- Consolidated Laws - Private Housing Finance
ARTICLE XVI-A
URBAN INITIATIVES
Section 920. Statement of legislative findings and purpose.
921. Definitions.
922. Urban initiative contracts.
923. General and administrative provisions.
924. Transfer of authority, administration and appropriations.
S 920. Statement of legislative findings and purpose. The legislature
hereby finds and declares that there exists in New York state a serious
need for the restoration and improvement of housing, local commercial
areas and public facilities in distressed urban neighborhoods and that
the state should encourage the revitalization of such neighborhoods;
that not-for-profit community-based organizations and charitable
organizations that have a direct interest in improving the health,
safety and economic viability of a distressed urban neighborhood can
play a crucial role in such revitalization; the legislature therefore
finds that a program should be established to fund not-for-profit
community-based organizations and charitable organizations to improve
distressed urban neighborhoods by preserving existing housing units,
generating new housing units, upgrading commercial and retail areas, and
by creating innovative approaches to neighborhood and community
revitalization which improve cultural and community facilities and
spirit.
S 921. Definitions. As used in this article:
1. "Commissioner" shall mean the commissioner of the state division of
housing and community renewal.
2. "Division" shall mean the division of housing and community
renewal.
3. "Eligible applicant" shall mean a not-for-profit corporation or
charitable organization, organized for a period of one or more years,
which is either incorporated under the not-for-profit corporation law
(or such law together with any other applicable law) or, if
unincorporated, is not organized for the private profit or benefit of
its members and has been engaged primarily in community preservation
activities.
4. "Municipality" shall mean any unit of local government within the
state with a population of more than twenty thousand persons.
5. "Neighborhood" shall mean an area within the municipality
identified by recognized or established boundaries consistent with a
determination of neighborhood eligibility under article sixteen of this
chapter.
6. "Urban initiatives projects" or "projects" shall mean a specific
work or series of works for the revitalization and improvement of a
neighborhood through creation, preservation or improvement of
residential housing units; preservation or improvement of local
commercial facilities and public facilities or other aspects of the area
environment which include as part of its project the creation,
preservation or improvement of residential housing units.
7. "Persons of low income" shall mean those persons and families whose
incomes do not exceed eighty percent of the median income for the
metropolitan statistical area in which a project is located.
8. "Corporation" shall mean the housing trust fund corporation
established in section forty-five-a of this chapter.
9. "Division urban initiatives program" shall mean the program
heretofore administered by the division pursuant to appropriations and
reappropriations for the purposes of urban initiatives programs.
S 922. Urban initiative contracts. 1. Within the limit of funds
available in the urban initiative program, the corporation is hereby
authorized to enter into contracts with eligible applicants to provide
state financial assistance for the project costs attributable to urban
initiatives projects within neighborhoods. The state financial
assistance shall be either in the form of payments, grants or loans, as
the corporation shall determine. No more than fifty percent of the total
amount appropriated pursuant to this article in any fiscal year shall be
allocated to urban initiatives projects located within any single
municipality.
2. The total state payment pursuant to any one contract shall not
exceed two hundred thousand dollars and the contract shall provide for
completion of the project within a reasonable period, as specified
therein which shall not in any event exceed two years from its
commencement.
3. The corporation shall require that, in order to receive funds
pursuant to this article, the eligible applicant must submit an
operating plan which shall include but not be limited to project
feasibility, leveraging, impact on the community, group capability, and
affirmative action and minority business participation. Such plan shall
be submitted pursuant to a request for proposals issued by the
corporation.
4. The eligible applicant which proposes to contract with the
corporation shall be a bona fide organization or a successor
organization with appropriate experience in community revitalization
activities and shall demonstrate by its immediate past and current
activities that it has, or shows that it can acquire, the capability and
expertise to successfully complete the proposed project. The eligible
applicant`s officers, directors and members must be representative of
the residents and other legitimate interests of the neighborhood.
5. Occupant selection procedures shall be established which provide
that any lawful occupants who live in a project prior to rehabilitation
shall not be displaced as a result of such rehabilitation, other than
temporarily, in which case suitable relocation arrangements shall be
provided, and that any additional occupants who move into a project are
persons of low income. Preference in selection of such additional
occupants (i) shall be given to persons or families with the lowest
incomes possible, given the income requirements of the project; and (ii)
shall also be given to persons or families whose current housing fails
to meet basic standards of health and safety and who have little
prospect of improving the condition of their housing except by residing
in a project receiving payments, grants or loans under this article.
6. For any application for such a contract under this article, the
corporation shall provide the applicant with a list of conditions that
must be met prior to entering into a contract pursuant to this article.
Within fifteen working days of receipt by the corporation of all
documents in satisfaction of the list, the corporation shall notify the
applicant of the sufficiency or insufficiency of the documents. After
satisfaction by the applicant of all conditions required by the
corporation prior to entering into a contract the corporation shall
enter into the contract within forty-five working days of satisfaction
of such conditions.
S 923. General and administrative provisions. 1. The corporation shall
issue and promulgate rules and regulations for the administration of
this article. The rules and regulations shall include provisions
concerning the eligibility of applicants for payments, grants and loans
under this article; funding criteria and the funding determination
process; supervision and evaluation of contracting applicants;
reporting, budgeting and record-keeping requirements; provisions for
modification and termination of contracts; and such other matters not
inconsistent with the purposes and provisions of this article as the
corporation shall deem necessary or appropriate.
2. The corporation shall provide for the review, at periodic
intervals, of the performance of the not-for-profit corporations and
charitable organizations receiving financial assistance pursuant to this
article. Such review shall, among other things, be for the purposes of
ascertaining conformity to contractual provisions, the financial
integrity and efficiency of the organizations and the evaluation of the
project.
S 924. Transfer of authority, administration and appropriations. 1. On
and after the effective date of this article, all obligations of the
division with respect to the division urban initiatives program shall
become the obligations of the corporation and the corporation shall be
responsible for the administration of the division urban initiatives
program. The division shall provide for the orderly transfer of all
matters, records and things relating to such program to the corporation.
2. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law, the
director of the budget is authorized to transfer to the corporation
funds otherwise appropriated or reappropriated for the purposes of the
division urban initiatives program from the division of housing and
community renewal.
3. All rules, regulations, acts, determinations and decisions of the
division or the commissioner with respect to the administration of the
division urban initiatives program in force on the effective date of
this section shall continue in force and effect as rules, regulations,
acts, determinations and decisions of the corporation until duly
modified or rescinded by the corporation.
