Sec. 502. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES

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## SEC. 502 FINDINGS AND PURPOSES ###

(a)Findings Congress finds that— ####

(1)there exists throughout the Nation a need for decent, safe, and affordable housing; ####

(2)the inventory of public housing units owned, assisted, or operated by public housing agencies, an asset in which the Federal Government has invested over $90,000,000,000, has traditionally provided rental housing that is affordable to low-income persons; ####

(3)despite serving this critical function, the public housing system is plagued by a series of problems, including the concentration of very poor people in very poor neighborhoods and disincentives for economic self-sufficiency; ####

(4)the Federal method of overseeing every aspect of public housing by detailed and complex statutes and regulations has aggravated the problem and has placed excessive administrative burdens on public housing agencies; and ####

(5)the interests of low-income persons, and the public interest, will best be served by a reformed public housing program that— #####

(A)consolidates many public housing programs into programs for the operation and capital needs of public housing; #####

(B)streamlines program requirements; #####

(C)vests in public housing agencies that perform well the maximum feasible authority, discretion, and control with appropriate accountability to public housing residents, localities, and the general public; and #####

(D)rewards employment and economic self-sufficiency of public housing residents. ###

(b)Purposes The purpose of this title1 is to promote homes that are affordable to low-income families in safe and healthy environments, and thereby contribute to the supply of affordable housing, by— 1Section 501(a) of the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999, provides that title V of such Act may be cited as the “Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998”. ####

(1)deregulating and decontrolling public housing agencies, thereby enabling them to perform as property and asset managers; ####

(2)providing for more flexible use of Federal assistance to public housing agencies, allowing the authorities to leverage and combine assistance amounts with amounts obtained from other sources; ####

(3)facilitating mixed income communities and decreasing concentrations of poverty in public housing; ####

(4)increasing accountability and rewarding effective management of public housing agencies; ####

(5)creating incentives and economic opportunities for residents of dwelling units assisted by public housing agencies to work, become self-sufficient, and transition out of public housing and federally assisted dwelling units; ####

(6)consolidating the voucher and certificate programs for rental assistance under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937 into a single market-driven program that will assist in making tenant-based rental assistance under such section more successful at helping low-income families obtain affordable housing and will increase housing choice for low-income families; and ####

(7)remedying the problems of troubled public housing agencies and replacing or revitalizing severely distressed public housing projects.