§ 1701y. — National Homeownership Foundation.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 12USC1701y]
TITLE 12--BANKS AND BANKING
CHAPTER 13--NATIONAL HOUSING
Sec. 1701y. National Homeownership Foundation
(a) Creation; purpose; articles of incorporation and charter;
reservation of right to alter or amend charter; term; principal
office; administration as charitable and educational foundation;
compensation of officers and employees; contract authority;
donations and grants; payment of principal and interest on
borrowings
(1) There is hereby created a body corporate to be known as the
``National Homeownership Foundation'' (hereinafter referred to as the
``Foundation'') to carry out a continuing program of encouraging private
and public organizations at the national, community, and neighborhood
levels to provide increased homeownership and housing opportunities in
urban and rural areas for lower income families through such means as--
(A) encouraging the investment in, and sponsoring of, housing
for lower income families;
(B) encouraging the establishment of programs of assistance and
counseling to lower income families to enable them better to achieve
and afford adequate housing;
(C) providing a broad range of technical assistance through
publications and advisory services to public and private
organizations which are carrying out, or are desirous of carrying
out, programs to expand homeownership and housing opportunities for
lower income families; and
(D) providing grants and loans to public and private
organizations carrying out homeownership and housing opportunity
programs for lower income families to help cover some of the
expenses of such programs.
(2) The Foundation shall be deemed to be a corporation without
members organized and established under the provisions of the District
of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation Act, with all the rights, powers, and
responsibilities thereof except as limited by this section and any
amendments thereto. This section shall constitute the articles of
incorporation and charter of the Foundation, which shall not be an
agency or instrumentality of the United States Government. The Congress
expressly reserves the exclusive right to alter or amend this charter.
The Foundation shall have succession until dissolved by Act of Congress.
The Foundation shall maintain its principal office in the District of
Columbia.
(3) No part of the net earnings of the Foundation shall inure to the
benefit of any private person, and no substantial part of its activities
shall be devoted to attempting to influence legislation. The Foundation
shall not participate or intervene in any political campaign on behalf
of any candidate for public office. The Foundation shall be operated and
administered at all times as a charitable and educational foundation.
(4) No employee or officer of the Foundation shall receive
compensation in excess of that received by or hereafter prescribed by
law for heads of executive departments.
(5) The Foundation shall make maximum use of existing public and
private agencies and programs, and in carrying out its functions the
Foundation is authorized to contract with individuals, private
corporations, organizations, and associations, and with agencies of the
Federal, State, and local governments.
(6) The Foundation is authorized to receive donations and grants
from individuals and from public and private organizations, foundations,
and agencies.
(7) The Foundation may use only donated funds, or funds derived from
payment of interest on loans made by it, for the principal and interest
payments on any borrowings.
(b) Board of Directors; appointment of members; Chairman; terms of
office; reappointment; compensation and travel expenses;
Executive Director and other officers; vacancies; by-laws
(1) The Foundation shall have a Board of Directors consisting of
eighteen members, fifteen of whom shall be appointed by the President of
the United States, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The other
three members shall be, ex officio, the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Director of the
Office of Economic Opportunity. The President shall appoint one of the
fifteen appointed members to serve as Chairman of the Board during his
term of office as a member.
(2) Within thirty days after August 1, 1968, the President shall
appoint the fifteen appointed members of the Board. Not more than five
of such members shall, at the time of their appointment, be serving full
time as officers or employees of the Federal Government, or as officers
or employees of any State or local government. Each appointed member of
the Board shall hold office for a term of three years, except that (A)
any member appointed to fill a vacancy prior to the expiration of the
term for which his predecessor was appointed shall be appointed for the
remainder of such term, and (B) the terms of the members first taking
office shall expire, as designated by the President at the time of
appointment, five at the end of the first year, five at the end of the
second year, and five at the end of the third year after the date of
appointment. Members of the Board, however appointed, shall be eligible
for reappointment, but at no time shall there be more than five members
of the Board who at the time of their appointment or reappointment were
full-time officers or employees of the Federal Government or of any
State or local government.
(3) Appointed members of the Board who are not employees of the
Federal Government, while attending meetings or conferences of the Board
or otherwise serving on business of the Board, shall be entitled to
receive compensation at rates fixed by the President, but not exceeding
$100 per day, including travel time, and while so serving away from
their homes or regular places of business they may be allowed travel
expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by
section 5703 of title 5 for persons in the Government service employed
intermittently.
(4) The Board shall appoint an Executive Director of the Foundation.
The Executive Director shall be the chief executive officer of the
Foundation and shall serve at the pleasure of the Board, and all other
executive officers and employees of the Board shall be responsible to
him. The Board shall also cause to be appointed a secretary, a
treasurer, and such other officers as may be necessary to conduct
properly the business of the Foundation, and shall provide for filling
vacancies in such offices.
(5) The Board shall adopt bylaws for the Foundation which shall be
made available for public inspection upon request.
(c) Functions; programs to expand homeownership and housing
opportunities for lower income families; fees for assistance or
services
(1) The Foundation shall assist public and private organizations, at
their request, in initiating, developing, and conducting programs to
expand homeownership and housing opportunities for lower income
families. To provide such assistance and to carry out the purposes of
this section, the Foundation is authorized to--
(A) carry out a continuing program of encouraging private and
public organizations at the national, community, and neighborhood
levels in the establishment of such programs;
(B) assist in the formation of organizations the purpose of
which is the development and carrying out of such programs,
including the establishment of local development funds for financing
housing for lower income families through the pooling of moneys from
private sources;
(C) identify and arrange for the technical and managerial
assistance and personnel needed for the successful operation of such
programs by public and private organizations;
(D) assist public and private organizations in obtaining the
mortgage financing, insurance, and other requirements or aids
necessary for conducting programs of housing construction,
rehabilitation, or improvement for lower income families;
(E) arrange for, or provide on a limited basis, training for
persons in the skills needed in administering programs of
homeownership and housing opportunity for lower income families;
(F) encourage research and innovation, and collect and make
available such information as may be desirable to further the
purposes of this section, including but not limited to such
activities as the sponsoring of seminars, conferences, and meetings
and the establishment of a continuing information program to
acquaint lower income families with the means they can use to
improve the quality of their housing and the homeownership and
housing opportunities available to them;
(G) assist private and public organizations in establishing, in
connection with their homeownership and housing opportunity programs
for lower income families, counseling and similar activities
designed to advise lower income families of the means available to
better themselves economically through job training and manpower
development programs; and
(H) perform other similar services in order to further the
purposes of this section.
(2) The Foundation may, if it deems it appropriate, charge a
reasonable fee for any assistance or service provided under this
subsection.
(d) Grants and loans to public or private organizations; eligibility;
encouragement of cooperation between organizations and
neighborhoods and communities
(1) In order to assist public and private organizations which are
carrying out homeownership and housing opportunity programs for lower
income families to fill unmet needs, initiate exceptional programs, and
experiment with new approaches and programs, the Foundation is
authorized, subject to such terms and conditions as it may prescribe, to
make grants and loans to such organizations to help defray the following
expenses:
(A) organizational and administrative expenses incurred in
commencing the operation of a program, or in expanding an existing
program, to the extent that the activities are related to providing
homeownership and housing opportunities for lower income families;
(B) necessary preconstruction costs incurred for architectural
assistance, land options, application fees, and similar items; and
(C) the cost of carrying out programs providing counseling or
similar services to lower income families for whom housing is being
provided, in order to enable those families better to achieve and
afford adequate housing, in such matters as home management, budget
management, and home maintenance.
(2) In order to be eligible for a grant or loan under this
subsection, the organization seeking such assistance shall demonstrate
to the satisfaction of the Foundation that the funds requested are not
otherwise available from Federal sources: Provided, That a grant or loan
under this subsection may be provided to help cover that portion of the
cost of an eligible activity not covered by Federal funds.
(3) The Foundation shall encourage cooperation between public and
private organizations carrying out programs of homeownership and housing
opportunity for lower income families and the neighborhoods and
communities affected by such programs. To help assure such cooperation
and in order to coordinate, to the maximum extent feasible, any
construction or rehabilitation activities with the development goals of
the neighborhood or community affected, no application for a loan or
grant under this subsection shall be considered unless such application
has been submitted to the governing body of the community affected, or
to such other entity of local government as may be designated by the
governing body, for such recommendations as the local governing body or
its designee may desire to make. Any recommendations so made shall be
given careful consideration by the Foundation before taking final action
on any such application. If, upon the expiration of thirty days after
any such application has been submitted to such governing body or its
designee, such body or designee fails to provide such recommendations,
the application may be considered without the benefit of such
recommendations.
(e) Coordination of activities and consultation with Department of
Housing and Urban Development and other Federal departments and
agencies
The Foundation shall coordinate its activities and consult with the
Department of Housing and Urban Development and other Federal
departments and agencies engaged in providing homeownership and housing
opportunities for lower income families.
(f) Annual report to the President and the Congress; contents
(1) Not later than one hundred and twenty days after the close of
each fiscal year, the Foundation shall prepare and submit to the
President and to the Congress a full report of its activities during
such year. Such report shall include an account of the Foundation's
experiences with the efforts of private and public organizations to
expand homeownership and housing opportunities for lower income
families, together with such recommendations as it deems appropriate.
(2) Whenever in its judgement the general unavailability of mortgage
funds is sufficiently serious to deter the Foundation from carrying out
its objective of expanding homeownership and housing opportunities for
lower income families, the Foundation shall, in its annual report or in
a separate report to the President and the Congress, state its findings
and make such recommendations for alternate means of financing housing
for such families as it deems appropriate.
(g) Audit of financial transaction; access to records; report of audit;
contents of report
(1) The financial transactions of the Foundation shall be audited by
the General Accounting Office in accordance with the principles and
procedures applicable to commercial corporate transactions and under
such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Comptroller
General of the United States. The representatives of the General
Accounting Office shall have access to all books, accounts, financial
records, reports, files, and all other papers, things, or property
belonging to or in use by the Foundation and necessary to facilitate the
audit, and they shall be afforded full facilities for verifying
transactions with the balances or securities held by depositories,
fiscal agents, and custodians. The audit shall cover the fiscal year
corresponding to that of the United States Government.
(2) A report of each such audit shall be made by the Comptroller
General to the Congress not later than six and one-half months following
the close of the last year covered by such audit. The report shall set
forth the scope of the audit and shall include a statement of assets and
liabilities, capital, and surplus or deficit; a statement of sources and
application of funds; and such comments and information as may be deemed
necessary to keep the Congress informed of the operations and financial
condition of the Foundation, together with such recommendations with
respect thereto as the Comptroller General may deem advisable. The
report shall also show specifically any program, expenditure, or other
financial transaction or undertaking, observed in the course of the
audit, which, in the opinion of the Comptroller General, has been
carried on or made without authority of law. A copy of each report shall
be furnished to the President and to the Foundation at the time
submitted to the Congress.
(h) Deposit of funds of Foundation
Funds of the Foundation shall be deposited, to the extent
practicable, in accounts with financial institutions which are actively
engaged in making loans or are otherwise carrying on activities in
furtherance of homeownership and housing opportunities for lower income
families.
(i) Authorization of appropriations
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Foundation not to
exceed $10,000,000 to carry out the purposes of this section.
Appropriations made hereunder shall remain available until expended.
(Pub. L. 90-448, title I, Sec. 107, Aug. 1, 1968, 82 Stat. 491; Pub. L.
93-604, title VI, Sec. 604, Jan. 2, 1975, 88 Stat. 1963; Pub. L. 104-66,
title I, Sec. 1072(b), Dec. 21, 1995, 109 Stat. 721.)
References in Text
The District of Columbia Nonprofit Corporation Act, referred to in
subsec. (a)(2), is Pub. L. 87-569, Aug. 6, 1962, 76 Stat. 265, as
amended, which is not classified to the Code.
Codification
Section was enacted as part of the Housing and Urban Development Act
of 1968, and not as part of the National Housing Act which comprises
this chapter.
Amendments
1995--Subsec. (g)(1). Pub. L. 104-66 struck out at end ``Such audit
shall be made at least once in every three years.''
1975--Subsec. (g)(1). Pub. L. 93-604, Sec. 604(1), inserted
provision that the audit under this subsection shall be made at least
once in every three years.
Subsec. (g)(2). Pub. L. 93-604, Sec. 604(2), substituted ``six and
one-half months following the close of the last year covered by such
audit'' for ``January 15 following the close of the fiscal year for
which the audit was made''.
Termination of Reporting Requirements
For termination, effective May 15, 2000, of provisions in subsec.
(f)(1) of this section relating to submittal of an annual report to
Congress, see section 3003 of Pub. L. 104-66, as amended, set out as a
note under section 1113 of Title 31, Money and Finance, and page 203 of
House Document No. 103-7.
Office of Economic Opportunity
Pub. L. 93-644, Sec. 9(a), Jan. 4, 1975, 88 Stat. 2310 [42 U.S.C.
2941], amended the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 [42 U.S.C. 2701 et
seq.] to create the Community Services Administration, an independent
agency in the executive branch, as the successor authority to the Office
of Economic Opportunity, and provided that references to the Office of
Economic Opportunity or to its Director were deemed to refer to the
Community Services Administration or its Director. The Community
Services Administration was terminated when the Economic Opportunity Act
of 1964, except for titles VIII and X, was repealed, effective Oct. 1,
1981, by section 683(a) of Pub. L. 97-35, title VI, Aug. 13, 1981, 95
Stat. 519, which is classified to 42 U.S.C. 9912(a). An Office of
Community Services, headed by a Director, was established in the
Department of Health and Human Services by section 676 of Pub. L. 97-35,
which is classified to 42 U.S.C. 9905.
