Declaration of policy and public housing agency organization

It is the policy of the United States— to promote the general welfare of the Nation by employing the funds and credit of the Nation, as provided in this chapter— Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3), the membership of the board of directors or similar governing body of each public housing agency shall contain not less than 1 member— Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any public housing agency— with less than 300 public housing units, if— A covered agency (as such term is defined in subparagraph (C) of this paragraph) shall not be required to include on the board of directors or a similar governing board of such agency a member described in paragraph (1). Each covered agency that administers Federal housing assistance under section 1437f of this title that chooses not to include a member described in paragraph (1) on the board of directors or a similar governing board of the agency shall establish an advisory board of not less than 6 residents of public housing or recipients of assistance under section 1437f of this title to provide advice and comment to the agency or other administering entity on issues related to public housing and section 1437f of this title. Such advisory board shall meet not less than quarterly. For purposes of this paragraph, the term “covered agency” means a public housing agency or such other entity that administers Federal housing assistance for— No person shall be prohibited from serving on the board of directors or similar governing body of a public housing agency because of the residence of that person in a public housing project or status as assisted under section 1437f of this title.