Substitute House Bill No. 5450
Substitute House Bill No. 5450
PUBLIC ACT NO. 98-114
AN ACT CONCERNING AN INCOME EXCLUSION FOR CERTAIN
HOUSING TENANTS AND EVICTIONS FROM HOUSING
PROJECTS FOR THE ELDERLY.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 8-72 of the general
statutes is repealed and the following is
substituted in lieu thereof:
Each developer or housing authority shall
manage and operate its housing projects in an
efficient manner so as to enable it to fix the
rentals for dwelling accommodations at the lowest
possible rates consistent with providing decent,
safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations, and no
housing authority or nonprofit corporation shall
construct or operate any such project for profit.
To this end an authority or a nonprofit
corporation shall fix the rentals for dwelling in
its projects at no higher rates than it finds to
be necessary in order to produce revenues which,
together with all other available money, revenues,
income and receipts of the authority or nonprofit
corporation from whatever sources derived, will be
sufficient (a) to pay, as the same become due, the
principal and interest on the bonds of the
authority or nonprofit corporation; (b) to meet
the cost of, and to provide for, maintaining and
operating the projects, including the cost of any
insurance, and the administrative expenses of the
authority or nonprofit corporation; provided
nothing in this section shall be construed as
prohibiting any authority or nonprofit corporation
from providing for variable rentals based on
family income. In the operation or management of
housing projects an authority or nonprofit
corporation shall, at all times, rent or lease the
dwelling accommodations therein at rentals within
the financial reach of families of low income. The
Commissioner of Economic and Community Development
may establish maximum income limits for admission
and continued occupancy of tenants, provided such
maximum income limits and all revisions thereof
for housing projects operated pursuant to any
contract with any agency of the federal government
shall be subject to the prior approval of such
federal agency. The Commissioner of Economic and
Community Development shall define the income of a
family to provide the basis for determining
eligibility for the admission, rentals and for the
continued occupancy of families under the maximum
income limits fixed and approved. The definition
of family income, by the Commissioner of Economic
and Community Development, may provide for the
exclusion of all or part of the income of family
members which, in the judgment of said
commissioner, is not generally available to meet
the cost of basic living needs of the family. No
housing authority or developer shall refuse to
rent any dwelling accommodation to an otherwise
qualified applicant on the ground that one or more
of the proposed occupants are children born out of
wedlock. Each housing authority and developer
shall provide a receipt to each applicant for
admission to its housing projects stating the time
and date of application and shall maintain a list
of such applications, which shall be a public
record as defined in section 1-18a, AS AMENDED.
The Commissioner of Economic and Community
Development shall, by regulation, provide for the
manner in which such list shall be created,
maintained and revised. No provision of this part
shall be construed as limiting the right of the
authority to vest in an obligee the right, in the
event of a default by such authority, to take
possession of a housing project or cause the
appointment of a receiver thereof or acquire title
thereto through foreclosure proceedings, free from
all the restrictions imposed by this chapter with
respect to rental rates and tenant selection. The
Commissioner of Economic and Community Development
shall approve an operation or management plan of
each housing project, which shall provide an
income adequate for debt service, if any,
administration, including a state service charge,
other operating costs and establishment of
reasonable reserves for repairs, maintenance and
replacements, vacancy and collection losses. Said
commissioner shall have the right of inspection of
any housing during the period between the date on
which construction thereof begins and the date the
state loan is fully paid or, in the case of a
grant, during the period for which any housing
project built pursuant to such grant is used for
housing for families of low and moderate income.
An authority or developer shall semiannually
submit to said commissioner a sworn statement
setting forth such information with respect to the
tenants and rentals for each housing project
hereunder and the costs of operating each housing
project under its jurisdiction as said
commissioner requires. Any person who makes a
false statement concerning the income of the
family for which application for admission to or
continued occupancy of housing projects is made
may be fined not more than five hundred dollars or
imprisoned not more than six months or both. WITH
REGARD TO A FAMILY WHO, SINCE THE LAST ANNUAL
RECERTIFICATION, RECEIVED ANY PUBLIC OR GENERAL
ASSISTANCE AND RECEIVED EARNINGS FROM EMPLOYMENT,
THE AUTHORITY OR DEVELOPER SHALL NOT REQUIRE ANY
INTERIM RECERTIFICATION DUE TO AN EARNINGS
INCREASE. AT THE ANNUAL RECERTIFICATION, THE
AUTHORITY OR DEVELOPER SHALL BASE RENT LEVELS ON
SUCH FAMILY'S AVERAGE INCOME THROUGHOUT THE
PRECEDING TWELVE MONTHS. DURING THE SUBSEQUENT
TWELVE-MONTH PERIOD, THE AUTHORITY OR DEVELOPER
SHALL NOT REQUIRE ANY INTERIM RECERTIFICATIONS DUE
TO INCREASED EARNINGS FROM EMPLOYMENT. HOWEVER, IF
A FAMILY'S INCOME HAS DECREASED, NOTHING IN THIS
SECTION SHALL PRECLUDE AN INTERIM RECERTIFICATION
OR RECERTIFICATION BASED ON THE REDUCED INCOME
LEVEL.
Sec. 2. Subsection (m) of section 8-113a of
the general statutes is repealed and the following
is substituted in lieu thereof:
(m) "Elderly persons" means persons sixty-two
years of age and over who lack the amount of
income which is necessary, as determined by the
authority or nonprofit corporation, subject to
approval by the Commissioner of Economic and
Community Development, to enable them to live in
decent, safe and sanitary dwellings without
financial assistance as provided under this part,
or persons who have been certified by the Social
Security Board as being totally disabled under the
federal Social Security Act or certified by any
other federal board or agency as being totally
disabled. [, except persons (1) currently using
illegal drugs, (2) currently abusing alcohol and
who have a recent history of disruptive or
dangerous behavior whose tenancy constitutes a
direct threat to the health or safety of another
individual or whose tenancy would result in
substantial physical damage to the property of
another or (3) with a recent history or disruptive
or dangerous behavior whose tenancy would
constitute a direct threat to the health and
safety of another individual or whose tenancy
would result in substantial physical damage to the
property of another.]
Sec. 3. (NEW) (a) An elderly person, as
defined in subsection (m) of section 8-113a of the
general statutes, as amended by section 2 of this
act, shall not be eligible to move into a housing
project, as defined in subsection (f) of section
8-113a of the general statutes, if the person (1)
is currently using illegal drugs, (2) is currently
abusing alcohol and has a recent history of
disruptive or dangerous behavior and whose tenancy
(A) would constitute a direct threat to the health
or safety of another individual or (B) would
result in substantial physical damage to the
property of another, (3) has a recent history of
disruptive or dangerous behavior and whose tenancy
(A) would constitute a direct threat to the health
and safety of another individual or (B) would
result in substantial physical damage to the
property of another, or (4) was convicted of the
illegal sale or possession of a controlled
substance, as defined in section 21a-240 of the
general statutes, as amended, within the prior
twenty-four-month period.
(b) Any authority, municipal developer,
nonprofit corporation or other lessor may evict
any individual from such housing project who is
convicted of the illegal sale or possession of a
controlled substance as defined in section 21a-240
of the general statutes, as amended, during the
period of time the individual is residing in such
housing. Such eviction shall be in accordance with
the provisions of chapter 832 of the general
statutes, as amended. Nothing in this section
shall be construed to limit the remedies of any
such authority, municipal developer, nonprofit
corporation or lessor under chapter 832 of the
general statutes, as amended.
Approved May 22, 1998