Labor standards

The Secretary shall not insure under section 1713 or section 1715a of this title or under section 1743 of this title pursuant to any application for insurance filed subsequent to the effective date of this section, or under section 1715e of this title, or under subchapter VII pursuant to any application filed subsequent to sixty days after April 20, 1950, or under section 1748b or 1748h–2 of this title, or under section 1750g of this title, a mortgage or investment which covers property on which there is or is to be located a dwelling or dwellings, or a housing project, the construction of which was or is to be commenced subsequent to such date, unless the principal contractor files a certificate or certificates (at such times, in course of construction or otherwise, as the Secretary may prescribe) certifying that the laborers and mechanics employed in the construction of the dwelling or dwellings or the housing project involved have been paid not less than the wages prevailing in the locality in which the work was performed for the corresponding classes of laborers and mechanics employed on construction of a similar character, as determined by the Secretary of Labor, in accordance with sections 3141–3144, 3146, and 3147 of title 40, prior to the beginning of construction and after the date of the filing of the application for insurance. The provisions of this section shall also apply to the insurance of any loan or mortgage under section 1715k or section 1715x of this title which covers property on which there is located a dwelling or dwellings designed principally for residential use for twelve or more families. The provisions of this section shall apply to the insurance under section 1715l of this title of any mortgage described in subsection (d)(3) or (d)(4) and (deeming the term “construction” as used in the first sentence of this subsection to mean rehabilitation) of any mortgage described in subsection (h)(1) or section 1715z(j)(1) of this title which covers property on which there is located a dwelling or dwellings designed principally for residential use for more than eight families; except that compliance with such provisions may be waived by the Secretary—