Section 27: Contracts with rental housing project sponsors for financial assistance; loans; security; findings
387 words·~2 min read·
/ma/part-i/title-ii/chapter-23b/27A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Section 27. The commonwealth, acting by and through the executive office of housing and livable communities, may, to the extent of appropriations provided for such purpose, enter into contracts with sponsors of rental housing projects for financial assistance in the form of a grant or loan by the commonwealth to facilitate the construction or rehabilitation of rental housing projects in locations where there is a need for such housing.
Each such contract shall provide for disbursements of loan proceeds in such amounts as the executive office determines appropriate. Prior to entering into any such contract, the executive office shall find:
(1)that the area in which the proposed rental housing project is to be located is a housing development area, or that the proposed rental housing project is a low and moderate income rental housing project; and
(2)that the amount of any loan to be provided appears to be the minimum amount necessary to make the proposed rental housing project feasible, and to ensure that at least twenty-five per cent of the units in such project will be occupied by persons and families, who are, at the time of initial occupancy, of low income.
In the case of a rental housing project that is determined to be a low and moderate income rental housing project, the executive office shall require that the sponsor of such project make every reasonable effort to rent available units, other than units reserved for low income persons and families, to moderate income persons or families, prior to renting such units to other persons and families.
Any loan made pursuant to this section shall be secured by a lien on real or personal property, or both, satisfactory to the executive office. Such loans shall be subject to such terms and conditions as the executive office may prescribe, including but not limited to, such interest rate as may be set by the executive office.
Notwithstanding the provisions of any special or general law to the contrary, and as a condition precedent to entering into any contracts financed pursuant to this section, the executive office shall make a determination for each development financed pursuant to this section whether
(1)the allocation of state rental assistance funds is necessary to achieve a fiscally sound project, and;
(2)alternative sources of funding are inappropriate or unavailable.