Bill Text: CT SB00319 | 2010 | General Assembly | Comm Sub


Bill Title: An Act Concerning An Urban Homesteading Pilot Program.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2010-05-04 - House Calendar Number 509 [SB00319 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2010-SB00319-Comm_Sub.html

General Assembly

 

Substitute Bill No. 319

    February Session, 2010

 

*_____SB00319PD____042110____*

AN ACT CONCERNING AN URBAN HOMESTEADING PILOT PROGRAM.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (Effective July 1, 2010) (a) The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, in consultation with the Department of Economic and Community Development, shall establish a pilot program to promote the revitalization and stabilization of urban neighborhoods by encouraging home ownership by persons who will become owner-occupants of two to four-family homes. The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority may administer the program through one or more nonprofit organizations. The goal of the program shall be to increase home ownership in targeted neighborhoods with high proportions of two to four-family homes, giving priority to promoting owner occupation in buildings that are vacant, bank-owned or investor-owned. The program shall: (1) Incorporate support services for persons participating in the program to maximize the likelihood of their success in maintaining home ownership on a long-term basis; (2) be implemented in up to three municipalities that are recipients of grants under the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program established under Title III of Division B of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 or under the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 established under Title XII of Division A of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; (3) identify funding resources that may be used to purchase two to four-family homes and to repair or rehabilitate such homes as necessary for occupancy; (4) identify incentives to encourage lender participation; (5) assist participants in locating purchase financing and provide counseling before and after any purchase, including training in skills necessary to be an effective landlord and assistance resolving problems that may arise after closing on a home; (6) encourage and recruit community stakeholders such as local banks, local boards of realtors, neighborhood revitalization zone committees and similar entities to provide active support for the program; (7) require persons participating in the program to agree to occupy any home purchased under the program as their primary residence for not less than seven years; and (8) identify mortgage financing to make loans partially forgivable upon compliance with the requirement identified in subdivision (7) of this subsection. Priority for participation in the program may be given to persons who will become first-time homebuyers and to persons who are already living in a neighborhood that is being targeted by the program.

(b) The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority shall establish the parameters of the program not later than October 1, 2010, and shall designate up to three municipalities to participate in such program not later than January 1, 2011. The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, in accordance with section 11-4a of the general statutes, shall submit to the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to housing (1) a status report on the program not later than February 1, 2011; (2) an interim report on the program not later than January 1, 2012; and (3) a final report on the program not later than January 1, 2013.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:

Section 1

July 1, 2010

New section

HSG

Joint Favorable Subst.

 

CE

Joint Favorable

 

PD

Joint Favorable

 
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