Bill Text: VA HB1421 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Virginia Housing Trust Fund; expands eligibility for loans.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-02-06 - Stricken from docket by General Laws (20-Y 0-N) [HB1421 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-HB1421-Introduced.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§36-141, 36-142, 36-143, 36-145 through 36-148.1, and 36-151 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows:
§36-141. Definitions.
As used in this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:
"Board" means the Board of Housing and Community Development.
"Department" means the Department of Housing and Community Development.
"Director" means the Director of the Department of Housing and Community Development.
"Eligible income" means low, moderate, or middle income as defined in the program guidelines developed by the Department.
"Fund" means the Virginia Housing Trust Fund created by this chapter.
"HDA" means the Virginia Housing Development Authority created in Chapter 1.2 (§36-55.24 et seq.).
"Housing development" or "housing project"
means any work or undertaking, whether new construction or rehabilitation, which that
is designed and financed pursuant to the provisions of this chapter for the
primary purpose of providing affordable sanitary, decent,
and safe dwelling accommodations for persons and families of low or moderate eligible income in need of
housing; such work or undertaking may include any buildings, land, equipment,
facilities, or other real or personal properties which that are necessary,
convenient, or desirable appurtenances, including but not limited to streets,
sewers, utilities, parks, site preparation, landscaping, and such offices, and other nonhousing
facilities incidental to such development or project such as administrative,
community, health, educational,
and recreational facilities as the Department
of Housing and Community Development determines to be
necessary. "Low and
moderate income" shall be defined in the program guidelines developed by
the Department of Housing and Community Development.
"Housing sponsor" means individuals, joint ventures,
partnerships, limited partnerships, public bodies, trusts, firms, associations,
or other legal entities or any combination thereof, corporations, cooperatives, and condominiums, approved by the Department of Housing and Community Development
as qualified either to own, construct, acquire, rehabilitate, operate, manage, or maintain a housing
development, whether nonprofit or organized for limited profit subject to the
regulatory powers of the Department of Housing and
Community Development and other terms and conditions set
forth in this chapter.
"Residential housing" means a specific work or
improvement within this the Commonwealth, whether multi-family
residential housing or single-family residential housing,
undertaken primarily to provide dwelling accommodations, including the
acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, preservation,
or improvement of land, buildings,
and improvements thereto, for residential housing,
and such other nonhousing facilities as may be incidental, related, or
appurtenant thereto.
§36-142. Creation and management of Virginia Housing Trust Fund; report.
A. There is hereby established in the state treasury a special
permanent, nonreverting fund, to be known as the "Virginia Housing Trust
Fund." The Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller and
consist of sums appropriated to the Fund by the General Assembly, all receipts
by the Fund from loans made by it to housing sponsors and persons and families
of low and moderate eligible income, all income
from the investment of moneys held in the Fund, and any other sums designated
for deposit to the Fund from any source, public or private. The Fund shall also
consist of such other sums as may be made available to it and shall include
federal grants solicited and received for the specific purposes of the Fund and
all interest and income from investment of the Fund. Any sums remaining in the
Fund, including interest thereon, at the end of each fiscal year shall not
revert to the general fund but shall remain in the Fund. All moneys designated
for the Fund shall be paid into the state treasury and credited to the Fund. Expenditures and disbursements from the Fund shall
be made by the State Treasurer on warrants issued by the Comptroller upon
written request signed by the Director.
B. The Department shall:
1. Work in collaboration with the HDA to provide loan
origination and servicing activities as needed to carry out the purposes of the
Fund. The costs of such services shall be considered an eligible use of the
Fund; and
2. Use, through HDA, at least 80 percent of the moneys from
the Fund to provide flexible financing for low-interest loans through eligible
organizations. Such loans shall be structured to maximize leveraging
opportunities. All such funds shall be repaid to the credit of the Fund. Loans
may be provided for (i) affordable rental housing to include new construction,
rehabilitation, repair, or acquisition of housing to assist
low or moderate persons
and families with eligible
income citizens,
including land and land improvements; (ii) down payment and closing cost
assistance for homebuyers; and (iii) short-term, medium-term, and long-term
loans to reduce the cost of homeownership and rental housing. Moneys required
by the HDA to fund such loans and perform loan closing and disbursement
services shall be transferred from the Fund to the HDA.
The Department may use up to 20 percent of the moneys from the Fund to provide grants through eligible organizations for targeted efforts to reduce homelessness, including (a) temporary rental assistance, not to exceed one year; (b) housing stabilization services in permanent supportive housing for homeless individuals and homeless families; (c) mortgage foreclosure counseling targeted at localities with the highest incidence of foreclosure activity; and (d) predevelopment assistance for permanent supportive housing and other long-term housing options for the homeless; and
3. Develop program guidelines for the administration of the Fund, which (i) shall include definitions of "low income," "moderate income," and "middle income" consistent with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and (ii) and shall give funding priority to low income and moderate income housing projects..
C. The Fund shall be administered and managed by the Department as prescribed in this chapter. In order to carry out the administration and management of the Fund, the Department is granted the power to contract with or employ officers, employees, agents, advisers, and consultants, including, without limitation, attorneys, financial advisers, public accountants, professional engineers, and other technical advisers and, the provisions of any other law to the contrary notwithstanding, to determine their duties and compensation without the approval of any other agency or instrumentality. The Department may disburse from the Fund its reasonable costs and expenses incurred in the administration and management of the Fund, including reasonable fees and costs of the HDA.
D. For the purposes of this section, eligible organizations
include (i) localities, (ii) local government housing authorities, (iii)
regional and statewide housing assistance organizations that provide assistance
to low and moderate income or low persons
and families with eligible income
citizens of Virginia, and (iv) limited liability companies
expressly created for the purpose of owning and operating affordable housing.
E. In any year prior to the expenditure of any general funds appropriated for the Fund for the next succeeding fiscal year, the Department, in conjunction with HDA, shall submit a plan outlining the proposed uses of such funds to the General Assembly. The plan shall be provided to the Chairmen of the House Committee on Appropriations and the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations no later than November 1 of each year.
§36-143. Deposit of money; expenditures; investments.
All money transferred to the control of the HDA from the Fund
shall be deposited in an account or accounts in banks or trust companies
organized under the laws of the Commonwealth or in national banking
associations located in Virginia or in savings institutions located in Virginia
organized under the laws of the Commonwealth or the United States. The money in
these accounts shall be paid by check signed by the Executive Director of the
HDA or other officers or employees designated by the Commissioners of the HDA.
All deposits of money shall, if required by the Director
of the Department of Housing and Community Development, be
secured in a manner determined by the Director
of the Department of Housing and Community Development to
be prudent. All banks, trust companies,
and savings and loan associations are authorized to give security for the
deposits. Money in the Fund shall not be commingled with other money of the
HDA. Money in the Fund not needed for immediate use or disbursement may be
invested or reinvested by the HDA at the direction and guidance of the Director of the Department of Housing and Community
Development in obligations or securities which that
are considered lawful investments for public funds under the laws of the
Commonwealth. All interest and earnings accrued from investments of moneys from
the Fund shall be used to increase the amount available in the Fund.
§36-145. Collection of money due Fund.
The HDA is empowered to collect, or to authorize others to
collect on its behalf, amounts due to the Fund under any loan made to a housing
sponsor or a person or family of low or moderate eligible income and funded
from the portion of the Fund transferred to its control in order to obtain
payment of any amounts in default. Proceedings to recover amounts due to the
Fund may be instituted by the HDA in the name of the Fund in the appropriate
circuit court.
§36-146. Loans.
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, money in the
Fund shall be used to make loans to housing sponsors and to persons and
families of low and moderate eligible income to finance or
refinance the acquisition, construction, improvement, ownership, or occupancy of housing
developments and residential housing for persons and families of low and moderate eligible income.
Except as provided in this chapter, the Department of Housing and Community Development
shall determine the terms and conditions of any loan from the Fund, including
but not limited to the interest rate and repayment terms of each loan. All
loans from the Fund shall be evidenced by appropriate notes of the loan
recipient payable to the Fund. Any such loans made with respect to dwellings of
residents of the Commonwealth shall be limited to dwellings occupied by persons
or families of low and moderate
income eligible.
The Director of the Department
of Housing and Community Development is authorized to
require in connection with any loan from the Fund any documents, instruments,
certificates, legal opinions, or
other information it deems necessary or convenient.
§36-147. Grants.
Subject to any restrictions which that may apply to the use of
money in the Fund, the Board in its discretion may approve the use of money in
the Fund to make grants or appropriations to housing sponsors and persons and
families of low and moderate eligible income to provide
assistance for the acquisition, construction, improvement, ownership, or occupancy of housing
developments and residential housing for persons and families of low and moderate eligible income. Grants shall
be disbursed from the Fund by the State Treasurer in accordance with the
directions of the Director of the Department
of Housing and Community Development.
§36-148. Pledge of assets to secure bonds of the HDA.
The HDA is empowered at any time and from time to time to
transfer, upon the direction of the Director
of the Department of Housing and Community Development,
from the portion of the Fund under its control to banks or trust companies
designated by the HDA any or all of the assets of the Fund to be held in trust
as security for the payment of the principal of and premium, if any, and
interest on any or all of the bonds of the HDA. The interests of the Fund in
any assets so transferred shall be subordinate to the rights of the trustee
under the pledge. To the extent funds are not available from other sources
pledged for such purpose, any payments of principal and interest received on
the assets transferred or held in trust may be applied by the trustee thereof
to the payment of the principal of and premium, if any, and interest on such
bonds of the HDA to which the assets have been pledged, and, if such payments
are insufficient for such purpose, the trustee is empowered to sell any or all
of such assets and apply the net proceeds from the sale to the payment of the
principal of and premium, if any, and interest on such bonds of the HDA. Any
assets of the Fund transferred in trust as set forth above and any payments of
principal, interest, or
earnings received thereon shall remain part of the Fund but shall be subject to
the pledge to secure the bonds of the HDA and shall be held by the trustee to
which they are pledged until no longer required for such purpose by the terms
of the pledge. On or before January 10 of each year, the HDA shall transfer, or
shall cause the trustee to transfer, to the Fund any assets transferred or held
in trust as set forth above which that are no longer required to
be held in trust pursuant to the terms of the pledge.
§36-148.1. Authorization of funding from HDA.
The HDA and the Department
of Housing and Community Development, on behalf of the
Fund, may enter into agreements whereby the Fund may obtain funding from the
HDA for the financing of loans in accordance with this chapter, subject to such
terms and conditions as shall be set forth therein. To the extent so provided
by the terms of any such agreements, moneys in the Fund may be used to repay
the HDA any amounts owed thereunder, and assets of the fund Fund may be pledged to the HDA
pursuant to such agreements to secure the repayment of such amounts. Any such
agreements entered into by the HDA and the Department
of Housing and Community Development prior to February 25,
1991, are hereby validated.
§36-151. Liberal construction of chapter.
The provisions of this chapter shall be liberally construed to
the end that its beneficial purposes may be effectuated. Insofar as the
provisions of this chapter are inconsistent with the provisions of any other law, general, special, or local
law, the provisions of this chapter shall be controlling.
