§5511 Federally Assisted or Federally Constructed Housing

Summary

When a law sets a top dollar amount for a federally assisted mortgage, a per-unit cost limit, or a floor-area limit for federally built housing, and the building is fitted with solar heating or combined solar heating and cooling under the demonstration programs in sections 5503, 5504, or 5507, that limit must be raised by the extra cost or floor area the solar system adds compared with using regular heating or heating-and-cooling equipment. The Secretary or the Secretary of Defense decides how much extra that is. For federally assisted mortgages, that extra cost must be included when checking loan-to-value or loan-to-cost limits. If the law has different downpayment rates for increasing value brackets, the lowest rate applies to the added solar cost, and otherwise the solar equipment is not counted in the total value or cost. A "mortgage loan" is a loan to buy or build a home or other building. A "federally assisted mortgage loan" is one that involves federal insurance, federal regulation, federal funding or guarantees, can be bought by Fannie Mae, Ginnie Mae, or Freddie Mac, or is made by a creditor who makes or invests more than $1,000,000 a year in residential loans. "Federally constructed housing" means housing built by federal agencies (including all Defense Department housing for service members and their families) or housing built by state or local agencies with federal financial help, when it is meant for particular groups of people.