N.Y. Private Housing Finance Law § 1291: New York housing for the future rental housing program

§ 1291. New York housing for the future rental housing program. 1.

Program establishment. Within amounts appropriated or otherwise

available therefor, the division of housing and community renewal, the

housing trust fund corporation, or the housing finance agency shall

develop and administer a program which shall provide assistance in the

form of payments, grants and loans for the formation of income-limited

rental housing utilizing funding appropriated for such a purpose as well

as any other funding source or sources which the commissioner may

determine is suitable to support such a program. Such program may

utilize any appropriate site, including, but not limited to, state owned

sites, municipally owned sites, or sites owned by a not-for-profit

corporation or community land trust for the purpose of providing housing

pursuant to this section. Real property may be acquired by a

municipality for the purpose of such program as authorized pursuant to

section five hundred seventy-six-a of this chapter, provided, however,

that any acquisitions or transfers undertaken to further the goals of

this article pursuant to such section shall not be required to be

transferred to a housing development fund company incorporated and

organized pursuant to section five hundred seventy-three of this

chapter. Such program shall provide (a) housing for households with an

income up to one hundred and thirty percent of area median income at the

time such household initially occupies a unit, provided further that

households that are initially eligible for the program at the time such

household initially occupies a unit but realize income gains subsequent

to occupying such unit may be required to pay a surcharge as determined

by the division of housing and community renewal or other supervising

agency, as the case may be, and (b) that housing units created pursuant

to this section remain affordable in perpetuity.

2. Additional responsibilities. The division of housing and community

renewal, the housing trust fund corporation, or the housing finance

agency shall have the power to issue regulations, plans, guidance

documents, or set terms in regulatory agreements to implement such

program and the process for: (a) renters leasing a unit which shall

include both confirming income qualifications as well as a restriction

on the maximum amount of assets any qualified renter may have; (b)

selecting new households eligible to rent housing which has been vacated

by a previous renter; and (c) the creation of boards of directors for

such income-limited rental housing companies established by this

chapter, provided however that such boards shall have the powers and be

subject to the limitations contained in the not-for-profit corporation

law in the same manner and subject to the same exceptions as set forth

in section thirteen-a of this chapter.

3. Management. All such income-limited rental housing projects shall

be managed independently of the residents of the project by a

corporation or not-for-profit corporation determined qualified by the

division of housing and community renewal or other supervising agency,

as the case may be, in accordance with standards or guidelines set by

the division of housing and community renewal or other supervising

agency, as the case may be. Any regulatory agreement that is executed

for such program shall include a requirement that resident rent

increases by a minimum percentage annually to ensure that such housing

continues to be in good repair.

4. Tax exemptions. Housing for such program shall be eligible for tax

exemptions in the same manner as projects under article eleven of this

chapter.

5. Wage requirements. Notwithstanding any law, rule, or regulation to

the contrary, any project constructed pursuant to this section shall be

subject to prevailing wage requirements in accordance with sections two

hundred twenty and two hundred twenty-b of the labor law; provided,

however, such requirements shall not apply to construction work

performed under a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement between an

owner or developer and a bona fide building and construction trade labor

organization which has established itself and/or its affiliates as the

collective bargaining representative for all persons who will perform

work on such a project, and which provides that only contractors and

subcontractors who sign a pre-negotiated agreement with the labor

organization can perform work on such a project.