Federal Property Available for Housing

Federal buildings and land that are not being used by the government can now be converted into permanent housing for poor people because of a law signed by President Clinton this month.

Providers of low-cost housing will be able to buy or lease the property at a discount of at least 75 per cent.

The law allows charities and state- and local-government agencies to apply to the Department of Housing and Urban Development for the use of property that the government no longer needs. However, the federal department has not yet issued guidelines explaining how organizations should apply.

Laurel Weir, policy director for the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, a Washington group that pushed for the new law, said that the surplus properties could include vacant government office buildings, abandoned Coast Guard housing, or closed post offices, among other places.

“A lot of it is vacant federal land that is just sitting around,” Ms. Weir said.

Since 1987, unwanted federal property could be used for temporary housing, medical care, and other services for the homeless. But permanent housing was not expressly permitted.

For more information about the new law, contact the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, 918 F Street, N.W., Suite 412, Washington 20004; (202) 628-2737.