Emergency Low Income Housing Preservation Act
The U.S. Congress enacted the Emergency Low Income Housing Preservation Act in 1987 as part of the Housing and Community Development Act. The former act, which fell under Title II of its legislative umbrella, pertains to keeping low-income families in their homes, among other provisions. Many of the provisions required the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to negotiate with owners of low-income housing projects to keep them from selling off their properties and leaving people without affordable homes.
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Basic Provisions
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The Emergency Low Income Housing Preservation Act, under Subtitle A, has three primary provisions: maintain low-income, privately owned housing; minimize the number of families who lose their homes; and sustain private and government partnerships to build low-income housing.
The act also repealed two elements: requirements relating to prepaid mortgages the National Housing Act insured and certain other measures related to preserving low-income homes.
Prepaid Mortgages
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Subtitle B of the Emergency Low Income Housing Preservation Act allows low-income homeowners to prepay their mortgages as long as the secretary of housing approves it. The secretary, under this part of the act, also received the right to give incentives for preserving low-income housing. The act sets incentives related to finances as well as use and standards for the housing, such as rent.
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Rural Rentals
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The Emergency Low Income Housing Preservation Act sets provisions for keeping people in homes in rural areas, under Subtitle C. The act amended the Housing Act of 1949 to require the secretary of housing to negotiate with rural, low-income housing owners wanting to prepay their mortgages. For mortgages that began before December 21, 1979, the act required the secretary to convince the owners to extend the property as low-income housing for at least 20 more years. The secretary was allowed to offer incentives to negotiate with.
Other Provisions
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Low-income property owners planning to sell, under Subtitle D of the Emergency Low Income Housing Preservation Act, had to notify their tenants at least one year in advance if they were terminating their Section 8 contracts. The secretary of housing then had to review the notices and try to reach a solution to avoiding the contract terminations.
The subtitle also set the requirement for Section 8 loans to be 15 years.
Amendments
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Congress amended the Housing and Community Development Act in 1992. The amendments revised several requirements for Section 8 property owners that the Emergency Low Income Housing Preservation Act set forth.
Owners planning to sell received new requirements for notifying their tenants, the documentation related to selling the property, the secretary of housing's approval process and the incentive process.
The amended act also barred the secretary from requiring Section 8 owners to participate directly in HUD training programs for buying low-income housing.
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