Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “SAFER in Condos Act of 2022” or the “Securing Access to Financing for Exterior Repairs in Condos Act of 2022”.
SAFER in Condos Act of 2022
A BILL
To expand the section 203(k) rehabilitation and title I property improvement loan programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to authorize such loans to be made to low-income families residing in condominium units to cover the costs of special assessments imposed for repair or replacement of common areas, systems, and features, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Section 203(k) rehabilitation loans
Section 203(k) of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1709(k)) is amended—
in paragraph (2)—
in subparagraph (A)—
in clause (ii), by striking “or” at the end;
in clause (iii), by striking “and” at the end and inserting “or”; and
by adding at the end the following new clause:
“(iv) in the case of a dwelling unit in a condominium and notwithstanding any other law, regulation, or guideline of the Secretary, including subpart C of part II of the FHA Single Family Policy Handbook 4000.1 of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the payment of a non-regular assessment charged by the governing body of the condominium project to the unit owner to cover costs of a future rehabilitation, alteration, repair, improvement, or replacement of any common system, infrastructure, facility, feature, portion, or area serving the project; and”
in subparagraph (B), by inserting “or the funding of reserves for future project-level improvements or repairs,” after “in connection with a structure,”;
in paragraph (3)(A)—
by inserting “the greater of (i)” before “the sum of the estimated cost of rehabilitation”; and
by inserting before the semicolon at the end the following: “, or (ii) the Secretary’s estimate of the value of the property after rehabilitation; except that in no case shall the principal obligation exceed 115 percent of the Secretary’s estimate of the value of the property after rehabilitation”;
by redesignating paragraphs (5) and (6) as paragraphs (6) and (7); and
by inserting after paragraph (4) the following new paragraph:
“(5) The Secretary shall streamline regulations and guidelines applicable to verification of rehabilitation and repair plans, management of rehabilitation work, disbursement of loan proceeds, and certification of work completion for any rehabilitation loan insured under this subsection for purposes of payment of a non-regular assessment described in paragraph (2)(A)(iv) or payment of reserves for future project-level improvements or repairs described in paragraph (2)(B) to account for management of such rehabilitation work or reserves by the governing body of the condominium project.”
Sec. 3 Title I property improvement loans
Section 2 of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1703) is amended—
in the first sentence of subsection (a)—
by inserting “(iii)” before “financing the preservation of historic structures”; and
by inserting before the period at the end the following: “; and for the purpose of (iv) financing, in the case of a dwelling unit in a condominium and notwithstanding any other law, regulation, or guideline of the Secretary, including subpart C of part II of the FHA Single Family Policy Handbook 4000.1 of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the payment of a non-regular assessment charged by the governing body of the condominium project to the unit owner to cover costs of a future rehabilitation, alteration, repair, improvement, or replacement of any common system, infrastructure, facility, feature, portion, or area serving the project”; and
in subsection (b)(1)—
in subparagraph (A)(i)—
by striking “$25,000” and inserting “$55,000”; and
by inserting before the semicolon the following: “or a non-regular assessment charged by the governing body of the condominium project to the unit owner to cover costs of rehabilitation, alteration, repair, improvement, or replacement of any common system, infrastructure, facility, feature, portion, or area serving the project”; and
in the matter after and below subparagraph (G), by adding at the end the following: “The Secretary shall, by regulation, annually increase the dollar amount limitations in subparagraphs (A)(i), (B), and (F) (as such limitations may have been previously adjusted under this sentence) in accordance with the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).”.