
‘(2) REQUIREMENTS UPON TURNOVER- The Secretary shall develop and issue, to public housing agencies that receive voucher assistance made available under this subsection and to public housing agencies that received voucher assistance under section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)) for non-elderly disabled families pursuant to appropriation Acts for fiscal years 1997 through 2002 or any other subsequent appropriations for incremental vouchers for non-elderly disabled families, guidance to ensure that, to the maximum extent possible, such vouchers continue to be provided upon turnover to qualified persons with disabilities or to qualified non-elderly disabled families, respectively.’.
SEC. 3. MODERNIZED CAPITAL ADVANCE PROGRAM.
(a) Project Rental Assistance Contracts- Section 811 is amended--
(1) in subsection (d)(2)--
(A) by inserting ‘(A) INITIAL PROJECT RENTAL ASSISTANCE CONTRACT- ’ after ‘PROJECT RENTAL ASSISTANCE- ’;
(B) in the first sentence, by inserting after ‘shall’ the following: ‘comply with subsection (e)(2) and shall’;
(C) by striking ‘annual contract amount’ each place such term appears and inserting ‘amount provided under the contract for each year covered by the contract’; and
(D) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
‘(B) RENEWAL OF AND INCREASES IN CONTRACT AMOUNTS-
‘(i) EXPIRATION OF CONTRACT TERM- Upon the expiration of each contract term, subject to the availability of amounts made available in appropriation Acts, the Secretary shall adjust the annual contract amount to provide for reasonable project costs, and any increases, including adequate reserves and service coordinators, except that any contract amounts not used by a project during a contract term shall not be available for such adjustments upon renewal.
‘(ii) EMERGENCY SITUATIONS- In the event of emergency situations that are outside the control of the owner, the Secretary shall increase the annual contract amount, subject to reasonable review and limitations as the Secretary shall provide.’.
(2) in subsection (e)(2)--
(A) in the first sentence, by inserting before the period at the end the following: ‘, except that, in the case of the sponsor of a project assisted with any low-income housing tax credit pursuant to section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or with any tax-exempt housing bonds, the contract shall have an initial term of not be less than 360 months and shall provide funding for a term of 60 months’; and
(B) by striking ‘extend any expiring contract’ and insert ‘upon expiration of a contract (or any renewed contract), renew such contract’.
(b) Program Requirements- Section 811 is amended--
(1) in subsection (e)--
(A) by striking the subsection heading and inserting the following: ‘Program Requirements’;
(B) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following new paragraph:
‘(1) USE RESTRICTIONS-
‘(A) TERM- Any project for which a capital advance is provided under subsection (d)(1) shall be operated for not less than 40 years as supportive housing for persons with disabilities, in accordance with the application for the project approved by the Secretary and shall, during such period, be made available for occupancy only by very low-income persons with disabilities.
‘(B) CONVERSION- If the owner of a project requests the use of the project for the direct benefit of very low-income persons with disabilities and, pursuant to such request the Secretary determines that a project is no longer needed for use as supportive housing for persons with disabilities, the Secretary may approve the request and authorize the owner to convert the project to such use.’; and
(C) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
‘(3) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS- No assistance received under this section (or any State or local government funds used to supplement such assistance) may be used to replace other State or local funds previously used, or designated for use, to assist persons with disabilities.
‘(4) MULTIFAMILY PROJECTS-
‘(A) LIMITATION- Except as provided in subparagraph (B), of the total number of dwelling units in any multifamily housing project (including any condominium or cooperative housing project) containing any unit for which assistance is provided from a capital grant under subsection (d)(1) made after the date of the enactment of the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2009, the aggregate number that are used for persons with disabilities, including supportive housing for persons with disabilities, or to which any occupancy preference for persons with disabilities applies, may not exceed 25 percent of such total.
‘(B) EXCEPTION- Subparagraph (A) shall not apply in the case of any project that is a group home or independent living facility.’; and
(2) in subsection (l), by striking paragraph (4).
(c) Delegated Processing- Subsection (g) of section 811 (42 U.S.C. 8013(g)) is amended--
(1) by striking ‘Selection Criteria- ’ and inserting ‘Selection Criteria and Processing- (1) SELECTION CRITERIA- ’;
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), and (7) as subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), (G), and (H), respectively; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
‘(2) Delegated Processing-
‘(A) In issuing a capital advance under subsection (d)(1) for any multifamily project (but not including any project that is a group home or independent living facility) for which financing for the purposes described in the last sentence of subsection (b) is provided by a combination of the capital advance 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 provide 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 pursuant 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 delegated pursuant to subparagraph (A) may assess a reasonable 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 Secretary. The Secretary shall develop a schedule for reasonable 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 advance amounts or project rental assistance and such reductions shall be subject to appeal.’.
(d) Leveraging Other Resources- Paragraph (1) of section 811(g) (as so designated by subsection (c)(1) of this section) is amended by inserting after subparagraph (E) (as so redesignated by subsection (c)(2) of this section) the following new subparagraph:
(e) Tenant Protections and Eligibility for Occupancy- Section 811 is amended by striking subsection (i) and inserting the following new subsection:
‘(i) Admission and Occupancy-
‘(1) TENANT SELECTION-
‘(A) PROCEDURES- An owner shall adopt written tenant selection procedures that are satisfactory to the Secretary as (i) consistent with the purpose of improving housing opportunities for very low-income persons with disabilities; and (ii) reasonably related to program eligibility and an applicant’s ability to perform the obligations of the lease. Owners shall promptly notify in writing any rejected applicant of the grounds for any rejection.
‘(B) REQUIREMENT FOR OCCUPANCY- Occupancy in dwelling units provided assistance under this section shall be available only to persons with disabilities and households that include at least one person with a disability.
‘(C) AVAILABILITY- Except only as provided in subparagraph (D), occupancy in dwelling units in housing provided with assistance under this section shall be available to all persons with disabilities eligible for such occupancy without regard to the particular disability involved.
‘(D) LIMITATION ON OCCUPANCY- Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the owner of housing developed under this section may, with the approval of the Secretary, limit occupancy within the housing to persons with disabilities who can benefit from the supportive services offered in connection with the housing.
‘(2) TENANT PROTECTIONS-
‘(A) LEASE- The lease between a tenant and an owner of housing assisted under this section shall be for not less than one year, and shall contain such terms and conditions as the Secretary shall determine to be appropriate.
‘(B) TERMINATION OF TENANCY- An owner may not terminate the tenancy or refuse to renew the lease of a tenant of a rental dwelling unit assisted under this section except--
‘(i) for serious or repeated violation of the terms and conditions of the lease, for violation of applicable Federal, State, or local law, or for other good cause; and
‘(ii) by providing the tenant, not less than 30 days before such termination or refusal to renew, with written notice specifying the grounds for such action.
‘(C) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION IN SERVICES- A supportive service plan for housing assisted under this section shall permit each resident to take responsibility for choosing and acquiring their own services, to receive any supportive services made available directly or indirectly by the owner of such housing, or to not receive any supportive services.’.
(f) Development Cost Limitations- Subsection (h) of section 811 is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1)--
(A) by striking the paragraph heading and inserting ‘GROUP HOMES’;
(B) in the first sentence, by striking ‘various types and sizes’ and inserting ‘group homes’;
(C) by striking subparagraph (E); and
(D) by redesignating subparagraphs (F) and (G) as subparagraphs (E) and (F), respectively;
(2) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘established pursuant to paragraph (1)’ after ‘cost limitation’; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
‘(6) APPLICABILITY OF HOME PROGRAM COST LIMITATIONS-
‘(A) IN GENERAL- The provisions of section 212(e) of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12742(e)) and the cost limits established by the Secretary pursuant to such section with respect to the amount of funds under subtitle A of title II of such Act that may be invested on a per unit basis, shall apply to supportive housing assisted with a capital advance under subsection (d)(1) and the amount of funds under such subsection that may be invested on a per unit basis.
‘(B) WAIVERS- The Secretary shall provide for waiver of the cost limits applicable pursuant to subparagraph (A)--
‘(i) in the cases in which the cost limits established pursuant to section 212(e) of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act may be waived; and
‘(ii) to provide for--
‘(I) the cost of special design features to make the housing accessible to persons with disabilities;
‘(II) the cost of special design features necessary to make individual dwelling units meet the special needs of persons with disabilities; and
‘(III) the cost of providing the housing in a location that is accessible to public transportation and community organizations that provide supportive services to persons with disabilities.’.
(g) Repeal of Authority To Waive Size Limitations- Paragraph (1) of section 811(k) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking the second sentence; and
(2) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘(or such higher number of persons’ and all that follows through ‘subsection (h)(6))’.
(h) Minimum Allocation for Multifamily Projects- Subsection (l) of section 811, as amended by the preceding provisions of this Act, is further amended by inserting before paragraph (2) the following new paragraph:
‘(1) MINIMUM ALLOCATION FOR MULTIFAMILY PROJECTS- The Secretary shall establish a minimum percentage of the amount made available for each fiscal year for capital advances under subsection (d)(1) that shall be used for multifamily projects subject to subsection (e)(4).’.
SEC. 4. PROJECT RENTAL ASSISTANCE COMPETITIVE DEMONSTRATION PROGRAM.
Full Text of Legislation