§1437j Labor standards and community service requirement

Summary

Require contracts for loans, grants, sales, or leases under this housing program to pay the local prevailing wages to architects, engineers, draftsmen, technicians, maintenance workers, mechanics, and other laborers who work on building or running low‑income housing. The contracts must follow federal prevailing‑wage rules for laborers and mechanics and get a certification of compliance before any payment. People who truly volunteer, who are unpaid or only get expenses, reasonable benefits, or a small nominal fee, and who are not otherwise employed in the construction are not covered by those wage rules. Every adult living in public housing must either do 8 hours per month of community service in their community (not political work) or spend 8 hours per month in an economic self‑sufficiency program. People 62 years or older; people who are blind or disabled under the Social Security Act (or their primary caregivers); people already doing a work activity under the Social Security Act; people exempt from work requirements under state welfare; and people in welfare families who have not been found noncompliant are exempt. The housing agency must check compliance 30 days before a lease ends, follow due process, notify residents who are noncompliant, and may refuse to renew a lease or end tenancy unless the resident agrees to make up the missed hours during the 12‑month lease. Agencies must explain in their agency plan how they will run this rule, may allow service off‑site, may not replace paid staff or displace jobs, and may run the program themselves, with a resident group, or with qualified contractors. If a family’s welfare benefits are cut because of failure to follow welfare work rules or because of fraud, the family’s required monthly rent payment may not be lowered because of the income loss from that benefit cut; the housing agency must get written notice from the welfare agency showing the reduction before applying this rule. Cuts from the end of a lifetime welfare limit are not treated as noncompliance. These rules began on October 21, 1998. Housing leases and tenant‑based assistance agreements must include these conditions. Covered family: a family that gets welfare that requires a member to take part in a work program and that lives in public housing or gets tenant‑based assistance. Economic self‑sufficiency program: a program that helps people get jobs or skills, such as job training, work placement, education, workfare, apprenticeships, or similar activities.