Housing Authorization Bills: Overview of H.R. 2 and S. 462

Publication Date: May 1998

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

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Research Area: Social conditions

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Abstract:

It has been 5 years since Congress adopted a housing authorization bill. For the past several years, administrative provisions of the VA-HUD appropriations bills have authorized housing programs. In the first session of the 105th Congress, housing authorization bills were introduced in both the House and the Senate. These bills, H.R. 2 and S. 462, have many similarities, but many differences as well. Chairmen of both the House and Senate Housing Subcommittees are confident that the differences in the two bills can be overcome, and a compromise can be reached that will result in a housing authorization bill being signed into law in 1998. This report will be updated as legislative action warrants. For more detailed information on the provisions of H.R. 2 and S. 462, please see CRS Report 97-730, H.R. 2 and S. 462, Public Housing Reform Proposals: A Summary Comparison of Provisions, by Richard Bourdon and Susan Vanhorenbeck.