(a) The proposed project or program will make home ownership,
rehabilitation or home improvement affordable to persons who cannot
afford to own, rehabilitate or improve homes by relying upon the
ordinary unaided operation of private enterprise.
(b) There shall be criteria, satisfactory to the corporation, which
provide for maximum income limitations or a system of income targeting
designed to ensure that home buyers who benefit from financial
assistance provided pursuant to this article would be unable to acquire,
rehabilitate or improve homes by relying upon the ordinary unaided
operation of private enterprise.
(c) The payments, grants and loans provided by grantees pursuant to
this article will be supplemented by private or other public investment
and the payments, grants and loans provided by the grantee are the least
necessary to make home ownership, rehabilitation or home improvement
affordable to the income group to be served by the proposed project or
program.
(d) The proposed project or projects, if not built or rehabilitated by
a not-for-profit corporation, will be built or rehabilitated by a
private developer/builder who has agreed to limit his profit in
accordance with a formula, satisfactory to the corporation, which has
been established by the grantee.
(e) The proposed project or program will provide assistance in an area
which is blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating, or has a blighting
influence on the surrounding area, or is in danger of becoming a slum or
a blighted area because of the existence of substandard, insanitary,
deteriorating or deteriorated conditions, an aged housing stock, or
vacant non-residential property, or other factors indicating an
inability or unwillingness of the private sector unaided to cause the
construction, rehabilitation or home improvement for which payments,
grants and loans under this article is provided.
(f) Home buyers will occupy homes as their principal place of
residence and funds provided for the benefit of the home buyer will be
recaptured by the grantee if the home buyer does not occupy the home as
the home buyer's principal place of residence under the terms and
conditions of a formula established or approved by the corporation.
(g) In the case of a rehabilitation or home improvement program, the
majority of payments, grants and loans provided for each home shall be
used to perform work which prolongs the useful life of the home or shall
be used to correct basic structural defects or to repair basic building
systems which threaten or if not corrected or repaired could threaten
the health and safety of the dwelling's residents.
(h) 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.
(i) Eligible applicants receiving awards pursuant to this article for
homes located in cities with a population of one hundred thousand or
more shall provide preference to homebuyers who are members of a police
force of such city, provided that such city has adopted a local law
authorizing such preference.
(j) In the case of projects that receive an award of over forty
thousand dollars, the grantee may establish resale restrictions
requiring the sale of the unit or units receiving such funding through a
grant from the corporation be purchased only by qualified low-income
homebuyers extending for a period of at least sixty years, but no more
than ninety-nine years, and the grantee may ensure this resale
restriction by use of deed restrictions, community land trusts, or
limited-equity cooperative ownership structure.
3. In determining awards pursuant to this article the corporation
shall give preference to applications based upon the extent to which the
proposed program or project will:
(a) Serve the lowest income households in the applicable region and is
designed to continue to be affordable to such households for a
substantial period of time.
(b) Leverage private and other public investment so as to reduce the
amount of assistance provided pursuant to this article which is
necessary to operate or establish the program or project.
(c) Contribute to the development of the neighborhood or community in
which the program or project is located.
(d) Not directly displace current low and moderate income residents of
such neighborhood or community.
(e) Be undertaken and completed in a timely fashion.
(f) Utilize innovative, cost effective design techniques and building
materials, which reduce construction, rehabilitation or operating costs
including, but not limited to factory built or modular homes.
(g) Be located on a brownfield site that has received a certificate of
completion.
3-a. In determining awards pursuant to this article, the corporation
shall establish tiered project funding levels based on length and depth
of affordability.
4. The corporation shall not provide a grant to an eligible applicant
pursuant to this article unless the corporation determines that there is
a strong probability that the private investment in the applicant's
proposed program would not be made without the grant and that the grant
will not substitute for private funds which would be otherwise available
to the program.
5. The corporation shall provide for the review, at periodic intervals
not less than annually, of the performance of grantees 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
grantees and the evaluation of the grantees' activities. Contracts
entered into pursuant to this article may be terminated, funds may be
withheld and unspent funds recaptured by the corporation upon a finding
of substantial nonperformance or breach by the grantee of its
obligations under its contract.
Structure New York Laws