Federal Lands

Views on H.R. 2941--A Bill to Improve Housing for Employees of Land Management Agencies Gao ID: T-RCED-96-110 March 26, 1996

Proposed legislation before Congress--H.R. 2941--would improve employee housing within the federal land management agencies. This testimony focuses on the National Park Service, which, with 4,700 units, is the largest of all the land management agencies. GAO testified that about 11 percent of the Park Service's housing inventory was in poor or obsolete condition. Moreover, the Park Service's backlog of repair, maintenance, and replacement needs may exceed $500 million. Insufficient rental income from employees and competing demands for limited operating funds are the main reasons for the backlog. H.R. 2941 contains provisions that would help address some of these problems by providing the Park Service with greater authority to enter into alternative financing arrangements and by requiring the agency to obtain more-detailed information on the scope, the depth, and the justification for its housing needs.



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