Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 104 Part 5.djvu/763

 PUBLIC LAW 101-625—NOV. 28, 1990 104 STAT. 4085 TITLE I—GENERAL PROVISIONS AND POLICIES SEC. 101. THE NATIONAL HOUSING GOAL. 42 USC 12701. The Congress affirms the national goal that every American family be able to afford a decent home in a suitable environment. SEC. 102. OBJECTIVE OF NATIONAL HOUSING POLICY. 42 USC 12702. The objective of national housing policy shall be to reaffirm the long-established national commitment to decent, safe, and sanitary housing for every American by strengthening a nationwide partnership of public and private institutions able— (1) to ensure that every resident of the United States has access to decent shelter or assistance in avoiding homelessness; (2) to increase the Nation's supply of decent housing that is Eifibrdable to low-income and moderate-income families and accessible to job opportunities; (3) to improve housing opportunities for all residents of the United States, particularly members of disadvantaged minorities, on a nondiscriminatory basis; (4) to help make neighborhoods safe and livable; (5) to expand opportunities for homeownership; (6) to provide every American community with a reliable, readily available supply of mortgage finance at the lowest possible interest rates; and (7) to encourage tenant empowerment and reduce generational poverty in federally assisted and public housing by improving the means by which self-sufficiency may be achieved. SEC. 103. PURPOSES OF THE CRANSTON-GONZALEZ NATIONAL AFFORD- 42 USC 12703. ABLE HOUSING ACT. The purposes of this Act are— (1) to help families not owning a home to save for a down payment for the purchase of a home; (2) to retain wherever feasible as housing affordable to lowincome families those dwelling units produced for such purpose with Federal assistance; (3) to extend and strengthen partnerships among all levels of government and the private sector, including for-profit and nonprofit organizations, in the production and operation of housing affordable to low-income and moderate-income families; (4) to expand and improve Federal rental assistance for very low-income families; and (5) to increase the supply of supportive housing, which combines structural features and services needed to enable persons with special needs to live with dignity and independence. SEC. 104. DEFINITIONS. 42 USC 12704. As used in this title and in title XL (1) The term "unit of general local government" means a city, town, township, county, parish, village, or other general purpose political subdivision of a State; Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau, the Marshall Islands, or a general purpose political subdivision thereof; a consortium of such political subdivisions recognized by the Secretary in

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