§1585 Acquisition of housing sites

Summary

The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development may keep, lease, buy, or condemn land the federal government got for national defense, war housing, or veterans’ housing when needed to protect the government’s investment, keep buildings in good shape, or when fixing the land would cost as much as buying it. In cities that had more than 10,000 temporary housing units on March 1, 1953 (or two neighboring cities where one had that many), the Secretary may buy full ownership of lands where the government only held a lease if doing so will help remove temporary housing and make room for permanent, planned neighborhoods. The city’s government must ask for the purchase, agree with the finding, and promise that city officials will not profit from buying or redeveloping the land. Such purchases are limited to no more than 425 acres in the area where about 1,500 temporary units were empty on that date. The Secretary can sell the land within five years to the city or a local public agency if the buyer will develop it mainly for housing and will pay fair market value as the Secretary decides. The buyer must pay at least one-third of the price in cash when conveyed and must pay the rest within one year. Any unpaid balance will bear 4 percent interest and be secured by a first mortgage. If the land is not sold within five years, the Secretary must sell it as soon as reasonably possible under other law. No payments in lieu of taxes may be made for any tax year that begins after the Secretary acquires title. If the Secretary holds an interest in land on or after April 1, 1950, under a lease term tied to the “duration of the emergency” or “duration of the war” (or similar), and the rent or other payment gives the landowner less than a yearly return equal to 6 percent of the lowest value set by a government-hired appraiser, plus 100 percent of that value, then the Secretary must, if the owner asks, raise future payments so the owner receives up to that 6 percent return. That change does not undo payments already made or accepted, nor does it increase payments beyond the government’s current term of use. Money placed in the reserve account mentioned in law section 1543 is continued and may be used for the kinds of transfers, reviews, tenure changes, and housing transfers described in law, for necessary nonadministrative expenses tied to those actions, and to make certain required improvements to small permanent houses (designed for no more than four families) that will be sold separately when a local government asks or local law requires it.