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The 193rd General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE NEWTON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY AND THE NEWTON HOUSING AUTHORITY.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 705 of the acts of 1975 is hereby amended by inserting after section 1 the following section:-

Section 1A. For the purposes of this act, the following words shall have the following meanings:

“Affordable housing”, housing for low, moderate or upper-moderate-income persons and families, including owner-occupied housing and publicly and privately owned rental housing.

“Low-income person or family”, an individual or family whose gross annual income is less than or equal to 50 per cent of the area median income as determined by the guidelines of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“Moderate-income person or family”, an individual or family whose gross annual income is more than 50 per cent and less than or equal to 80 per cent of the area median income as determined by the guidelines of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“Upper-moderate-income person or family”, an individual or family whose gross annual income is more than 80 per cent and less than or equal to 100 per cent of the area median income as determined by the guidelines of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

SECTION 2. Section 4 of said chapter 705 is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 2 and 3, and in lines 10 and 11, the words “state secretary of communities and” and inserting in place thereof, in each instance, the following words:- director of housing and community.

SECTION 3. Section 5 of said chapter 705 is hereby amended by striking out the second paragraph, as appearing in section 2 of chapter 499 of the acts of 1989, and inserting in place thereof the following paragraph:-

The director, as sole member of the community development authority, shall not receive additional compensation, and the community development authority need not elect officers. So far as practical, the community development authority shall make use of the services of the department for staff and administrative functions and the department may charge the community development authority for such services an amount agreed to by the department and the community development authority with the approval of the mayor. The community development authority shall have independent authority to develop housing programs, including but not limited to affordable housing projects involving public and private ventures, congregate housing for the elderly and community residences for persons with disabilities. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the housing authority from undertaking similar projects. Whenever the community development authority or the housing authority determines that it will develop such a project, it shall give immediate written notice to the other authority. If both the community development authority and the housing authority desire to develop the same site, the authorities shall immediately confer in good faith to determine which authority is better able to promote affordable housing through the project, but if the housing authority intends to develop the site as a rental housing project, it shall be given first preference.

SECTION 4. Section 7 of said chapter 705 is hereby amended by striking out clause (h) and inserting in place thereof the following clause:-
(h) to acquire by purchase, exchange, transfer, lease, gift, grant or assignment any property, real or personal, or any interest therein, found by it to be necessary to carry out its purposes, and to hold, sell, exchange, transfer, lease or assign such property to the city, the housing authority or a person;.

SECTION 5. Said section 7 of said chapter 705 is hereby further amended by striking out clauses (j) and (k), as appearing in section 2 of chapter 479 of the acts of 1982.

SECTION 6. Said section 7 of said chapter 705 is hereby further amended by striking out clause (n).

SECTION 7. Said section 7 of said chapter 705 is hereby further amended by adding the following 6 clauses:-

(o) to assist low and moderate-income property owners, low and moderate-income tenants, and owners of property used as housing for low or moderate-income tenants with housing rehabilitation, including making grants and unsecured and secured loans and holding mortgages and other security interests;

(p) to assist organizations and persons carrying out programs of affordable housing with the acquisition, development, rehabilitation and management of properties used as housing for low or moderate-income tenants, including making grants and unsecured and secured loans and holding mortgages and other security interests;

(q) to provide and operate home-buying assistance programs to assist low, moderate and upper-moderate-income persons in the acquisition of property for their use as owner-occupied housing, including providing technical assistance, training and counseling, making loans and grants, and exercising rights of first refusal, options and other property interests to promote and preserve affordable housing for qualified low and moderate-income buyers;

(r) to provide economic development assistance to businesses that create jobs for low, moderate and upper-moderate-income employees and businesses owned by low, moderate or upper-moderate-income owners, including making grants, unsecured and secured loans and holding mortgages and other security interests;

(s) to acquire and hold interests in privately-owned real properties, including covenants, restrictions, options and rights of first refusal, that provide for use of such properties for housing for low or moderate-income tenants; to exercise all rights under such interests and to transfer such interests to persons of low or moderate-income, the Newton Housing Authority or any other qualified organization or entity; and

(t) on a temporary basis, to operate, manage and maintain properties, including the rental or lease of properties, or to engage the Newton Housing Authority or an organization or person for the operation, management and maintenance of properties, but only as reasonably necessary to provide for continued operation and preservation of the affordable housing status of such properties until the authority transfers its ownership to a person of low or moderate-income for use as owner-occupied housing or to an organization or person qualified to carry out a program of affordable housing.

SECTION 8. Sections 11C and 11D of said chapter 705 are hereby repealed.

SECTION 9. Said chapter 705 is hereby further amended by striking out section 11E, as appearing in section 6 of chapter 499 of the acts of 1989, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 11E. The community development authority may, in its discretion, assist the housing authority with site selection and acquisition, site engineering, land use and zoning analysis, permitting, funding assistance, financial analysis, design and architect selection and development of specifications and working drawings. The housing authority may exercise independent authority to oversee and manage all phases of construction of rental housing projects developed by the community development authority for operation by the housing authority, from the date of construction contract award, subject to its powers and authority under chapter 121B of the General Laws.

SECTION 10. Section 11F of said chapter 705, as so appearing, is hereby amended by striking out the first sentence and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:- The housing authority and the community development authority shall participate jointly in final design and architect selection for projects developed by the community development authority for operation by the housing authority.

Approved July 25, 2007.