Housing Committee
AN ACT CONCERNING THE REPLACEMENT OF HOUSING PROJECTS BY HOUSING AUTHORITIES
SUMMARY: Existing law generally prohibits housing authorities that receive or have received state assistance from selling, leasing, transferring, or destroying a housing project if the project would no longer be available for, or replaced by, low- or moderate-income rental housing. However, the housing commissioner may approve the action if she finds, after a public hearing, that various conditions are met (see BACKGROUND).
This act requires the commissioner, in deciding whether to grant such an approval, to consider the extent to which the project's housing units will be replaced with housing that is affordable to households with incomes less than (1) 25% of the area median income (AMI) and (2) 50% of the AMI.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2016
BACKGROUND
Conditions Required for Approval to Sell, Lease, Transfer, or Destroy a Housing Project
The law authorizes the housing commissioner to approve the sale, lease, transfer, or destruction of a housing project upon finding that:
1. an adequate supply of low- or moderate-income rental housing exists in the municipality where the project is located;
2. the action is in the best interest of the state and the municipality;
3. the housing authority developed the plan in consultation with the project's residents and municipal representatives and made adequate provision for the residents and representatives to participate in the plan; and
4. anyone displaced by the action will receive assistance under the Uniform Relocation Assistance Act (URAA) and will either be relocated to a comparable public or subsidized housing dwelling unit in the municipality or be given a tenant-based rental subsidy. (Subject to certain conditions, the URAA requires municipalities to pay relocation assistance benefits when they displace people from their homes. )
OLR Tracking: KS; RP; VR; cmg