House Approves $65 Billion to Revamp Public Housing : Legislation: Besieged big-city projects would get better tenant screening, anti-crime plans. Bill wins bipartisan support and is expected to pass Senate.

Acting with rare bipartisan accord, the House overwhelmingly approved a $65-billion housing bill Friday that would authorize new efforts to revitalize embattled public housing programs, including innovative methods to deal with crime.

The legislation, passed 345 to 36, also would raise the maximum Federal Housing Administration loan for single-family homes in high-cost areas from $151,725 to $172,675, allowing more moderate-income families to take advantage of lower down payments on government-backed mortgages.

The two-year authorization measure now goes to the Senate where its approval appears likely.

Most of the policy changes were designed to stabilize public housing, permitting officials for the first time to screen tenants and applicants for criminal records as well as modifying rent rules that now discourage residents from getting or keeping a job.

Many big-city public housing projects have been plagued by drug problems and gang violence. In addition, critics contend, federal rules have tended to drive working families out of the projects, leaving behind a concentration of families dependent on welfare benefits.

A new program, known as Community Partnerships Against Crime, or COMPAC, would earmark $625 million for public housing authorities to develop and carry out crime-fighting plans, including installation of security fences, lighting, locks and metal detectors.

Another change would permit eviction of tenants who threaten the health and safety of their public housing neighbors, a particular problem in buildings where young adults with disabilities are housed together with elderly people.

The legislation would also alter a rent-setting formula that critics said discourages work or advancement to a higher-paying job. Current law provides that tenants must pay 30% of their adjusted income as rent, with rent increasing as earnings rise.

The bill would permit employed tenants to exclude 20% of their pay in calculating their adjusted income and freeze for two years the rent paid by an unemployed tenant who gets a job. Pay of young adults, 18 to 21 years old, would not be counted as income if they lived with their families.

“This will hopefully be an impetus for families to empower themselves to improve their employment and financial condition,” said Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa), ranking Republican on the House Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee. “It is these types of improvements that will sustain a public housing development with an improved income-mixed population, which ultimately stabilizes a community.”

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), chief sponsor of the revised rent formula, said that it “represents a shift in the housing discussion from one based on ideology to one based on the real-life problems of people and communities.”

Big-city public housing authorities would also have greater flexibility to demolish run-down or obsolete units and replace them with housing in nearby suburbs, a policy revision advocated by Henry G. Cisneros, secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Under existing law, which requires immediate replacement of all units torn down, large numbers of obsolete buildings have been boarded up and left standing rather than being demolished because funds for replacement units were not available.

Provisions of the House-passed bill would allow greater flexibility, permitting housing officials to use 50% of the money originally intended to modernize existing units to acquire replacement units instead.

In another change, the bill would permit big-city housing authorities to build new units in the suburbs, so long as they are within the same housing market. The aim is to avoid concentration of public housing in inner cities.

Despite the well-publicized troubles of public housing projects, the House approved $1.2 billion to build another 7,000 units, plus 2,715 units for Native Americans. A total of $6.4 billion was earmarked for modernization of existing units.

In another major change, the bill would authorize $2.5 billion over the next two years for a comprehensive attack on homelessness, including emergency shelter grants, transitional housing assistance and other care programs.

The bill would require that at least half of the funds received by state and local governments must be passed on to private, nonprofit groups that actually deal with the homeless.

Rep. Jay C. Kim (R-Diamond Bar) won House approval for an amendment to ban the Federal Emergency Management Agency from providing emergency housing aid to illegal immigrants. The House later modified the ban, however, voting 235 to 0 to exempt natural disasters from the ban.