(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.

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(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 Government Accountability 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 Government Accountability 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.