Relocation Assistance Act

The Relocation Assistance Act governs the assistance owed to people displaced by government programs — including displacement caused by public acquisition of property, housing or construction code enforcement, voluntary rehabilitation, or an emergency such as a fire in a multiple dwelling. It obligates displacing agencies to make relocation payments covering moving and related expenses and the added cost of replacement housing for both homeowners and tenants, to operate advisory programs that help displaced persons relocate, and to assure that standard housing is available, providing it directly when suitable housing for sale or rent is not. The act also establishes the machinery behind those duties: a revolving fund and loans to finance relocation and replacement housing, state participation in the cost of local payments and services, recovery of relocation costs from owners whose code violations caused the displacement, and an appeal process for contested payments, with relocation payments treated as additional to any condemnation award and disregarded as income or resources in determining eligibility for other benefits.

Editorial summary generated from the text of this act. It is not part of the statute — read the sections below for the operative language.