§4114 Treatment of Program Income and Labor Standards

Summary

Allows a recipient to keep program income from a grant if the income comes in after the first grant payment and the recipient agreed to use it for housing activities under the program. The Secretary cannot limit a tribe’s grant or block access just because the recipient keeps program income, keeps reserve amounts under section 4140, or spends retained income on housing. The Secretary can rule that very small amounts do not count as program income if treating them that way is too burdensome. Money from a normal developer’s fee for a project that gets low-income housing tax credits under section 42 of title 26, and that started with a grant under this program, is not program income if the State housing credit agency approved the fee. Contracts for assistance, sale, or lease must require paying at least the local prevailing wages to architects, engineers, draftsmen, technicians, and maintenance workers as set by the Secretary, and must follow the wage rates for laborers and mechanics set by the Secretary of Labor under sections 3141–3144, 3146, and 3147 of title 40. The Secretary must get certification that these wages were paid before making any contract payment. These wage rules do not apply to unpaid volunteers who only get expenses, benefits, or a small fee and are not otherwise employed in the construction, and they do not apply when an Indian tribe has its own law or rule requiring at least prevailing wages.