- Consolidated Laws - Private Housing Finance
ARTICLE XVII
HOUSING AND COMMUNITY PRESERVATION
IN RURAL AREAS
Section 1001. Legislative findings and statement of policy.
1002. Definitions.
1003. Contracts with not-for-profit corporations for housing
preservation and community renewal activities.
1004. Payments pursuant to contracts.
1005. Enforcement of standards for contract performance.
1006. Technical services and assistance to corporations and
rural areas.
1007. Rules and regulations.
1008. Relationship to other laws.
1009. Annual report.
1010. Rural aging services.
S 1001. Legislative findings and statement of policy. The legislature
hereby finds and declares that there exist in certain rural areas of the
state significant unmet housing needs of persons and families of low or
moderate income, numerous housing units which are deteriorating or in
need of rehabilitation or improvement, and related factors demonstrating
a need for increased attention to housing preservation and community
revitalization in such areas. Meeting the housing and community renewal
needs of rural areas entails special problems arising from the dispersal
of population over wide areas, the existence of substandard areas in the
form of small, often isolated, pockets of poverty rather than massive
concentrations, the extremely limited resources of the small units of
local government involved, and other characteristics of these areas.
Locally based not-for-profit organizations can play a crucial role in
housing preservation and community revitalization. The public policy of
support for such organizations embodied in article sixteen of this
chapter, and the legislative findings set forth in such article, are
hereby reaffirmed. The legislature further finds and determines that the
needs of rural areas and of existing and potential not-for-profit
organizations serving such areas will be best met by a program of
support for such organizations and their activities similar to that in
article sixteen of this chapter but recognizing the distinctive
characteristics of such areas. It is the purpose of this article to
establish such a program within the division of housing and community
renewal.
It is further declared to be the public policy of the state that all
programs of housing and community assistance administered by the
division of housing and community renewal or other agencies should be
carried out with due regard for the special conditions in and needs of
the rural areas of the state.
S 1002. Definitions. As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the following meanings:
1. "Commissioner" shall mean the commissioner of the state division of
housing and community renewal.
2. "Division" shall mean the state division of housing and community
renewal.
3. "Rural area of the state" shall mean cities, towns and villages
having a population of less than twenty-five thousand.
4. "Region" shall mean those portions of the rural area of the state,
as specified in the contract entered into pursuant to this article,
within which housing and community renewal activities funded in part
pursuant to this article are to be carried out.
5. "Housing preservation and community renewal activities" include (a)
the new construction or the acquisition, maintenance, preservation,
repair, rehabilitation or other improvement of vacant or occupied
housing accommodations; demolition or sealing of vacant structures where
necessary or appropriate; disposition of housing accommodations to
present or potential occupants or co-operative organizations; training
or other forms of assistance to occupants of housing accommodations; and
management of housing accommodations as agent for the owners, receivers,
administrators or municipalities; (b) activities, similar to those
specified in paragraph (a) of this subdivision, aimed at accomplishing
similar purposes and meeting similar needs with respect to retail and
service establishments within a region when carried out in connection
with and incidental to a program of housing related activities.
6. "Persons of low income" shall mean individuals and families whose
annual incomes do not exceed ninety per cent of the median annual income
for all residents of the region within which they reside or a larger
area encompassing such region for which median annual income can be
determined.
S 1003. Contracts with not-for-profit corporations for housing
preservation and community renewal activities. 1. The commissioner may
enter into contracts with corporations incorporated pursuant to the
not-for-profit corporation law (or such law together with any other
applicable law) for the performance of housing preservation and
community renewal activities within a region, subject to the provisions
of this article.
2. Prior to entering into a contract with a corporation, the
commissioner shall have made a finding that the region in which the
activities are proposed to be conducted contains a significant amount of
deteriorating or substandard housing which is not being adequately
repaired, renovated, upgraded, modernized or rehabilitated under
existing programs so as to provide sound housing at costs which the
residents of such region can afford; that the corporation which proposes
to contract with the commissioner is a bona fide organization which
shall have been in existence either as a corporation or as an
unincorporated, organized group and performing significant housing
preservation and community renewal activities for at least one full year
prior to entering into any contract with the commissioner and which
shall have demonstrated by its immediate past and current activities
that it has the ability to preserve, repair, maintain, renovate,
rehabilitate, manage or operate housing accommodations or to engage in
other housing preservation and community renewal activities in such
region; that the housing preservation and community renewal activities
which are to be performed pursuant to the proposed contract are needed
by the region; and that the corporation possesses or will acquire or
gain access to the requisite staff, office facilities with direct access
to such region, equipment and expertise to enable it to perform the
activities which it proposes to undertake pursuant to such contract;
provided, however, that it shall not be a bar to the commissioner`s
contracting with a corporation that one or more other organizations, are
conducting housing preservation and community renewal activities wholly
or partially within the same region whether or not pursuant to contract
with the commissioner.
3. The commissioner may enter into a contract pursuant to this section
only if he determines:
(a) that the region proposed to be served by the applicant is an
appropriate portion of the rural area of the state for the performance
of activities pursuant to this article by a corporation;
(b) that such region contains significant unmet housing needs of
persons of low income, that a substantial portion of its population
consists of such persons, and that the housing stock in the region,
because of its age, deterioration, or other factors, requires
improvement in order to preserve the communities within the region;
(c) that the particular activities to be performed by the corporation
will meet one or more needs of the region and are reasonably calculated
to have a positive effect on regional preservation, stabilization or
improvement;
(d) that the corporation`s officers, directors and members are fairly
representative of the residents and other legitimate interests of the
region, that they may be expected to carry out the contract in a
responsible manner, and that a majority of the directors of the
corporation are residents of the region;
(f) that any fees received or proposed to be received by the
corporation in connection with its activities pursuant to the contract
are fair and reasonable;
(g) that the corporation will, to the extent possible, give preference
in hiring to residents of the region who are unemployed or
underemployed;
(h) that the corporation will, to the maximum extent feasible, dispose
of residential buildings owned or to be acquired by it to the occupants
thereof or to cooperative groups whose members shall be occupants
thereof; and
(i) that due consideration will be given to the interests of occupants
of properties owned or to be acquired by the corporation.
4. Contracts pursuant to this section shall be for a period of no more
than one year, but may be renewed or extended from year to year, and
shall provide for payment by the division of no more than one hundred
thousand dollars per year and shall be limited to the aggregate sum of
one million seven hundred sixty thousand dollars for a single
corporation, provided that in any year in which the aggregate sum of
three hundred thousand dollars shall have been reached and all
succeeding years, the annual contract amount shall be subject to a limit
of eighty thousand dollars per year; they shall define with
particularity the region or portion thereof within which the housing
preservation and community renewal activities shall be performed; they
shall specify the nature of the housing preservation and community
renewal activities which shall be performed including the approximate
number of buildings, residential dwelling units and local retail and
service establishments which shall be affected; they shall locate and
describe, with as much particularity as is reasonably possible, the
buildings with respect to which such activities shall be performed
during the contract term; and they shall specify the number of persons,
salaries or rates of compensation and a description of duties of those
who shall be engaged by the corporation to perform the activities
embraced by the contract together with a schedule of other anticipated
expenses.
5. Prior to renewing or extending a contract or entering a succeeding
contract with a corporation the division shall determine that:
(a) the corporation shall have substantially completed the housing
preservation and community renewal activities specified in the contract
to be renewed, extended, or succeeded;
(b) the corporation shall have received the sums, services, and funds
specified in subdivision four of section one thousand four of this
article; and
(c) the activities carried out by the corporation pursuant to its
contract shall have had a significant impact on the community`s needs as
specified in the contract.
6. Prior to terminating, not renewing or not extending a contract the
division shall:
(a) determine that the corporation is in violation of the terms and
conditions of the contract or that funds provided pursuant to the
contract are being expended in a manner not consistent with the terms of
the contract or the provisions of this article; or
(b) determine that necessary and appropriate technical assistance has
been provided without significant improvement in the activities of the
corporation; and
(c) provide the corporation with written notice, at least forty-five
days in advance, of its intent to terminate, not renew or not extend the
contract and provide the corporation with an opportunity to appear and
be heard before the division with respect to the reasons for such
proposed termination, non-renewal or non-extension. At the same time
that the corporation is notified of the division`s intent to terminate,
not renew or not extend the contract, the division shall likewise inform
the senate and assembly members who represent areas within such
corporation`s geographic boundaries.
7. The division shall establish, for renewal of contracts, a procedure
which provides the corporation with at least forty-five days notice of
the corporation`s obligations and rights in that process, informs the
corporation of the amount of the renewal contract, and facilitates the
timely execution of the contract and disbursement of funds.
8. The division may temporarily withhold payments and may elect not to
renew or extend a contract or enter a succeeding contract with any
not-for-profit corporation if the corporation is not in compliance with
its contract, has without good cause failed to submit documentation
required under contract or requested by the division to make the
determinations required under subdivision five of this section or has
not satisfied any other conditions consistent with this article for
renewing or extending a contract or entering a succeeding contract.
S 1004. Payments pursuant to contracts. 1. Each contract entered into
pursuant to this article shall provide for payment to the corporation
for the housing preservation and community renewal activities to be
performed by it.
2. Payments pursuant to this section shall be restricted to sums
required for the compensation of persons employed by, and consultants
retained by, the corporation for the performance of the activities
covered by the contract and other costs and expenses directly related to
such employees and consultants.
3. No part of any such payment shall be used to defray in whole or in
part the cost of acquisition, improvement, rehabilitation, operation or
demolition of any building or other structure, but this provision shall
not prohibit the use of such funds for planning any such activity or for
the expenses of providing office and related facilities for the
corporation for use in carrying out its activities pursuant to the
contract. Payments shall be made by the division to the corporation at
such periods, not less frequently than semi-annually, as shall be
provided in the contract. Such payments shall be made at or prior to the
commencement of each such time period, to compensate the corporation for
the activities which are to be carried out during such time period
provided, that with respect to contracts entered into on or after June
thirtieth, nineteen hundred ninety-seven the first such payment shall be
made by the division beginning on or after July first of the fiscal year
for which an appropriation in support of such payment was made and
provided further that the final such payment to the corporation shall be
made no later than March thirty-first of such fiscal year, unless such
payment has been withheld pursuant to subdivision eight of section one
thousand three of this article.
4. In negotiating each contract, the division shall consider and take
into account any and all other sums available or anticipated to be made
available to the corporation from any and all sources which may be used
to defray the costs of the housing preservation and community renewal
activities set forth in the contract, including, without limitation,
fees generated by the management of housing accommodations,
contributions from private foundations, corporations, firms and
individuals and funds received under grants and contracts pursuant to
any program or programs operated or administered by any governmental
agency or instrumentality and shall make a determination that the sums
available or anticipated to be made available for the corporation from
such other sources, together with the value of services to be rendered
for the benefit of the corporation for which payment is not required to
be made by such corporation, amount to at least thirty-three and
one-third percent of the amount of such contract.
S 1005. Enforcement of standards for contract performance. 1. The
division shall by regulation provide for formal evaluation of the
performance of a corporation to determine its progress in achieving the
objectives outlined in the annual housing preservation and community
renewal plan contained in its contract with the division. Such
evaluation shall include a review of the efforts of the corporation to
execute each of the components of its plan and a consultation between
the corporation and the division regarding the findings of the division
relative to performance. The division shall provide or cause to be
provided technical assistance determined to be necessary by the division
to improve the ability of the corporation to execute each of the
components of its plan. Such evaluation and determination of the need
for technical assistance shall consider the financial and staff
resources of the corporation for the period evaluated and any special
considerations which may have had an impact on performance during the
period.
2. If the division determines that a corporation has not made
sufficient progress toward achieving the objectives of its annual
housing preservation and community renewal plan the division shall
conduct a site visit to review these findings and, if warranted, shall
place the corporation on probation.
3. The division shall terminate or not renew or not extend a contract
in accordance with provisions of subdivision seven of section one
thousand three of this article if the commissioner determines that the
performance of a corporation is not sufficient to merit continued
participation in the program.
4. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the commissioner may terminate any
contract upon a finding of substantial non-compliance or other
substantial breach of the contract.
S 1006. Technical services and assistance to corporations and rural
areas. 1. In accordance with the policy of this article, the division
shall encourage the creation, development and strengthening of new
not-for-profit corporations to perform housing preservation and
community renewal activities in the rural areas of the state, and is
authorized to take all steps necessary to that end. The division shall
provide technical services and assistance to not-for-profit corporations
seeking to serve the housing or community renewal needs of rural areas,
to better enable such corporations to meet the requirements of, and
obtain funding under this article or any other program of governmental
assistance, federal, state or local, to carry out their present and
proposed activities, and otherwise to further the purposes and policy of
this article. Such services and assistance may be provided through the
division`s own personnel and facilities, through contractual services,
or otherwise.
2. The affordable housing corporation or the housing trust fund
corporation, as the case may be, shall provide an incentive grant to
each corporation that is awarded a contract pursuant to article eighteen
or nineteen of this chapter. Such incentive grants shall consist of the
payment of an additional sum of money equal to three percent of the
amount payable to such corporation pursuant to each contract provided,
however, that such payment shall not be counted against the per dwelling
unit total imposed by subdivision one of section eleven hundred two of
this chapter or the per dwelling unit limitation imposed by subdivision
one of section eleven hundred twelve of this chapter, and provided
further that such additional amount shall not exceed forty thousand
dollars per contract. Such incentive grant shall be utilized either for
purposes consistent with the provisions of this article or for the cost
of housing preservation and community renewal activities related to such
contract and shall not be subject to the limitation on the amount of
funds which may be received by corporations contained in subdivision
four of section one thousand three of this article. Such incentive grant
shall be added to and considered a payment under the contract for
purposes of allocating funds to any single municipality.
S 1007. Rules and regulations. The commissioner shall issue rules and
regulations for the administration of this article. Such rules and
regulations shall include provisions concerning requirements as to
eligibility for contracting with the commissioner; the form of
applications for contracts; supervision and evaluation of corporations
which contract with the commissioner including standards and performance
criteria for continued, increased or decreased funding to insure the
corporations meet the objectives of this article and the objectives
outlined in their housing preservation and community renewal plans;
reporting, budgeting and record keeping requirements; provisions for
renegotiation, modification, termination, extension and renewal of
contracts, which provisions shall include the bases for funding
increases from the preceding contract including, but not be limited to,
performance which exceeds minimum performance criteria and provisions
for probationary periods where appropriate; provisions for technical
services and assistance to such corporations within the limits of
available funding; protection of the interests of tenants in buildings
owned or managed by such corporations; and may include any provisions,
not inconsistent with the provisions of this article or other applicable
law, which the commissioner deems necessary or appropriate to carry out
the policy and purposes of this article. Such rules and regulations
shall prohibit any corporation receiving funds under contracts entered
into pursuant to this article (i) from engaging in any activities
promoting any political candidate or party or (ii) from expending any
such funds in activities the purpose of which is to influence
legislation.
S 1008. Relationship to other laws. Nothing in this article shall be
deemed to deny or limit the right of any corporation to seek or receive
assistance under, or otherwise participate in, any other program
pursuant to this chapter, or any other governmental program relating to
housing or community renewal. Nothing in this article shall be deemed to
deny or limit the right of any corporation to carry out any program or
service through a subsidiary corporation or other instrumentality.
S 1009. Annual report. The commissioner shall, on or before December
thirty-first in each year submit a report to the legislature on the
implementation of this article. Such report shall include, but not be
limited to, for each company receiving payments under this article: a
description of such company`s contract amount and cumulative total; the
specific housing and community preservation activities in rural areas
performed by such company; the findings required by the commissioner
under subdivision two of section one thousand three of this article; the
amounts of monies received by the company from sources other than
payments made pursuant to this article; the value of services rendered
for the benefit of the company for which payment is not required to be
made; and such other information as the commissioner deems appropriate.
S 1010. Rural aging services. Housing preservation and community
renewal activities which are otherwise eligible under subdivision five
of section one thousand two of this article, but which are or have been
funded under the rural aging services program operated jointly by the
division and the state office for the aging, shall not be subject to the
limitation on the amount of funds which may be received by corporations
contained in subdivision four of section one thousand three of this
article. All provisions otherwise applicable to funds received under
section one thousand three of this article shall also apply to funds
received under this section.
