2023 New York Laws › PVH - Private Housing Finance › Article 19 - Affordable Home Ownership Development Program › 1112 - Affordable Home Ownership Development Contracts.

§  1112.  Affordable  home ownership development contracts.  1. Within
the limit of funds  available  in  the  affordable  housing  development
account,  the  corporation  is hereby authorized to enter into contracts
with eligible applicants to provide grants which such  applicants  shall
use to finance affordable home ownership development programs subject to
the  terms  and  conditions  of  this  article. Any grants received by a
municipality hereunder shall  not  be  deemed  to  be  municipal  funds.
Grantees shall utilize funds provided pursuant to this article solely as
payments,  grants  and  loans  to  owners  to  reduce  the  costs of new
construction,  rehabilitation  or  home  improvement  or  the  cost   of
acquisition,  but  only  where such acquisition is part of an affordable
home  ownership  development  program  or  project   to   construct   or
rehabilitate  homes,  or  as otherwise authorized by law. Such financial
assistance may be in the form of loans, participation in loans including
but not limited to participation in  loans  originated  or  financed  by
lending  institutions  as  defined in section forty-two of this chapter,
private or public employee pension  funds  or  the  state  of  New  York
mortgage  agency, or grants, on such terms and conditions as the grantee
with the approval of the corporation shall determine, provided  that  no
such  payments,  grants  and  loans shall exceed the lesser of (i) sixty
percent of the project cost for projects involving  acquisition  or  one
hundred  percent  of  rehabilitation  programs  without  an  acquisition
component or (ii) the following per dwelling unit limitations (A)  fifty
thousand  dollars for projects except as provided in subparagraph (B) of
this paragraph or (B) up to seventy-five thousand  dollars  for  a  high
cost  project  or  a  project which will receive a loan from the federal
farmers home administration. Up to ten percent of the program or project
cost may be used  for  grantee  operating  expenses  including  expenses
related  to the organization operating support and administration of the
contract.  Among  the  criteria  the  corporation  shall   consider   in
determining  whether  a project is a high cost project are: average cost
of construction in the area, location of the project, and the impact  of
the  additional  funding  on  the  affordability  of the project for the
occupants of such project. No more  than  fifty  percent  of  the  total
amount appropriated pursuant to this article in any fiscal year shall be
allocated to homes located within any single municipality.
2.  The corporation shall not enter into a contract under this article
except with an eligible applicant which  has  submitted  an  application
pursuant  to  a  request  for  proposals issued by the corporation which
application contains a plan acceptable to the corporation which provides
that:
(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.