The powers conferred by this chapter shall be exercised by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (hereinafter referred to as the “Secretary”). In order to carry out the provisions of this subchapter and subchapters II, III, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX–B, and X, the Secretary may establish such agencies, accept and utilize such voluntary and uncompensated services, utilize such Federal officers and employees, and, with the consent of the State, such State and local officers and employees, and appoint such other officers and employees as he may find necessary, and may prescribe their authorities, duties, responsibilities, and tenure and fix their compensation. The Secretary may delegate any of the functions and powers conferred upon him under this subchapter and subchapters II, III, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX–B, and X to such officers, agents, and employees as he may designate or appoint, and may make such expenditures (including expenditures for personal services and rent at the seat of government and elsewhere, for law books and books of reference, and for paper, printing, and binding) as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this subchapter and subchapters II, III, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX–B, and X, without regard to any other provisions of law governing the expenditure of public funds. All such compensation, expenses, and allowances shall be paid out of funds made available by this chapter: Provided, That notwithstanding any other provisions of law except provisions of law hereafter enacted expressly in limitation hereof, all expenses of the Department of Housing and Urban Development in connection with the examination and insurance of loans or investments under any subchapter of this chapter all properly capitalized expenditures, and other necessary expenses not attributable to general overhead in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles shall be considered nonadministrative and payable from funds made available by this chapter, except that, unless made pursuant to specific authorization by the Congress therefor, expenditures made in any fiscal year pursuant to this proviso, other than the payment of insurance claims and other than expenditures (including services on a contract or fee basis, but not including other personal services) in connection with the acquisition, protection, completion, operation, maintenance, improvement, or disposition of real or personal property of the Department acquired under authority of this chapter, shall not exceed 35 per centum of the income received by the Department of Housing and Urban Development from premiums and fees during the preceding fiscal year. Except with respect to subchapter III, for the purposes of this section, the term “nonadministrative” shall not include contract expenses that are not capitalized or routinely deducted from the proceeds of sales, and such expenses shall not be payable from funds made available by this chapter. The Secretary shall, in carrying out the provisions of this subchapter and subchapters II, III, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX–B, and X, be authorized, in his official capacity, to sue and be sued in any court of competent jurisdiction, State or Federal.

(a) Authority to insure financial institutions

The Secretary is authorized and empowered upon such terms and conditions as he may prescribe, to insure banks, trust companies, personal finance companies, mortgage companies, building and loan associations, installment lending companies and other such financial institutions, which the Secretary finds to be qualified by experience or facilities and approves as eligible for credit insurance, against losses which they may sustain as a result of loans and advances of credit, and purchases of obligations representing loans and advances of credit, made by them for the purpose of (i) financing alterations, repairs, and improvements upon or in connection with existing structures or manufactured homes, and the building of new structures, upon urban, suburban, or rural real property (including the restoration, rehabilitation, rebuilding, and replacement of such improvements which have been damaged or destroyed by earthquake, conflagration, tornado, hurricane, cyclone, flood, or other catastrophe), by the owners thereof or by lessees of such real property under a lease expiring not less than six months after the maturity of the loan or advance of credit; and for the purpose of (ii) financing the purchase of a manufactured home to be used by the owner as his principal residence or financing the purchase of a lot on which to place such home and paying expenses reasonably necessary for the appropriate preparation of such lot, including the installation of utility connections, sanitary facilities, and paving, and the construction of a suitable pad, or financing only the acquisition of such a lot either with or without such preparation by an owner of a manufactured home; and for the purpose of financing the preservation of historic structures, and, as used in this section, the term “historic structures” means residential structures which are registered in the National Register of Historic Places or which are certified by the Secretary of the Interior to conform to National Register criteria; and the term “preservation” means restoration or rehabilitation undertaken for such purposes as are approved by the Secretary in regulations issued by him, after consulting with the Secretary of the Interior. Other than in connection with a manufactured home or a lot on which to place such a home (or both), in no case sh

For the purposes of carrying out the provisions of this subchapter and subchapters II and III, the President, in his discretion, is authorized to provide such funds or any portion thereof by allotment to the Secretary from any funds that are available, or may hereafter be made available, to the President for emergency purposes.

Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to exempt any real property acquired and held by the Secretary in connection with the payment of insurance heretofore or hereafter granted under this subchapter from taxation by any State or political subdivision thereof, to the same extent, according to its value, as other real property is taxed.

The provisions of sections 1703 and 1706c of this title shall be applicable in the several States and Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands.