§ 1715x — Experimental Housing Insurance

(1) In order to assist in lowering housing costs and improving housing standards, quality, livability, or durability or neighborhood design through the utilization of advanced housing technology, or experimental property standards, the Secretary is authorized to insure and to make commitments to insure, under this section, mortgages (including home improvement loans, and including advances on mortgages during construction) secured by properties including dwellings involving the utilization and testing of advanced technology in housing design, materials, or construction, or experimental property standards for neighborhood design if the Secretary determines that (A) the property is an acceptable risk, giving consideration to the need for testing advanced housing technology or experimental property standards, (B) the utilization and testing of the advanced technology or experimental property standards involved will provide data or experience which the Secretary deems to be significant in reducing housing costs or improving housing standards, quality, livability, or durability, or improving neighborhood design, and (C) the mortgages are eligible for insurance under the provisions of this section and under any further terms and conditions which may be prescribed by the Secretary to establish the acceptability of the mortgages for insurance. (2) The Secretary is further authorized to insure and to make commitments to insure, under this section, mortgages (including advances on mortgages during construction) secured by properties in projects to be carried out in accordance with plans approved by the Secretary under section 1701z of this title. (b) To be eligible for insurance under this section, a mortgage shall meet the requirements of one of the other sections or subchapters of this chapter; except that, in lieu of determining the appraised value or the replacement cost of the property in cases involving new construction or the estimated cost of repair and rehabilitation or improvement in cases involving existing properties, the Secretary shall estimate the cost of replacing the property using comparable conventional design, materials, and construction, and any limitation upon the maximum mortgage amount available to a nonoccupant owner shall not, in the discretion of the Secretary, be applicable to mortgages insured under this section. (c) The Secretary may enter into such contracts, agreements, and financial undertakings with the mortgagor and others as he deems necessary or desirable to carry out the purposes of this section, and may expend available funds for such purposes, including the correction (when he determines it necessary to protect the occupants), at any time subsequent to insurance of a mortgage, of defects or failures in the dwellings which the Secretary finds are caused by or related to the advanced housing technology utilized in their design or construction or experimental property standards. Any authority which the Secretary may exercise in connection with a mortgage, or property covered by a mortgage, insured under any other section of this subchapter (including payments to reduce rentals for, or to facilitate homeownership by, lower income families) may be exercised in connection with a mortgage, or property covered by a mortgage, meeting the requirements of such other section (except as specified in subsection (b)), which is insured under this section to the same extent and in the same manner as if the mortgage insured under this section was insured under such other section. (d) The Secretary may make such investigations and analyses of data, and publish and distribute such reports, as he determines to be necessary or desirable to assure the most beneficial use of the data and information to be acquired as a result of this section. (e) Any mortgagee or lender under a mortgage insured under subsection (b) shall be entitled to insurance benefits determined in the same manner as such benefits would be determined if such mortgage or loan were insured under the section or subchapter of this chapter for which it otherwise would have been eligible except for the experimental feature of the property involved. (f) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (e) of this section, in the case of default on any mortgage insured under this section, the Secretary in his discretion, in accordance with such regulations as he may prescribe, may make payments pursuant to such subsections in cash or in debentures (as provided in the mortgage insurance contract), or may acquire the mortgage loan and the security therefor upon payment to the mortgagee in cash or in debentures (as provided in the mortgage insurance contract) of a total amount equal to the unpaid principal balance of the loan plus any accrued interest and any advances approved by the Secretary made previously by the mortgagee under the provisions of the mortgage. After the acquisition of the mortgage by the Secretary the mortgagee shall have no further rights, liabilities, or obligations with respect to the mortgage. The appropriate provisions of sections 1710 and 1713 of this title relating to the issuance of debentures shall apply with respect to debentures issued under this subsection, and the appropriate provisions of sections 1710 and 1713 of this title relating to the rights, liabilities, and obligations of a mortgagee shall apply with respect to the Secretary when he has acquired an insured mortgage under this subsection, in accordance with and subject to regulations (modifying such provisions to the extent necessary to render their application for such purposes appropriate and effective) which shall be prescribed by the Secretary, except that as applied to mortgages insured under this section (1) all references in section 1710 of this title to the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund or the Fund shall be construed to refer to the General Insurance Fund, and (2) all references in section 1710 of this title to section 1709 of this title shall be construed to refer to this section. If the insurance payment is made in cash, there shall be added to such payment an amount equivalent to the interest which the debentures would have earned, computed to a date to be established pursuant to regulations issued by the Secretary.