Senate Bill sb1626c1

    Florida Senate - 2007                           CS for SB 1626

    By the Committee on Community Affairs; and Senator Margolis





    578-2165-07

  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 partially forgivable

  6         loans to nonprofit organizations that serve

  7         extremely-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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    Florida Senate - 2007                           CS for SB 1626
    578-2165-07




 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 corporation may forgive indebtedness for a

27  share of the loan attributable to the units in a project

28  reserved for extremely-low-income elderly by nonprofit

29  organizations, as defined in s. 420.0004(5), if the project

30  has provided affordable housing to the elderly for 15 years or

31  more. The corporation shall establish, by rule, the procedure

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    Florida Senate - 2007                           CS for SB 1626
    578-2165-07




 1  and criteria for receiving, evaluating, and competitively

 2  ranking all applications for loans under this paragraph. A

 3  loan application must include evidence of the first

 4  mortgagee's having reviewed and approved the sponsor's intent

 5  to apply for a loan. A nonprofit organization or sponsor may

 6  not use the proceeds of the loan to pay for administrative

 7  costs, routine maintenance, or new construction.

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

 9  law.

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11          STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES CONTAINED IN
                       COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
12                         Senate Bill 1626

13                                 

14  The committee substitute authorizes the Florida Housing
    Finance Corporation to partially forgive loans given to
15  nonprofit organizations that sponsor affordable housing
    projects for the elderly.  The portion of the loan to be
16  forgiven is attributable to the units set aside in the project
    for extremely-low-income elderly tenants and the project must
17  have been providing affordable housing to the elderly for at
    least 15 years.
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.