2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE SEVENTEEN - Housing (§§ 1 — 1546) › Chapter 3 - Housing Authorities (§§ 31 — 77) › § 38 - Housing Authorities law—Powers of authorities

The authority shall constitute a public body corporate and politic exercising public and essential governmental functions, and having all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of §§ 31—38, 39—45, 46—55 of this title, including the following powers in addition to others herein granted:
(a) To sue and to be sued; to have a seal and to alter the same at pleasure; to have perpetual succession; to make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers of the authority; and to make and from time to time amend and repeal bylaws, rules and regulations, not inconsistent with §§ 31—38, 39—45, 46—55 of this title, to carry into effect the powers and purposes of the authority.
(b) Within its area of operation: to prepare, carry out, acquire, lease and operate housing projects; to provide for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, alteration or repair of any housing project or any part thereof.
(c) To arrange or contract for the furnishing by any person or agency, public or private, of services, privileges, works, or facilities for, or in connection with, a housing project or the occupants thereof; and, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in §§ 31—38, 39—45, 46—55 of this title or in any other provision of law, to agree to any conditions attached to federal financial assistance relating to the determination of prevailing salaries or wages or payment of not less than prevailing salaries or wages or compliance with labor standards, in the development or administration of projects, and to include in any contract let in connection with a project, stipulations requiring that the contractor and any subcontractors comply with requirements as to minimum salaries or wages and maximum hours of labor, and comply with any conditions attached to financial aid of a project.
(d) To lease or rent any dwellings, houses, accommodations, lands, buildings, structures or facilities embraced in any housing project and, subject to the limitations contained in §§ 31—38, 39—45, 46—55 of this title, to establish and revive the rents or charges therefor; to own, hold, and improve real or personal property; to purchase, lease, obtain options upon, acquire by gift, grant, bequest, devise, or otherwise any real or personal property or any interest therein; to acquire by the exercise of the power of eminent domain any real property; to sell, lease, exchange, transfer, assign, pledge or dispose of any real or personal property or any interest therein; to insure or provide for the insurance of any real or personal property or operations of the authority against any risks or hazards; to procure or agree to the procurement of insurance or guarantees from the federal government of the payment of any bonds or parts thereof issued by an authority, including the power to pay premiums on any such insurance.
(1) To lease with a right to ownership, and to sell, improved lots with or without a dwelling; to set aside, within its projects, lots in suitable places and sell them, at a price deemed reasonable by the Authority in consideration of the purchases to which same are to be devoted, to such entities, associations, corporations or private persons as in the judgment of the Authority are engaged in such activities or carry on functions which in any manner are useful and convenient to the project, or are supplementary to the general ends thereof, including, but without limitation to the generality of the foregoing, religious, recreational, cultural, scientific, industrial, or commercial activities, and to regulate the sale, transfer, and use of said lots and of the structures erected thereon; to prescribe restrictions; to fix requirements and conditions on said lots and on all works or structures heretofore or hereafter erected thereon; Provided, That all such restrictions, requirements, and conditions shall constitute a real encumbrance on said property for the term fixed by each Authority concerned. The Authority may sell improved lots at a price lower than the cost of land and of the improvements to “persons of low income”, as this term is defined in § 33(j) of this title, when the financial resources of the persons qualifying to obtain said lots does not permit them to pay a price equal or higher than the cost of the lands and the improvements. In these cases, and upon the previous determinations of the sale price of the lots of each project, the Authority shall carry out a study on the social and financial standing of the persons or families to whom said lots are to be sold and the sale price of same shall be fixed in accordance with the financial capacity of said persons, as may be determined by said study.
(2) To transfer to the Public Recreation and Parks Administration the land that the Planning Board and the Rules and Permits Administration require to be reserved for the development of park facilities and recreational areas, and for cultural activities in low-cost housing and lots projects, without any cost.
(e) To invest any funds held in reserves or sinking funds, or any funds not required for immediate disbursement, in property or securities in which a municipality may legally invest funds subject to their control; to purchase its bonds at a price not more than the principal amount thereof and accrued interest, all bonds so purchased to be cancelled.
(f) Within its area of operation: to investigate into living, dwelling and housing conditions and into the means and methods of improving such conditions; to determine where slum areas exist or where there is a shortage of decent, safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations for persons of low income; to make studies and recommendations relating to the problem of clearing, replanning and reconstructing of slum areas, and the problem of providing dwelling accommodations for persons of low income, and to cooperate with the municipality, the Government of Puerto Rico or any agency or instrumentality thereof in action taken in connection with such problems; and to engage in research, studies and experimentation on the subject of housing.
(g) Acting through one or more commissioners or other person or persons designated by the authority: to conduct examinations and investigations and to hear testimony and take proof under oath at public or private hearings on any matter material for its information; to administer oaths, issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of witnesses or the production of books and papers and to issue commissions for the examination of witnesses who are outside of Puerto Rico or unable to attend before the authority, or excused from attendance; to make available to appropriate agencies (including those charged with the duty of abating or requiring the correction of nuisances or like conditions, or of demolishing unsafe or insanitary structures within its area of operation) its findings and recommendations with regard to any building or property where conditions exist which are dangerous to the public health, morals, safety or welfare.
(h) To exercise all or any part or combination of powers herein granted.
No provisions of law with respect to the acquisition, operation or disposition of property by other public bodies shall be applicable to an authority unless the Legislature shall specifically so state.
History —May 6, 1938, No. 126, p. 253, § 8; May 7, 1949, No. 206, p. 642, § 1; May 15, 1951, No. 441, p. 1276, § 1; Apr. 30, 1952, No. 155, p. 324, § 1; June 13, 1967, No. 132, p. 421; June 4, 1978, No. 27, p. 119.