Pub. L. 84-1020, tit. III, sec. 307

Sec. 307. (a) Title I of the Housing Act of 1949 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new section: “DISASTER AREAS “Sec. 111. Where the local governing body certifies, and the Administrator finds, that an urban area is in need of redevelopment or rehabilitation as a result of a flood, fire, hurricane, earthquake, storm, or other catastrophe which the President, pursuant to section 2 (a) of the Act entitled ‘An Act to authorize Federal assistance to States and local governments in major disasters, and for other purposes’ (Public Law 875, Eighty-first Congress, approved September 30, 1950), as amended, has determined to be a major disaster, the Administrator is authorized to extend financial assistance under this title for an urban renewal project with respect to such area without regard to the following: “(1) the ‘workable program’ requirement in section 101 (c), except that any contract for temporary loan or capital grant pursuant to this section shall obligate the local public agency to comply with the ‘workable program’ requirement in section 101 (c) by a future date determined to be reasonable by the Administrator and specified in such contract; “(2) the requirements in section 105 (a) (iii) and section 110 (b) (1) that the urban renewal plan conform to a general plan of the locality as a whole and to the workable program referred to in section 101 (c); “(3) the ‘relocation’ requirements in section 105 (c) : Provided, That the Administrator finds that the local public agency has presented a plan for the encouragement, to the maximum extent feasible, of the provision of dwellings suitable for the needs of families displaced by the catastrophe or by redevelopment or rehabilitation activities; “(4) the ‘public hearing’ requirement in section 105 (d); 70 Stat. 1102 “(5) the requirements in sections 102 and 110 that the urban renewal area be a slum area or a blighted, deteriorated, or deteriorating area; and “(6) the requirements in section 110 with respect to the predominantly residential character or predominantly residential re-use of urban renewal areas. In the preparation of the urban renewal plan with respect to a project aided under this section, the local public agency shall give due regard to the removal or relocation of dwellings from the site of recurring floods or other recurring catastrophes in the project area.” (b) Subparagraph (A) of section 220 (d) (1) of the National Housing Act is amended to read as follows: “(A) be located in (i) the area of a slum clearance and urban redevelopment project covered by a Federal-aid contract executed or a prior approval granted, pursuant to title I of the Housing Act of 1949 before the effective date of the Housing Act of 1954, or (ii) an urban renewal area (as defined in title I of the Housiug Act of 1949, as amended) in a community respecting which the Housing and Home Finance Administrator has made the certification to the Commissioner provided for by section 101 (c) of the Housing Act of 1949, as amended, or (iii) the area of an urban renewal project assisted under section 111 of the Housing Act of 1949, as amended: Provided, That, in the case of an area within the purview of clause (i) or (ii) of this subparagraph, a redevelopment plan or an urban renewal plan (as defined in title I of the Housing Act of 1949, as amended), as the case may be, has been approved for such area by the governing body of the locality involved and by the Housing and Home Finance Administrator, and the Administrator has certified to the Commissioner that such plan conforms to a general plan for the locality as a whole and that there exist the necessary authority and financial capacity to assure the completion of such redevelopment or urban renewal plan: And provided further, That, in the case of an area within the purview of clause (iii) of this subparagraph, an urban renewal plan (as required for projects assisted under such section 111) has been approved for such area by such governing body and by the Administrator, and the Administrator has certified to the Commissioner that such plan conforms to definite local objectives respecting appropriate land uses, improved traffic, public transportation, public utilities, recreational and community facilities, and other public improvements, and that there exist the necessary authority and financial capacity to assure the completion of such urban renewal plan, and”. (c) Section 221 (a) of the National Housing Act is amended— (1) by adding immediately before the period at the end of the first sentence a comma and the following: “or (3) there is being carried out an urban renewal project assisted under section 111 of the Housing Act of 1949, as amended”; and (2) by striking out “clause (2)” each place it appears in the last proviso and inserting in lieu thereof “clause (2) or (3)”. (d) The second sentence of section 701 of the Housing Act of 1954 is amended to read as follows: “The Administrator is further authorized to make planning grants for similar planning work (1) in metropolitan and regional areas to official State, metropolitan, or regional planning agencies empowered under State or local laws to perform such planning; (2) to cities, other municipalities, and counties having a population of twenty-five thousand or more according to the latest decennial census which have suffered substantial damage as a 70 Stat. 1103 result of a flood, fire, hurricane, earthquake, storm, or other catastrophe which the President, pursuant to section 2 (a) of the Act entitled ‘An Act to authorize Federal assistance to States and local governments in major disasters, and for other purposes’ (Public Law 875, Eighty-first Congress, approved September 30, 1950), as amended, has determined to be a major disaster; and (3) to State planning agencies, to be used for the provision of planning assistance to the cities, other municipalities, and counties referred to in clause (2) hereof.”