Amendment #244 to H4707

Year Round Housing Trust

Representatives Flanagan of Dennis and Peake of Provincetown move to amend the bill in section 5, in lines 753-786, by striking out the words in their entirety and inserting in place thereof the following:

Section 32. As used in this section and section 33, the following words shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly requires otherwise:-

"Affordable housing'', homeownership or rental housing which is restricted to occupancy by low or moderate income households of 1 or more persons and for which the sale price or rent is affordable consistent with funding sources.

“Attainable housing”, housing that is no more than 30 per cent of a person’s income as defined at 24 C.F.R. § 5.609.

“Executive office”, the executive office of housing and livable communities.

''Local chief executive officer'', in a city or town with a manager form of government, the manager of that municipality; in other cities, the mayor; and in other towns, the board of selectmen.

“Seasonal community”, a city or town characterized by significant seasonal fluctuations in population and employment related to seasonal-based tourism.

“Year-round housing”. housing for occupancy by persons or families who occupy either rental or other housing as their primary residence for not less than 11 months during any 1-year period.

Section 33.  A city or town designated by the executive office as a seasonal community may establish a trust to be known as the Year-Round Housing Trust Fund, herein called the trust.  The purpose of the trust is to provide for the creation and preservation of affordable and attainable housing in seasonal communities for the benefit of year-round residents and for the funding of programs available to seasonal communities, as defined in and in accordance with sections 32 to 49 of this chapter.

(b)  A municipal affordable housing trust fund created pursuant to section 55c of chapter 44 of the General Laws in a city or town that has been designated as a seasonal community may adopt all provisions of this section by majority vote of the trustees of such municipal affordable housing trust fund. The existing board created under section 55c of chapter 44 of the General Laws need not be modified to comply with the provisions of this section.

(c) Two or more municipalities, by majority vote of their local chief executive officers as defined at section 32 of this chapter, may enter into an intermunicipal agreement, solely by approval of the local chief executive officers, to establish one trust that would serve all municipalities participating in said agreement. All other provisions of this section apply to trusts servicing multiple municipalities participating in said agreement.

(d) There shall be a board of trustees, in this section called the board, which shall include no less than 5 trustees, including the municipality’s chief executive officer, as defined by section 7 of chapter 4 of the General Laws, but where the chief executive officer is a multi-member body, that body shall designate a minimum of 1 of its members to serve on the board. The housing coordinator described at section 48 of this chapter shall also serve as an ex officio. Trustees shall be appointed in a city by the mayor or by the city manager in a Plan D or Plan E municipality, subject in either case, to confirmation by the city council, and in a town by the board of selectmen, shall serve for a term not to exceed 3 years and are designated as public agents for purposes of the constitution of the commonwealth. Nothing in this subsection shall prevent a board of selectmen from appointing the town manager or town administrator as a member or chair of the board, with or without the power to vote.

(e) The powers of the board, all of which shall be carried on in furtherance of the purposes set forth in this act, shall include the following powers, but a city or town may, by ordinance or by-law, omit or modify any of these powers and may grant to the board additional powers consistent with this section:-

(1) to accept and receive revenues obtained through real property, personal property or money, by gift, grant, contribution, devise or transfer from any person, firm, corporation or other public or private entity, including, but not limited to, money, grants of funds or other property tendered to the trust in connection with any ordinance or by-law or any general or special law or any other source, including money from chapter 44B; provided, however, that any such money received from chapter 44B shall be used exclusively for community housing and shall remain subject to all the rules, regulations and limitations of that chapter when expended by the trust, and such funds shall be accounted for separately by the trust; and provided further, that at the end of each fiscal year, the trust shall ensure that all expenditures of funds received from said chapter 44B are reported to the community preservation committee of the city or town for inclusion in the community preservation initiatives report, form CP–3, to the department of revenue;

(2) To fund the programs and policies set forth under this chapter that are available for municipalities designated as seasonal communities, described at sections 32 to 49, inclusive.

(3) to purchase and retain real or personal property, including without restriction investments that yield a high rate of income or no income, including property for sale pursuant to section 38 of chapter 244 of the General Laws and other property interests including a right to acquire an interest in land through a right of first refusal;

(4) to sell, lease, exchange, transfer or convey any personal, mixed, or real property at public auction or by private contract for such consideration and on such terms as to credit or otherwise, and to make such contracts and enter into such undertaking relative to trust property as the board deems advisable notwithstanding the length of any such lease or contract;

(5) to execute, acknowledge and deliver deeds, assignments, transfers, pledges, leases, covenants, contracts, promissory notes, releases, grant agreements and other instruments sealed or unsealed, necessary, proper or incident to any transaction in which the board engages for the accomplishment of the purposes of the trust;

(6) to employ advisors and agents, such as accountants and the housing coordinator as defined in section 48 of this chapter, appraisers and lawyers as the board deems necessary;

(7) to pay reasonable compensation and expenses to all advisors and agents and to apportion such compensation between income and principal as the board deems advisable, including the housing coordinator as defined in section 48 of this chapter, whether or not said housing coordinator is employed by the municipality, trust, or other regional or municipal agency;

(8) to apportion receipts and charges between incomes and principal as the board deems advisable, to amortize premiums and establish sinking funds for such purpose, and to create reserves for depreciation depletion or otherwise;

(9) to participate in any reorganization, recapitalization, merger or similar transactions; and to give proxies or powers of attorney with or without power of substitution to vote any securities or certificates of interest; and to consent to any contract, lease, mortgage, purchase or sale of property, by or between any corporation and any other corporation or person;

(10) to deposit any security with any protective reorganization committee, and to delegate to such committee such powers and authority with relation thereto as the board may deem proper and to pay, out of trust property, such portion of expenses and compensation of such committee as the board may deem necessary and appropriate;

(11) to carry property for accounting purposes other than acquisition date values;

(12) to borrow money on such terms and conditions and from such sources as the board deems advisable, to mortgage and pledge trust assets as collateral;

(13) to make distributions or divisions of principal in kind;

(14) to comprise, attribute, defend, enforce, release, settle or otherwise adjust claims in favor or against the trust, including claims for taxes, and to accept any property, either in total or partial satisfaction of any indebtedness or other obligation, and subject to the provisions of this act, to continue to hold the same for such period of time as the board may deem appropriate;

(15) to manage or improve real property; and to abandon any property which the board determined not to be worth retaining;

(16) to hold all or part of the trust property uninvested for such purposes and for such time as the board may deem appropriate;

(17) to extend the time for payment of any obligation to the trust;

(f) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, all moneys paid to the trust in accordance with any zoning ordinance or by-law, exaction fee, or private contributions shall be paid directly into the trust and need not be appropriated or accepted and approved into the trust. General revenues appropriated into the trust become trust property and to be expended these funds need not be further appropriated. All moneys remaining in the trust at the end of any fiscal year, whether or not expended by the board within 1 year of the date they were appropriated into the trust, remain trust property.

(g) The trust is a public employer and the members of the board are public employees for purposes of chapter 258 of the General Laws.

(h) The trust shall be deemed a municipal agency and the trustees special municipal employees, for purposes of chapter 268A of the General Laws.

(i) The trust is exempt from chapters 59 and 62 of the General Laws, and from any other provisions concerning payment of taxes based upon or measured by property or income imposed by the commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof.

(j) The books and records of the trust shall be audited annually by an independent auditor in accordance with accepted accounting practices.

(k) The trust is a governmental body for purposes of sections 23A, 23B and 23C of chapter 39 of the General Laws.

(l) The trust is a board of the city or town for purposes of chapter 30B and section 15A of chapter 40; but agreements and conveyances between the trust and agencies, boards, commissions, authorities, departments and public instrumentalities of the city or town shall be exempt from said chapter 30B.

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #244 to H4707

Year Round Housing Trust