House Bill hb0547er

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  1                                 

  2         An act relating to affordable housing; amending

  3         s. 373.4141, F.S.; providing that processing of

  4         permit applications for affordable housing

  5         projects under pt. IV of ch. 373, F.S.,

  6         relating to management and storage of surface

  7         waters, shall be expedited; amending s.

  8         420.507, F.S.; authorizing all State Apartment

  9         Incentive Loans to be subject to contingent

10         interest based upon available cash flow;

11         providing that projects for occupancy by

12         commercial fishing workers and the homeless are

13         eligible for the lowest interest rate mortgage

14         loans under the State Apartment Incentive Loan

15         Program; authorizing the Florida Housing

16         Finance Corporation to establish subsidiary

17         corporations for certain purposes and to

18         conduct and fund certain demonstration programs

19         and projects; amending s. 420.508, F.S.;

20         authorizing the corporation to establish a

21         procedure for evaluating and ranking

22         applications for private activity bond

23         allocation in connection with multifamily

24         projects and to establish terms of mortgage

25         loans; amending s. 420.5087, F.S.; providing

26         that a project located in a county that

27         includes or has included an area of critical

28         state concern for which the Legislature intends

29         to provide affordable housing and that meets

30         certain income criteria is eligible under the

31         State Apartment Incentive Loan Program;


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  1         providing an expiration date; amending s.

  2         420.526, F.S.; revising requirements relating

  3         to funding priorities under the Predevelopment

  4         Loan Program; amending s. 420.527, F.S.;

  5         revising requirements relating to the

  6         application procedure under the program and to

  7         evaluation of applicants; amending s. 420.9075,

  8         F.S.; revising requirements for monitoring and

  9         determining tenant eligibility in connection

10         with a local housing assistance plan under the

11         State Housing Initiatives Partnership Program;

12         revising requirements for determining the

13         average area purchase price under such plans;

14         exempting a county or municipality that

15         includes or has included an area of critical

16         state concern for which the Legislature intends

17         to provide affordable housing from certain

18         tenant income requirements under such plans;

19         providing an expiration date; revising

20         requirements for the annual report to the

21         corporation required under the program;

22         providing an effective date.

23  

24  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

25  

26         Section 1.  Subsection (3) is added to section

27  373.4141, Florida Statutes, to read:

28         373.4141  Permits; processing.--

29         (3)  Processing of applications for permits for

30  affordable housing projects shall be expedited to a greater

31  degree than other projects.


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  1         Section 2.  Paragraph (a) of subsection (22) of section

  2  420.507, Florida Statutes, is amended, and subsections (40)

  3  and (41) are added to said section, to read:

  4         420.507  Powers of the corporation.--The corporation

  5  shall have all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out

  6  and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this part,

  7  including the following powers which are in addition to all

  8  other powers granted by other provisions of this part:

  9         (22)  To develop and administer the State Apartment

10  Incentive Loan Program. In developing and administering that

11  program, the corporation may:

12         (a)  Make first, second, and other subordinated

13  mortgage loans including variable or fixed rate loans subject

14  to contingent interest for all State Apartment Incentive Loans

15  provided for in this chapter based upon available cash flow of

16  the projects.  The corporation shall make loans exceeding 25

17  percent of project cost available only to nonprofit

18  organizations and public bodies which are able to secure

19  grants, donations of land, or contributions from other sources

20  and to projects meeting the criteria of subparagraph 1.

21  Mortgage loans shall be made available at the following rates

22  of interest:

23         1.  Zero to 3 percent interest for sponsors of projects

24  that maintain an 80 percent occupancy of residents qualifying

25  as farmworkers as defined in s. 420.503(18), commercial

26  fishing workers as defined in s. 420.503(5), or the homeless

27  as defined in s. 420.621(4) over the life of the loan.

28         2.  Three to 9 percent interest for sponsors of

29  projects targeted at populations other than farmworkers,

30  commercial fishing workers, and the homeless.

31  


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  1         (40)  To establish subsidiary corporations for the

  2  purpose of taking title to and managing and disposing of

  3  property acquired by the corporation. Such subsidiary

  4  corporations shall be public corporations wholly owned by the

  5  corporation; shall be entitled to own, mortgage, and sell

  6  property on the same basis as the corporation; and shall be

  7  deemed corporations primarily acting as agents of the state,

  8  within the meaning of s. 768.28, on the same basis as the

  9  corporation. Any subsidiary created by the corporation shall

10  be subject to chapters 119, 120, and 286 to the same extent as

11  the corporation.

12         (1)  To conduct and fund, solely from funds derived

13  from amounts other than those deposited into the State Housing

14  Trust Fund, demonstration programs and projects which further

15  the statutory purposes of the corporation, including the power

16  to establish selection criteria by rule or by means of

17  requests for proposals.

18         Section 3.  Subsections (6) and (7) are added to

19  section 420.508, Florida Statutes, to read:

20         420.508  Special powers; multifamily and single-family

21  projects.--The corporation shall have the special power to:

22         (6)  Establish, by rule, a procedure for evaluating,

23  scoring, and competitively ranking all applications for

24  private activity bond allocation in connection with

25  multifamily projects financed under this part.

26         (7)  Establish terms of mortgage loans funded pursuant

27  to this part, including applicable security documents and

28  limitations on sources and uses of funds.

29         Section 4.  Subsection (2) of section 420.5087, Florida

30  Statutes, is amended to read:

31  


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  1         420.5087  State Apartment Incentive Loan

  2  Program.--There is hereby created the State Apartment

  3  Incentive Loan Program for the purpose of providing first,

  4  second, or other subordinated mortgage loans or loan

  5  guarantees to sponsors, including for-profit, nonprofit, and

  6  public entities, to provide housing affordable to

  7  very-low-income persons.

  8         (2)  The corporation shall have the power to underwrite

  9  and make state apartment incentive loans or loan guarantees to

10  sponsors, provided:

11         (a)  The sponsor uses tax-exempt financing for the

12  first mortgage and at least 20 percent of the units in the

13  project are set aside for persons or families who have incomes

14  which meet the income eligibility requirements of s. 8 of the

15  United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended;

16         (b)  The sponsor uses taxable financing for the first

17  mortgage and at least 20 percent of the units in the project

18  are set aside for persons or families who have incomes below

19  50 percent of the state or local median income, whichever is

20  higher, which shall be adjusted by the corporation for family

21  size; or

22         (c)  The sponsor uses the federal low-income housing

23  tax credit, and the project meets the tenant income

24  eligibility requirements of s. 42 of the Internal Revenue Code

25  of 1986, as amended; or.

26         (d)  The project is located in a county that includes,

27  or has included within the previous 5 years, an area of

28  critical state concern designated or ratified by the

29  Legislature for which the Legislature has declared its intent

30  to provide affordable housing, and 100 percent of the units in

31  the project are set aside for persons or families who have


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  1  incomes below 120 percent of the state or local median income,

  2  whichever is higher, which shall be adjusted by the

  3  corporation for family size. This paragraph expires July 1,

  4  2008.

  5  

  6  This subsection does not prohibit a tenant from qualifying

  7  under the income eligibility criteria of paragraph (a),

  8  paragraph (b), or paragraph (c), or paragraph (d) due to the

  9  tenant's participation in a job training program approved by

10  the corporation.  Compliance with the provisions of this

11  subsection must be contractually provided for the term of the

12  loan or 12 years, whichever is longer; however, this

13  subsection does not apply to loans made to housing communities

14  for the elderly to provide for lifesafety, building

15  preservation, health, sanitation, or security-related repairs

16  or improvements. Such loans shall be subject to tenant income

17  criteria established by corporation rule.

18         Section 5.  Subsection (3) of section 420.526, Florida

19  Statutes, is amended to read:

20         420.526  Predevelopment Loan Program; loans and grants

21  authorized; activities eligible for support.--

22         (3)  The corporation shall establish rules for the

23  equitable distribution of the funds in a manner that meets the

24  need and demand for housing for the target population. Funds

25  shall be made available under the program on a first-come,

26  first-served basis, unless otherwise established by

27  corporation rule. Sponsors of farmworker housing, if any,

28  shall receive first priority under this program, and further

29  priorities shall be as established by rule of the corporation.

30         Section 6.  Section 420.527, Florida Statutes, is

31  amended to read:


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  1         420.527  Application procedure.--

  2         (1)  Applications shall be submitted to the corporation

  3  in a form that it establishes by rule.

  4         (2)  Applications that propose linkage of

  5  predevelopment funds with other financing offered through the

  6  corporation shall receive preference in funding.

  7         (3)  The corporation shall publish a notice of fund

  8  availability in a publication of general circulation

  9  throughout the state.  Such notice shall be published at least

10  60 days before the application deadline.

11         (2)(4)  By rule, the corporation shall establish the

12  criteria a review committee composed of representatives of the

13  corporation and a scoring system for determining threshold

14  compliance with corporation objectives evaluating and ranking

15  applications.  Final decisions regarding funding shall be

16  approved by the corporation board shall make the final ranking

17  and shall decide which applicants become program participants

18  based on the scores received in the ranking, further review of

19  applications, and the recommendations of the review committee.

20  The corporation board shall approve or reject applications for

21  loans and grants and shall determine the tentative loan or

22  grant amount available to each program participant.  The

23  actual loan or grant amount shall be determined pursuant to

24  rule specifying credit underwriting procedures.

25         (3)(5)  The criteria to be used to determine threshold

26  compliance score applications shall include, but are not

27  limited to, the following:

28         (a)  Income target objectives of the corporation.

29         (b)  Sponsor's agreement to reserve more than the

30  minimum number of units for low-income households and

31  very-low-income households.


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  1         (c)  Projects requiring the least amount of

  2  predevelopment funds compared to total predevelopment costs.

  3         (d)  Sponsor's prior experience.

  4         (e)  Commitments of other financing.

  5         (f)  Sponsor's ability to proceed.

  6         (g)  Project's consistency with the local government

  7  comprehensive plan.

  8         Section 7.  Paragraph (e) of subsection (3), paragraphs

  9  (c) and (d) of subsection (4), and paragraph (c) of subsection

10  (9) of section 420.9075, Florida Statutes, are amended to

11  read:

12         420.9075  Local housing assistance plans;

13  partnerships.--

14         (3)  Each local housing assistance plan is governed by

15  the following criteria and administrative procedures:

16         (e)  The staff or entity that has administrative

17  authority for implementing a local housing assistance plan

18  assisting rental developments shall annually monitor and

19  determine tenant eligibility or, to the extent another

20  governmental entity the Florida Housing Finance Corporation

21  provides the same monitoring and determination, a

22  municipality, county, or local housing financing authority may

23  rely on such monitoring and determination of tenant

24  eligibility. However, any loan or grant in the original amount

25  of $3,000 or less shall not be subject to these annual

26  monitoring and determination of tenant eligibility

27  requirements.

28         (4)  The following criteria apply to awards made to

29  eligible sponsors or eligible persons for the purpose of

30  providing eligible housing:

31  


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  1         (c)  The sales price or value of new or existing

  2  eligible housing may not exceed 90 percent of the average area

  3  purchase price in the statistical area in which the eligible

  4  housing is located, which housing was purchased during the

  5  most recent 12-month period for which sufficient statistical

  6  information is available or, as established by the United

  7  States Department of Treasury. Such average area purchase

  8  price may be that calculated for any 12-month period beginning

  9  not earlier than the fourth calendar year prior to the year in

10  which the award occurs.

11         (d)1.  All units constructed, rehabilitated, or

12  otherwise assisted with the funds provided from the local

13  housing assistance trust fund must be occupied by

14  very-low-income persons, low-income persons, and

15  moderate-income persons.

16         2.  At least 30 percent of the funds deposited into the

17  local housing assistance trust fund must be reserved for

18  awards to very-low-income persons or eligible sponsors who

19  will serve very-low-income persons and at least an additional

20  30 percent of the funds deposited into the local housing

21  assistance trust fund must be reserved for awards to

22  low-income persons or eligible sponsors who will serve

23  low-income persons. This subparagraph does not apply to a

24  county or an eligible municipality that includes, or has

25  included within the previous 5 years, an area of critical

26  state concern designated or ratified by the Legislature for

27  which the Legislature has declared its intent to provide

28  affordable housing. The exemption created by this act expires

29  on July 1, 2008.

30  

31  


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  1  If both an award under the local housing assistance plan and

  2  federal low-income housing tax credits are used to assist a

  3  project and there is a conflict between the criteria

  4  prescribed in this subsection and the requirements of s. 42 of

  5  the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, the county or

  6  eligible municipality may resolve the conflict by giving

  7  precedence to the requirements of s. 42 of the Internal

  8  Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, in lieu of following the

  9  criteria prescribed in this subsection with the exception of

10  paragraphs (a) and (d) of this subsection.

11         (9)  Each county or eligible municipality shall submit

12  to the corporation by September 15 of each year a report of

13  its affordable housing programs and accomplishments through

14  June 30 immediately preceding submittal of the report. The

15  report shall be certified as accurate and complete by the

16  local government's chief elected official or his or her

17  designee. Transmittal of the annual report by a county's or

18  eligible municipality's chief elected official, or his or her

19  designee, certifies that the local housing incentive

20  strategies, or, if applicable, the local housing incentive

21  plan, have been implemented or are in the process of being

22  implemented pursuant to the adopted schedule for

23  implementation. The report must include, but is not limited

24  to:

25         (c)  The average area purchase sales price or value of

26  a single-family units unit and the amount of rent charged for

27  a rental unit based on unit size.

28         Section 8.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

29  law.

30  

31  


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