GAO Studies

What the document says

“(A) identifies obstacles middle-income households face when looking to secure affordable housing; (B) identifies geographic areas where housing is the most unaffordable and unavailable for middle-income households;”

The section requires the Comptroller General of the United States to study and report to Congress within a year on obstacles middle-income households face in finding affordable housing, the areas where housing is least affordable and available to them, federal housing programs including tax credits, grants, and loans they cannot use because of their income, recommended parameters for a federal definition of workforce housing, and how federal programs could be modified or created to include it if matching funding were provided. A middle-income household is defined as one earning above 80 percent but no more than 120 percent of area median family income.

What the document says

“the Comptroller General of the United States shall carry out a study and submit to Congress a report that identifies options to remove barriers and improve housing for persons who are elderly or disabled, including any potential impacts of providing capital advances for--”

The section requires the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress within a year of enactment on options to remove barriers and improve housing for elderly and disabled people, including the potential effects of capital advances for the supportive housing program for the elderly under section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959 and the supportive housing program for people with disabilities under section 811 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act.

What the document says

“a report that identifies how many residential dwelling units, and how many dwelling units that are a part of public housing (as defined in section 3(b) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b))), are located less than 1 mile from a site that is included on the National Priorities List”

The section requires the Comptroller General to study and report to Congress within a year on how many residential dwelling units, and how many public housing units, sit less than a mile from a site on the National Priorities List established under section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980.

What the document says

“(1) establishes a comprehensive definition of residential heirs property, or family land inherited without a will or legal documentation of ownership;”

The section requires the Comptroller General to study and report within a year to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the House Committee on Financial Services, defining residential heirs property, examining how often it occurs and what it costs owners with an estimate of how many such properties exist, describing the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act approved in 2010, detailing the counseling, legal, and financial resources available to owners, and recommending how to reduce the number, including incentives for States that adopt that Act, grants to States and to entities providing counseling and legal help targeted at low- and moderate-income people, and other title clearing and estate planning work.