Rural Housing Hurricane Relief Act of 2005

Rural Housing Hurricane Relief Act of 2005 - Amends the Housing Act of 1949, in the event of a presidential-declared disaster, to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to counties designated as disaster areas in connection with Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita, and the counties contiguous to such counties and for any residents of such counties, to: (1) convert rental assistance into housing voucher assistance or rural housing vouchers; and (2) waive rural area requirements.

States that such authority shall last for six months after enactment of this Act.

Authorizes additional appropriations for such assistance.

Authorizes the Secretary, during the six-month period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act, to assist low-income families and persons under the rural housing voucher program if: (1) such family or person resided, on August 25, 2005, in any area designated as a disaster or emergency area in connection with Hurricane Katrina, or resided, on September 24, 2005, in any area designated as a disaster or emergency area in connection with Hurricane Rita; and (2) the residence of such family or person became uninhabitable or inaccessible as result of such a disaster or emergency.

Eliminates the rural housing voucher program fiscal year unit limit.

Amends the Doug Bereuter section 502 single family housing loan guarantee program to permit loan and refinancing guarantees for home repair or rehabilitation.

[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3895 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3895

 To amend title V of the Housing Act of 1949 to provide rural housing 
         assistance to families affected by Hurricane Katrina.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 26, 2005

Mr. Baker (for himself, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Boustany, and 
 Mr. Jindal) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title V of the Housing Act of 1949 to provide rural housing 
         assistance to families affected by Hurricane Katrina.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Rural Housing Hurricane Relief Act 
of 2005''.

SEC. 2. DISASTER AUTHORITY.

    Section 541 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1490q) is amended 
to read as follows:

``SEC. 541. DISASTER ASSISTANCE.

    ``(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
title, in the event of a disaster declared by the President under the 
Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, the 
Secretary may, during the period described in subsection (c), exercise 
any authority described in subsection (b) with respect to the counties 
designated as disaster areas and the counties contiguous to such 
counties and for any individuals who resided in such counties at the 
time of the disaster.
    ``(b) Special Authorities.--The authorities described in this 
subsection are as follows:
            ``(1) Conversion of rental assistance.--The Secretary may 
        convert rental assistance under section 521 allocated for a 
        property that is not inhabitable because of the disaster into--
                    ``(A) housing voucher assistance authorized under 
                section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 
                (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)); or
                    ``(B) rural housing vouchers authorized under this 
                title.
            ``(2) Reprogramming.--The Secretary may reprogram funds 
        appropriated to carry out any activities authorized under this 
        title to conduct any other activity authorized under this 
        title.
            ``(3) Waiver of rural area requirements.--The Secretary may 
        waive the application of the provisions of section 520 with 
        respect to assistance provided under this section, as the 
        Secretary considers appropriate.
    ``(c) Duration of Authority.--The period described in this 
subsection is, for a major disaster, the 6-month period that begins on 
the date that the disaster is declared by the President.
    ``(d) Authorization of Appropriations.--In addition to funds 
otherwise available to carry out this section, there are authorized to 
be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this 
section.''.

SEC. 3. RURAL HOUSING VOUCHER AUTHORITY.

    Section 542 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1490r) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``(a) In General.--'';
            (2) in the first sentence, by striking ``very''; and
            (3) by striking subsection (b).

SEC. 4. GUARANTEED LOANS FOR SINGLE FAMILY HOUSING.

    Section 502(h) of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1472(h)) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ``or construct'' and 
        inserting ``, construct, repair, or rehabilitate''; and
            (2) in paragraph (14)(A), by striking ``made under this 
        section or guaranteed under this subsection'' and inserting 
        ``used to acquire or construct a single-family residence that 
        meets the requirements of subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of 
        paragraph (4)''.
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