§ 1490b — Housing For Rural Trainees

(a) Upon the application of any State or political subdivision thereof, or any public or private nonprofit organization, the Secretary is authorized, after consultation with the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, and after the Secretary determines that the housing and related facilities cannot reasonably be provided in any other way, to provide financial and technical assistance for the establishment, in rural areas, of housing and related facilities for trainees and their families who are residents of a rural area and have a rural background, while such trainees are enrolled and participating in training courses designed to improve their employment capability. The selection of training sites and location of housing shall be made with due regard to the economic viability of the area, and only after consideration of a labor area survey and full coordination among all Government agencies having primary responsibility for administering related programs. (b) Housing and related facilities assisted under this section shall be safe and sanitary, constructed in the most economical manner, and of modest design, giving due consideration to the purposes to be served and the needs of the occupants, and may, in the discretion of the Secretary, include mobile family quarters. Design and location shall be such as to facilitate, as feasible, the use of such housing and related facilities for other purposes when no longer needed for the primary purpose. (c) The applicant shall contribute the necessary land, or funds to acquire such land, from its own resources, including land acquired by donation or from funds repayable under subsection (e) or borrowed from other sources. (d) No financial assistance shall be made available under this section unless, to the extent and for the periods required by the Secretary, the applicant agrees that— (1) such housing will be maintained at all times in a safe and sanitary condition in accordance with standards prescribed by State or local law, or, in the absence of such standards, with requirements prescribed by the Secretary; (2) priority shall be given at all times, in granting occupancy of such housing and facilities, to the trainees and their families described in subsection (a); and (3) rentals charged them shall not exceed amounts approved by the Secretary after considering the portion of the actual total family income which the family can afford to pay for rent while meeting its other immediate needs during occupancy. (e) The Secretary may make advances pursuant to any contract for financial assistance under this section at such times and in such manner as may be specified in the contract. Such advances for the purchase of land shall be repayable with interest and within a period not to exceed thirty-three years and may be made upon such security, if any, as the Secretary requires. Advances for other purposes may be made repayable with or without interest or nonrepayable, as determined by the Secretary on the basis of the anticipated income, and cost of operation of the housing and related facilities and the ability of each applicant to finance such facilities. Any advances shall be limited to cover the capital costs of constructing such facilities, plus interest on borrowings to cover such costs. (f) Should housing and related facilities assisted pursuant to a contract under this section be sold to an ineligible transferee or diverted to a use other than its primary purpose within a period specified in the contract, all advances made under such contract shall be repaid to the Secretary, up to the amount of the sales price or the fair value of the property as determined by the Secretary, whichever is higher, with interest from the date of the sale or diversion. If no suitable alternate use of the property is available, as determined by the Secretary, after the purpose of this section can no longer be served, the property shall be returned to its original condition by the recipient of the assistance. (g) Interest charged on advances made under this section shall be at a rate, prescribed by the Secretary, which shall be not less than a rate determined by the Secretary of the Treasury taking into consideration the current average market yield on outstanding marketable obligations of the United States with remaining periods to maturity comparable to the average maturities of such loans, adjusted to the nearest one-eighth of 1 per centum, less not to exceed the difference between the adjusted rate determined by the Secretary of the Treasury and 1 per centum per annum, as determined by the Secretary. (h) The Secretary shall prescribe regulations to insure that Federal funds expended under this section are not wasted or dissipated. (i) As used in this section (1) the term “related facilities” shall include any necessary community rooms or buildings, infirmaries, utilities, access roads, water and sewer services, and the minimum fixed or movable equipment determined by the Secretary to be necessary to make the housing reasonably habitable by trainees and their families; and (2) the term “trainee” means any person receiving training under any federally assisted training program. (j) There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.