N.Y. Private Housing Finance Law § 201: Legislative finding, policy of state, and purpose of article

§ 201. Legislative finding, policy of state, and purpose of article.

It is hereby declared that in the cities of the state substandard and

insanitary areas exist which have resulted from inadequate planning,

excessive land coverage, lack of proper light, air and open space,

defective design and arrangement of buildings, lack of proper sanitary

facilities, and the existence of buildings, which, by reason of age,

obsolescence, inadequate or outmoded design, or physical deterioration

have become economic or social liabilities, or both; that such

conditions are prevalent in areas where substandard, insanitary, outworn

or outmoded industrial, commercial or residential buildings prevail;

that such conditions impair the economic value of large areas, infecting

them with economic blight, and that such areas are characterized by

depreciated values, impaired investments, and reduced capacity to pay

taxes; that such conditions are chiefly in areas which are so subdivided

into small parcels in divided ownerships and frequently with defective

titles, that their assembly for purposes of clearance, replanning,

rehabilitation and reconstruction is difficult and costly; that the

existence of such conditions and the failure to clear, replan,

rehabilitate or reconstruct these areas results in a loss of population

by the areas and further deterioration, accompanied by added costs to

the communities for creation of new public facilities and services

elsewhere; that it is difficult and uneconomic for individual owners

independently to undertake to remedy such conditions; that it is

desirable to encourage owners of property or holders of claims thereon

in such areas to join together and with outsiders in corporate groups

for the purpose of the clearance, replanning, rehabilitation and

reconstruction of such areas by joint action; that it is necessary to

create, with proper safeguards, inducements and opportunities for the

employment of private investment and equity capital in the clearance,

replanning, rehabilitation and reconstruction of such areas; that such

conditions require the employment of such capital on an investment

rather than a speculative basis, allowing however, the widest latitude

in the amortization of any indebtedness created thereby; that such

conditions further require the acquisition at fair prices of adequate

areas, the gradual clearance of such areas through demolition of

existing obsolete, inadequate, unsafe and insanitary buildings and the

redevelopment of such areas under proper supervision with appropriate

planning, land use and construction policies; that the clearance,

replanning, rehabilitation and reconstruction of such areas on a large

scale basis are necessary for the public welfare; that the clearance,

replanning, reconstruction and rehabilitation of such areas are public

uses and purposes for which private property may be acquired; that such

substandard and insanitary areas constitute a menace to the health,

safety, morals, welfare and reasonable comfort of the citizens of the

state; that such conditions require the creation of the agencies,

instrumentalities and corporations hereinafter described, which are

hereby declared to be agencies and instrumentalities of the state, for

the purpose of attaining the ends herein recited; that the protection

and promotion of the health, safety, morals, welfare and reasonable

comfort of the citizens of the state are matters of public concern; and

the necessity in the public interest for the provisions hereinafter

enacted is hereby declared as a matter of legislative determination.