Senate Bill sb1626

    Florida Senate - 2007                                  SB 1626

    By Senator Margolis





    35-1014B-07                                         See HB 625

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to affordable housing for the

  3         elderly; amending s. 420.5087, F.S.;

  4         authorizing the Florida Housing Finance

  5         Corporation to provide forgivable loans to

  6         nonprofit organizations that serve

  7         very-low-income elderly tenants; providing

  8         criteria; providing an effective date.

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

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12         Section 1.  Paragraph (d) of subsection (3) of section

13  420.5087, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:

14         420.5087  State Apartment Incentive Loan

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

16  Incentive Loan Program for the purpose of providing first,

17  second, or other subordinated mortgage loans or loan

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

19  public entities, to provide housing affordable to

20  very-low-income persons.

21         (3)  During the first 6 months of loan or loan

22  guarantee availability, program funds shall be reserved for

23  use by sponsors who provide the housing set-aside required in

24  subsection (2) for the tenant groups designated in this

25  subsection. The reservation of funds to each of these groups

26  shall be determined using the most recent statewide

27  very-low-income rental housing market study available at the

28  time of publication of each notice of fund availability

29  required by paragraph (6)(b). The reservation of funds within

30  each notice of fund availability to the tenant groups in

31  paragraphs (a), (b), and (d) may not be less than 10 percent

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 2007                                  SB 1626
    35-1014B-07                                         See HB 625




 1  of the funds available at that time. Any increase in funding

 2  required to reach the 10-percent minimum shall be taken from

 3  the tenant group that has the largest reservation. The

 4  reservation of funds within each notice of fund availability

 5  to the tenant group in paragraph (c) may not be less than 5

 6  percent of the funds available at that time. The tenant groups

 7  are:

 8         (d)  Elderly persons. Ten percent of the amount

 9  reserved for the elderly shall be reserved to provide loans to

10  sponsors of housing for the elderly for the purpose of making

11  building preservation, health, or sanitation repairs or

12  improvements which are required by federal, state, or local

13  regulation or code, or lifesafety or security-related repairs

14  or improvements to such housing. Such a loan may not exceed

15  $750,000 per housing community for the elderly. In order to

16  receive the loan, the sponsor of the housing community must

17  make a commitment to match at least 5 percent of the loan

18  amount to pay the cost of such repair or improvement. The

19  corporation shall establish the rate of interest on the loan,

20  which may not exceed 3 percent, and the term of the loan,

21  which may not exceed 15 years; however, if the lien of the

22  corporation's encumbrance is subordinate to the lien of

23  another mortgagee, then the term may be made coterminous with

24  the longest term of the superior lien. The term of the loan

25  shall be established on the basis of a credit analysis of the

26  applicant. The Legislature recognizes that nonprofit

27  organizations that serve very-low-income elderly tenants may

28  be precluded from taking on additional debt due to their legal

29  and practical inability to increase rents. Therefore, the

30  corporation may provide forgivable loans to nonprofit

31  organizations, as defined in s. 420.0004(5), which sponsor

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    Florida Senate - 2007                                  SB 1626
    35-1014B-07                                         See HB 625




 1  affordable housing for the elderly if at least 50 percent of

 2  the units are dedicated to low-income or very-low-income

 3  elderly persons or a combination of the two and the housing

 4  community for which the loan is requested has been providing

 5  affordable housing to the elderly for 15 years or more. The

 6  corporation shall establish, by rule, the procedure and

 7  criteria for receiving, evaluating, and competitively ranking

 8  all applications for loans under this paragraph. A loan

 9  application must include evidence of the first mortgagee's

10  having reviewed and approved the sponsor's intent to apply for

11  a loan. A nonprofit organization or sponsor may not use the

12  proceeds of the loan to pay for administrative costs, routine

13  maintenance, or new construction.

14         Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a

15  law.

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.