for financial assistance in respect to such project entered into by the Authority and the public housing agency.

UNITED STATES HOUSING AUTHORITY

SEC. 3. (a) There is hereby created in the Department of the Interior and under the general supervision of the Secretary thereof a body corporate of perpetual duration to be known as the United States Housing Authority,1 which shall be an agency and instrumentality of the United States.

(b) The powers of the Authority shall be vested in and exercised by an Administrator, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Administrator shall serve for a term of five years and shall be removable by the President upon notice and hearing for neglect of duty or malfeasance but for no other cause.

(c) The Administrator shall receive a salary of $10,000 a year, shall be eligible for reappointment, and shall not engage in any other business, vocation, or employment. Neither the Administrator nor any officer or employee of the Authority shall participate in any matter affecting his personal interests or the interest of any corporation, partnership, or association in which he is directly or indirectly interested. SEC. 4. (a) The Administrator is authorized, subject to the civil service laws and the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, to appoint and fix the compensation of such employees as may be necessary for the proper performance of the duties of the Authority under this Act; except that without regard to the civil service laws he may appoint such officers, attorneys and experts, and such employees whose compensation is in excess of $1,980 per annum, as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act.2

(b) Appointment to positions made under the provisions of this Act the annual salary of which is in excess of $7,500 per annum shall be subject to confirmation by the Senate.2

(c) The Administrator may accept and utilize such voluntary and uncompensated services and with the consent of the agency concerned may utilize such officers, employees, equipment, and information of any agency of the Federal, State, or local governments as he finds helpful in the performance of the duties of the Authority. In connec

1 Reorganization Plan No. 1, effective July 1, 1939, 53 Stat. 1423, transferred the United States Housing Authority from the Department of Interior to the Federal Works Agency. Executive Order 9070, effective February 24, 1942, 7 Fed. Reg. 1529, transferred the housing functions of the Federal Works Agency to the National Housing Agency and provided that the functions of the United States Housing Authority should be administered as the Federal Public Housing Authority, one of the constituent units of the National Housing Agency. Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1947 provided that the United States Housing Authority should be administered and known as the Public Housing Administration, one of the constituent agencies of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, and that the functions of the Administrator of the United States Housing Authority were transferred to the Public Housing Commissioner. The functions of the Public Housing Administration and its officers were transferred to the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development by sec. 5(a) of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act, Public Law 89-174, approved September 9, 1965, 79 Stat. 667, 669.

2 Section 502(b) of Public Law 901, 80th Congress, approved August 10, 1948, 62 Stat. 1268, 1283, provided that the Public Housing Commissioner may appoint such officers and employees as he may find necessary and that such appointments, notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, shall be made under Public Law 901 and be subject to the civil service laws and the Classification Act of 1923, as amended.

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tion with the utilization of such services, the Authority may make reasonable payments for necessary traveling and other expenses.1

(d) The President may at any time in his discretion transfer to the Authority any right, interest, or title held by any department or agency of the Federal Government in any housing or slum-clearance projects (constructed or in process of construction on the date of enactment of this Act), any assets, contracts, records, libraries, research materials, and other property held in connection with any such housing or slumclearance projects or activities, any unexpended balance of funds allocated to such department or agency for the development, administration or assistance of any housing or slum-clearance projects or activities, and any employees who have been engaged in work connected with housing or slum clearance. The Authority may continue any or all activities undertaken in connection with projects so transferred, subject to the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 5. (a) The principal office of the Authority shall be in the District of Columbia, but it may establish branch offices or agencies in any State, and may exercise any of its powers at any place within the United States. The Authority may, by one or more of its officers or employees or by such agents or agencies as it may designate, conduct hearings or negotiations at any place.

(b) The Authority shall sue and be sued in its own name, and shall be represented in all litigated matters by the Attorney General or such attorney or attorneys as he may designate.2

(c) The Authority shall have an official seal, which shall be judicially noticed.

(d) The Authority shall be granted the free use of the mails in the same manner as the executive departments of the Government.

(e) The Authority, including but not limited to its franchise, capital, reserves, surplus, loans, income, assets, and property of any kind, shall be exempt from all taxation now or hereafter imposed by the United States or by any State, county, municipality, or local taxing authority. Obligations, including interest thereon, issued by public housing agencies in connection with low-rent-housing or slum-clearance projects, and the income derived by such agencies from such projects, shall be exempt from all taxation now or hereafter imposed by the United States.

SEC. 6. (a) The Authority may make such expenditures, subject to audit under the general law, for the acquisition and maintenance of

1 Sec. 502(c) of Public Law 901, 80th Congress, approved August 10, 1948, 62 Stat. 1268, 1283, provided that the Public Housing Commissioner may :

"(1) with the consent of the agency or organization concerned, accept and utilize equipment, facilities, or the services of employees of any State or local public agency or instrumentality, educational institution, or nonprofit agency or organization and, in connection with the utilization of such services, may make payments for transportation while away from their homes or regular places of business and per diem in lieu of subsistence enroute and at place of such service, in accordance with the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 73b-2;

"(2) utilize, contract with, and act through, without regard to section 3709 of the Revised Statutes, any Federal, State, or local public agency or instrumentality, educational institution, or non-profit agency or organization with the consent of the agency or organization concerned, and any funds available to said officers for carrying out their respective functions, powers, and duties shall be available to reimburse any such agency or organization; and, whenever in the judgment of any such officer necessary, he may make advance, progress, or other payments with respect to such contracts without regard to the provisions of section 3648 of the Revised Statutes :".

2 Sec. 502 (b) of Public Law 901, 80th Congress, approved August 10, 1948, 62 Stat. 1268, 1283, provided that the Public Housing Administration shall sue and be sued only with respect to its functions under the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, and title II of Public Law 671, Seventy-sixth Congress, approved June 28, 1940, as amended.

adequate administrative agencies, offices, vehicles, furnishings, equipment, supplies, books, periodicals, printing and binding, for attendance at meetings, for any necessary traveling expenses within the United States, its Territories, dependencies, or possessions, and for such other expenses as may from time to time be found necessary for the proper administration of this Act. Such financial transactions of the Authority as the making of loans, annual contributions, and capital grants, and the acquisition, sale, exchange, lease, or other disposition of real and personal property, and vouchers approved by the Administrator in connection with such financial transactions, shall be final and conclusive upon all officers of the Government; except that all such financial transactions of the Authority shall be audited by the General Accounting Office at such times and in such manner as the Comptroller General of the United States may by regulation prescribe.

(b) Repealed.1

(c) The use of funds made available for the purposes of this Act shall be subject to the provisions of section 2 of title 3 of the Treasury and Post Office Appropriation Act for the fiscal year 1934 (47 Stat. 1489), and to make such provisions effective every contract or agreement of any kind pursuant to this Act shall contain a provision identical to the one prescribed in section 3 of title 3 of such Act.

(d) No annual contribution, grant, or loan, and no contract for any annual contribution, grant, or loan, under this Act, shall be undertaken by the Authority except with the approval of the President.2

(e) With respect to all projects under title II of Public Law 671, Seventy-sixth Congress, approved June 28, 1940, references therein to the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, shall include all amendments to said Act made by the Housing Act of 1949 or by any other law thereafter enacted.

SEC. 7. (a) The Authority may publish and disseminate information pertinent to the various aspects of housing.

(b) The annual report of the Housing and Home Finance Administrator to the President for submission to the Congress on the operations of the Housing and Home Finance Agency shall include a report on the operations and expenses of the Authority, including loans, contributions, and grants made or contracted for, low-rent-housing and slum-clearance projects undertaken, and the assets and liabilities of the Authority. Such report shall include operating statements of all projects under the jurisdiction of or receiving the assistance of the Authority, including summaries of the incomes of occupants, sizes of families, rentals, and other related information.

SEC. 8. The Authority may from time to time make, amend, and rescind such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.

1 Sec. 6(b) repealed by section 1 of Public Law 247, 82d Congress, approved October 31, 1951, 65 Stat. 701. Section 6(b) provided that the provisions of section 3709 of the Revised Statutes (41 U.S.C. 5) shall apply to all contracts of the Authority for services and to all of its purchases of supplies except when the aggregate amount involved is less than $300. Sec. 6(b) was made unnecessary by subsequent amendments of section 3709 of the Revised Statutes.

2 See also Executive Order 11196, issued February 2, 1965, 30 Fed. Reg. 1171, empowering the Housing and Home Finance Administrator to approve the undertakings without the approval, ratification, or other action of the President.

This sentence amended to read as set forth in the text by sec. 802(d) of the Housing Act of 1954, Public Law 560. 838 Congress, approved August 2, 1954, 68 Stat. 590, 643.

LOANS FOR LOW-RENT-HOUSING AND SLUM-CLEARANCE PROJECTS

SEC. 9. The Authority may make loans to public-housing agencies 1 to assist the development, acquisition, or administration of low-renthousing or slum-clearance projects by such agencies. Where capital grants are made pursuant to section 11 the total amount of such loans outstanding on any one project and in which the Authority participates shall not exceed the development or acquisition cost of such project less all such capital grants, but in no event shall said loans exceed 90 per centum of such cost. In the case of annual contributions in assistance of low rentals as provided in section 10 the total of such loans outstanding on any one project and in which the Authority participates shall not exceed 90 per centum of the development or acquisition cost of such project. Such loans shall bear interest at such rate not less than the applicable going Federal rate, plus one-half of one per centum, shall be secured in such manner, and shall be repaid within such period not exceeding sixty years, as may be deemed advisable by the Authority: Provided, That in the case of projects initiated after March 1, 1949, with respect to which annual contributions are contracted for pursuant to this Act, loans shall not be made for a period exceeding forty years from the date of the bonds evidencing the loan: And provided further, That, in the case of such projects or any other projects with respect to which the contracts (including contracts which amend or supersede contracts previously made) provide for loans for a period not exceeding forty years from the date of the bonds evidencing the loan and for annual contributions for a period not exceeding forty years from the date the first annual contribution for the project is paid, such loans shall bear interest at a rate not less than the applicable going Federal rate.

ANNUAL CONTRIBUTIONS IN ASSISTANCE OF LOW RENTALS

SEC. 10. (a) The Authority may make annual contributions to public housing agencies to assist in achieving and maintaining the low-rent character of their housing projects. The annual contributions for any such project shall be fixed in uniform amounts, and shall be paid in such amounts over a fixed period of years. The Authority shall embody the provisions for such annual contributions in a contract guaranteeing their payment over such fixed period: Provided, That the Authority may, in addition to the payments guaranteed under the contract, pay not to exceed $120 per annum per dwelling unit occupied by an elderly family, or a displaced family if such family was displaced by an urban renewal or low-rent housing project on or after January 27, 1964, on the last day of the project fiscal year where such

1 The First Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 1954, Public Law 176, 83d Congress, approved July 31, 1953, 67 Stat. 298, 315, provides that during fiscal 1954 the PHA Commissioner shall make every effort to refund all local bonds held by the Public Housing Administration. The Independent Offices Appropriation Act, 1955, Public Law 428, 83d Congress, approved June 24, 1954, 68 Stat. 273, 297 provided that "during the fiscal year 1955 the Commissioner shall continue to make every effort to refund all local bonds held by the Public Housing Administration".

2 Immediately prior to amendment by sec. 402, Housing Act of 1964, Public Law 88-560, approved September 2, 1964, 78 Stat. 769, 794, this proviso read as follows:

"Provided, That the Authority may, in addition to the payments guaranteed under the contract, pay not to exceed $120 per annum per dwelling unit occupied by an elderly family on the last day of the project fiscal year where such amount, in the determination of the Authority, was necessary to enable the public housing agency to lease the dwelling unit to the elderly family at a rental it could afford and to operate the project on a solvent basis."

amount, in the determination of the Authority, was necessary to enable the public housing agency to lease the dwelling unit to an elderly or displaced family at a rental it could afford and to operate the project on a solvent basis, and, in the case of displaced families, if and to the extent that the average or estimated average rental for units so occupied by such families was less than the rental which the Authority determines, on the basis of the average or estimated average project rentals, would have been established in leasing the units to families which were neither elderly nor similarly displaced. The Authority shall not make any contract for loans (other than preliminary loans) or for annual contributions or for capital grants pursuant to this Act with respect to any low-rent-housing project initiated after March 1 1949, unless the governing body of the locality involved has entered into an agreement with the public housing agency providing that, subsequent to the initiation of the low-rent housing project and within five years after the completion thereof, there has been or will be elimination, as1 certified by the local governing body, by demolition, condemnation, effective closing, or compulsory repair or improvement, of unsafe or insanitary dwelling units situated in the locality or metropolitan area substantially equal in number to the number of newly constructed dwelling units provided by such project: Provided, however, That where more than one family is living in an unsafe or insanitary dwelling unit the elimination of such unit shall count as the elimination of units equal to the number of families accommodated therein: Provided further, That such elimination may, in the discretion of the Authority be deferred in any locality or metropolitan area where there is an acute shortage of decent, safe, or sanitary housing available to families of low income: And provided further, That this requirement shall not apply in the case of any low-rent housing project located in a rural nonfarm area, or to any low-rent housing project developed on the site of a slum cleared subsequent to the date of enactment of the Housing Act of 1949 and that the dwelling units which had been eliminated by the clearance of the site of such project shall not be counted as elimination for any other low-rent project.

(b) Annual contributions shall be strictly limited to the amounts and periods necessary, in the determination of the Authority, to assure the low-rent character of the housing projects involved. Toward this end the Authority may prescribe regulations fixing the maximum contributions available under different circumstances, giving consideration to cost, location, size, rent-paying ability of prospective tenants, or other factors bearing upon the amounts and periods of assistance needed to achieve and maintain low rentals. Such regulations may provide for rates of contribution based upon development, acquisition or administration cost, number of dwelling units, number of persons housed, or other appropriate factors: Provided, That the fixed contribution payable annually under any contract shall in no case exceed a sum equal to the anual yield, at the applicable going Federal rate plus 1 per centum, upon the development or acquisition cost of the low-rent-housing or slum-clearance project involved.

(c) Every contract for annual contributions shall provide that whenever in any year the receipts of a public housing agency in connection with a low-rent housing project exceed its expenditures (in

1 Sec. 501, Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965, Public Law 89-117, approved August 10, 1965, 79 Stat. 451, 486, inserted "as certified by the local governing body.".