STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY
H.R. 3700 — Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2015
(Rep. Luetkemeyer, R-MO, and 11 cosponsors)
The
Administration appreciates the bipartisan effort to modernize and
improve Federal housing programs in H.R. 3700, the Housing Opportunity
Through Modernization Act of 2015.
H.R. 3700
contains provisions that would modify several programs administered by
the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including core
rental assistance programs (Housing Choice Vouchers, Public Housing, and
Project-Based Rental Assistance), homelessness prevention and
assistance programs, and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage
insurance for condominiums. H.R. 3700 also amends the Rural Housing
Service program in the Department of Agriculture.
H.R.
3700 includes provisions that would help streamline the administration
of HUD programs, particularly with respect to income determination for
tenants and housing quality inspections for assisted rental housing.
The bill also would expand flexibility between public housing operating
and capital funds, and would provide additional flexibility to public
housing agencies to conditionally approve housing voucher units with
non-life threatening deficiencies in order to allow families immediate
access. Although the Administration has supported many of the bill's
reforms in previous Budgets, some of the provisions could potentially
increase administrative burden and have unintended consequences.
H.R.
3700 would ease restrictions on the purchase of condominiums with FHA
insurance. While generally supportive of the revisions to the
condominium project approval requirements, the Administration is
concerned with the delegation of the authority to grant exceptions to
HUD requirements to the lenders approving projects under the Direct
Endorsement Lender Review and Approval Process. The delegation does not
appear to provide HUD with sufficient ability to set standards for
exceptions and oversee their application. Furthermore, other FHA
requirements in the bill may create future difficulties for HUD in
implementing timely and consistent program changes in response to market
conditions.
The
bill also would provide the Secretary of Agriculture with the authority
to delegate some loan guarantee approval and execution functions under
the guaranteed rural housing loan program, which should streamline those
loans and speed up processing times.
The Administration looks forward to working with the Congress on continuing to improve the bill as it moves forward.
Source: The Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget
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