House Passes Bills Covering Housing, Parks

WASHINGTON — A bill aimed at making homeownership easier and more affordable, particularly for low-income families, and a bill to change the way the government awards concessions contracts in national parks were approved Tuesday by the House.

The first bill would allow people who live in public housing to use their monthly “Section 8” assistance vouchers toward payments on a home. It also would authorize $1.6 billion for the Home Investments Partnerships Program through fiscal 2003. The program provides grants to states and local governments to help expand affordable housing.

The legislation, approved by a voice vote, now goes to the Senate.

The measure also would require the General Accounting Office, the investigative branch of Congress, to conduct a feasibility study on requiring inspections of single-family homes financed by the Federal Housing Administration before they are purchased. That provision was added after homeowners complained to lawmakers about discovering hidden problems with their homes only after signing the paperwork.

The concessions measure would eliminate a decades-old policy that gave preference to existing concessionaires and make the bidding process for contracts more competitive.

The measure passed by voice vote in the House. The Senate passed a similar measure in June, and the bill now goes back to the Senate to consider changes made by the House.

Rep. James V. Hansen (R-Utah), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee’s national parks subcommittee, said the bill’s provisions will help enhance the national parks.