2023 New York Laws › SNH - Special Needs Housing Act 261/88

SPECIAL NEEDS HOUSING ACT OF 1988
Section 1. Legislative findings and purpose.
2. Short title.
3. Definitions.
4. Contracts for single room housing projects.
5. General and administrative provisions.
Section  1.  Legislative  findings and purpose. The legislature hereby
finds  that  in  certain  municipalities  of  the  state  there   exists
substandard  and  unsanitary  housing due to obsolescence, deterioration
and  dilapidation  of  buildings  which  provide  single  room  dwelling
accommodations;  that  there  exists a need to provide safe and sanitary
single room dwelling accommodations for persons of low  income  who  are
unable  to live in self-contained apartments; that the present condition
is contrary to the public interest and  threatens  the  health,  safety,
welfare,  comfort  and security of the people of the state; and that the
public interest requires projects to  provide  for  the  reconstruction,
rehabilitation   and   improvement   of  such  existing  buildings.  The
legislature therefore finds  that  provision  should  be  made  for  the
housing trust fund corporation as established by section forty-five-a of
the   private  housing  finance  law  to  contract  with  not-for-profit
corporations for the accomplishment of such projects.
§ 2. Short title. This act shall be known and  may  be  cited  as  the
"Special needs housing act of nineteen hundred eighty-eight".
§  3.  Definitions.  (a) "Commissioner" shall mean the commissioner of
the state division of housing and community renewal.
(b) "Corporation" shall mean the housing  trust  fund  corporation  as
established by section forty-five-a of the private housing finance law.
(c)  "Single  room  housing  project"  shall  mean  a specific work or
improvement including lands, buildings and improvements acquired, owned,
rehabilitated or operated by a  not-for-profit  corporation  to  provide
single room housing accommodations to persons of low income.
(d)  "Persons  of lower income" shall mean those persons whose incomes
do not exceed eighty per centum of the median income for  the  area,  as
determined by the corporation.
§  4.  Contracts for single room housing projects. (a) The corporation
may enter  into  contracts  with  corporations  incorporated  under  the
not-for-profit corporation law for the carrying out by such corporations
of a single room housing project.
(b)  Prior  to  entering  into a contract pursuant to this section the
corporation shall  have  made  a  finding  that  the  corporation  which
proposes  to  contract  with the corporation is a bona fide organization
which shall have demonstrated by its past and current activities that it
has the ability to preserve, repair, maintain,  renovate,  rehabilitate,
manage  or  operate  single  room  housing  accommodations  and that the
project is to be substantially occupied by persons of lower income.
(c) Each contract entered into pursuant to this section shall  provide
for   payment  to  the  corporation  for  single  room  housing  project
activities to be carried out by it. The full amount of the contract,  or
any appropriate portion thereof, as determined by the corporation, shall
be  available  for payment at any time on or after the effective date of
the contract.
(d) No  more  than  fifty  percent  of  the  total  amount  originally
appropriated  pursuant to this act in any fiscal year shall be allocated
to projects located within any single municipality.
§ 5. General and administrative provisions. (a) The corporation  shall
provide for the review, at periodic intervals, of the performance of the
corporations   receiving  funding  pursuant  to  this  act  under  their
respective contracts with the corporation.  Such  reviews  shall,  among

other things, be for the purposes of ascertaining conformity to contract
provisions,  the financial integrity and efficiency of the corporations,
and the evaluation of the project. Contracts may be  terminated  by  the
corporation upon a finding of substantial nonperformance or other breach
by  the  corporation,  and contracts may be modified by mutual agreement
from time to time, in the light of actual performance,  new  or  changed
conditions, or otherwise.
(b)  The  corporation shall issue and promulgate rules and regulations
for the administration of this  section,  which  rules  and  regulations
shall  include  provisions concerning requirements as to eligibility for
contracting with the corporation; the form of applications or contracts;
supervision  and  evaluation  of  contracting  corporations;  reporting,
budgeting  and record keeping requirements; provisions for modification,
termination, extension and renewal of contracts; and such other  matters
not inconsistent with the purposes and provisions of this section as the
corporation shall deem necessary, proper or appropriate.
(d)  Every  contract entered into pursuant to this act shall contain a
provision that in the event the property which is the  subject  of  such
contract  cease  to  be  used  as  specified in the contract at any time
during the seven year period commencing with the date such  contract  is
executed, or in case of any other substantial violation, the corporation
may  terminate  the contract and may require the repayment of any moneys
previously advanced to such corporation pursuant to the  terms  of  such
contract.
(e)  The  corporation shall require submission of the names, addresses
and business background of the principals involved, the nature of  their
fiduciary  relationship  and their financial relationship, past, present
and future, to the project and to each other.
(f) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law,  the
director  of  the  budget is authorized to transfer to the housing trust
fund corporation funds otherwise appropriated or reappropriated for  the
purposes  of  the  special  needs housing act of 1988 to the division of
housing and community renewal for the fiscal  year  beginning  on  April
first,  nineteen hundred ninety, in an amount or amounts the director of
the budget determines as necessary.