42 U.S.C. § 1490b: Housing for rural trainees

Summary

The Secretary can give money and technical help to set up housing in rural places for trainees and their families. State or local governments and nonprofit groups can apply. The Secretary must talk with other federal agencies first and must find that no other reasonable way exists to provide the housing. Site choices must consider the area's economic chance to succeed and follow labor surveys and coordination with related agencies. The housing must be safe, clean, low-cost, and simply designed, and may include mobile family units. Applicants must provide the land or money to buy it. Recipients must keep units safe and sanitary under state, local, or Secretary rules, give priority to eligible rural trainees and their families, and charge rents the Secretary approves based on what families can afford. The Secretary can make advances that for land must be repaid with interest within up to 33 years; other advances may be repayable or not, depending on income and costs. Advances can only cover building capital costs plus interest on borrowings. If the housing is sold to someone ineligible or used for other purposes during the contract period, advances must be repaid up to the sale price or Secretary-determined fair value, with interest. The Secretary sets interest rules, at least a rate based on Treasury yields adjusted to the nearest one-eighth of 1 percent and reduced by up to 1 percent as allowed. The Secretary must make rules to prevent waste. "Related facilities" means things like community rooms, infirmaries, utilities, roads, water and sewer, and needed equipment. Money as needed may be appropriated to carry out the program.

Title 42, §1490b

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Authorization; financial and technical assistance; selection of training sites and location of housing

Upon the application of any State or political subdivision thereof, or any public or private nonprofit organization, the Secretary is authorized, after consultation with the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, and after the Secretary determines that the housing and related facilities cannot reasonably be provided in any other way, to provide financial and technical assistance for the establishment, in rural areas, of housing and related facilities for trainees and their families who are residents of a rural area and have a rural background, while such trainees are enrolled and participating in training courses designed to improve their employment capability. The selection of training sites and location of housing shall be made with due regard to the economic viability of the area, and only after consideration of a labor area survey and full coordination among all Government agencies having primary responsibility for administering related programs.

(b)Quality of housing and related facilities; design and location

Housing and related facilities assisted under this section shall be safe and sanitary, constructed in the most economical manner, and of modest design, giving due consideration to the purposes to be served and the needs of the occupants, and may, in the discretion of the Secretary, include mobile family quarters. Design and location shall be such as to facilitate, as feasible, the use of such housing and related facilities for other purposes when no longer needed for the primary purpose.

(c)Contribution of land by applicant

The applicant shall contribute the necessary land, or funds to acquire such land, from its own resources, including land acquired by donation or from funds repayable under subsection (e) or borrowed from other sources.

(d)Conditions precedent to grant of financial assistance

No financial assistance shall be made available under this section unless, to the extent and for the periods required by the Secretary, the applicant agrees that—

(1)such housing will be maintained at all times in a safe and sanitary condition in accordance with standards prescribed by State or local law, or, in the absence of such standards, with requirements prescribed by the Secretary;

(2)priority shall be given at all times, in granting occupancy of such housing and facilities, to the trainees and their families described in subsection (a); and

(3)rentals charged them shall not exceed amounts approved by the Secretary after considering the portion of the actual total family income which the family can afford to pay for rent while meeting its other immediate needs during occupancy.

(e)Advances; repayment; limitation on amount

The Secretary may make advances pursuant to any contract for financial assistance under this section at such times and in such manner as may be specified in the contract. Such advances for the purchase of land shall be repayable with interest and within a period not to exceed thirty-three years and may be made upon such security, if any, as the Secretary requires. Advances for other purposes may be made repayable with or without interest or nonrepayable, as determined by the Secretary on the basis of the anticipated income, and cost of operation of the housing and related facilities and the ability of each applicant to finance such facilities. Any advances shall be limited to cover the capital costs of constructing such facilities, plus interest on borrowings to cover such costs.

(f)Sale of housing and related facilities to ineligible transferee or diversion to use other than primary purpose; repayment of advances; return of property to original condition

Should housing and related facilities assisted pursuant to a contract under this section be sold to an ineligible transferee or diverted to a use other than its primary purpose within a period specified in the contract, all advances made under such contract shall be repaid to the Secretary, up to the amount of the sales price or the fair value of the property as determined by the Secretary, whichever is higher, with interest from the date of the sale or diversion. If no suitable alternate use of the property is available, as determined by the Secretary, after the purpose of this section can no longer be served, the property shall be returned to its original condition by the recipient of the assistance.

(g)Interest on advances

Interest charged on advances made under this section shall be at a rate, prescribed by the Secretary, which shall be not less than a rate determined by the Secretary of the Treasury taking into consideration the current average market yield on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States with remaining periods to maturity comparable to the average maturities of such loans, adjusted to the nearest one-eighth of 1 per centum, less not to exceed the difference between the adjusted rate determined by the Secretary of the Treasury and 1 per centum per annum, as determined by the Secretary.

(h)Regulations

The Secretary shall prescribe regulations to insure that Federal funds expended under this section are not wasted or dissipated.

(i)“Related facilities” and “trainee” defined

As used in this section (1) the term “related facilities” shall include any necessary community rooms or buildings, infirmaries, utilities, access roads, water and sewer services, and the minimum fixed or movable equipment determined by the Secretary to be necessary to make the housing reasonably habitable by trainees and their families; and (2) the term “trainee” means any person receiving training under any federally assisted training program.

(j)Authorization of appropriations

There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1988—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100–242 substituted “Secretary of Health and Human Services” for “Secretary of Health, and Human Services”. 1984—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–479 substituted “Health, and Human Services” for “Health, Education, and Welfare”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Office of Economic Opportunity Pub. L. 93–644, § 9(a), Jan. 4, 1975, 88 Stat. 2310 [42 U.S.C. 2941], amended the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 [42 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.] to create the Community Services Administration, an independent agency in the executive branch, as the successor authority to the Office of Economic Opportunity, and provided that references to the Office of Economic Opportunity or to its Director were deemed to refer to the Community Services Administration or to its Director. The Community Services Administration was terminated when the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, except for titles VIII and X, was repealed, effective Oct. 1, 1981, by section 683(a) of Pub. L. 97–35, title VI, Aug. 13, 1981, 95 Stat. 519 (42 U.S.C. 9912(a)). An Office of Community Services, headed by a Director, was established in the Department of Health and Human Services by section 676 of Pub. L. 97–35 (42 U.S.C. 9905).

§1490b Housing for Rural Trainees