Promoting Affordable Housing Near Transit Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3680 To amend title 49, United States Code, with respect to property disposition for affordable housing, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 1, 2021 Mr. SMITH of Washington introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend title 49, United States Code, with respect to property disposition for affordable housing, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Affordable 4 Housing Near Transit Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PROPERTY DISPOSITION FOR AFFORDABLE HOUS- 6 ING. 7 Section 5334(h)(1) of title 49, United States Code, 8 is amended to read as follows: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3680.IH H3680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3680 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If a recipient of assistance 1 under this chapter decides an asset acquired under 2 this chapter at least in part with that assistance is 3 no longer needed for the purpose for which such 4 asset was acquired, the Secretary may authorize the 5 recipient to transfer such asset to— 6 ‘‘(A) a local governmental authority to be 7 used for a public purpose with no further obli- 8 gation to the Government if the Secretary de- 9 cides— 10 ‘‘(i) the asset will remain in public use 11 for at least 5 years after the date the asset 12 is transferred; 13 ‘‘(ii) there is no purpose eligible for 14 assistance under this chapter for which the 15 asset should be used; 16 ‘‘(iii) the overall benefit of allowing 17 the transfer is greater than the interest of 18 the Government in liquidation and return 19 of the financial interest of the Government 20 in the asset, after considering fair market 21 value and other factors; and 22 ‘‘(iv) through an appropriate screen- 23 ing or survey process, that there is no in- 24 terest in acquiring the asset for Govern- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3680.IH H3680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3680 IH ment use if the asset is a facility or land; 1 or 2 ‘‘(B) a local governmental authority, non- 3 profit organization, or other third-party entity 4 to be used for the purpose of transit-oriented 5 development with no further obligation to the 6 Government if the Secretary decides— 7 ‘‘(i) the asset is a necessary compo- 8 nent of a proposed transit-oriented devel- 9 opment project; 10 ‘‘(ii) the transit-oriented development 11 project will increase transit ridership; 12 ‘‘(iii) at least 40 percent of the hous- 13 ing units offered in the transit-oriented de- 14 velopment, including housing units owned 15 by nongovernmental entities, are legally 16 binding affordability restricted to tenants 17 with incomes at or below 60 percent of the 18 area median income and owners with in- 19 comes at or below 60 percent the area me- 20 dian income, which shall include at least 21 20 percent of such housing units offered 22 restricted to tenants with incomes at or 23 below 30 percent of the area median in- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3680.IH H3680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3680 IH come and owners with incomes at or below 1 30 percent the area median income; 2 ‘‘(iv) the asset will remain in use as 3 described in this section for at least 30 4 years after the date the asset is trans- 5 ferred; and 6 ‘‘(v) with respect to a transfer to a 7 third-party entity— 8 ‘‘(I) a local government authority 9 or nonprofit organization is unable to 10 receive the property; 11 ‘‘(II) the overall benefit of allow- 12 ing the transfer is greater than the in- 13 terest of the Government in liquida- 14 tion and return of the financial inter- 15 est of the Government in the asset, 16 after considering fair market value 17 and other factors; and 18 ‘‘(III) the third party has dem- 19 onstrated a satisfactory history of 20 construction or operating an afford- 21 able housing development.’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:43 Jul 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3680.IH H3680 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS