TITLE 31

COUNTIES AND COUNTY LAW

CHAPTER 42

COUNTY HOUSING AUTHORITIES AND COOPERATION LAW

31-4204.  Powers of authority. A housing authority shall constitute an independent public body corporate and politic, exercising public and essential governmental functions, and having all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this act, including the following powers in addition to others herein granted:

(a)  To sue and to be sued; to have a seal and to alter the same at pleasure; to have perpetual succession; to make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers of the authority, including the power to contract with other housing authorities for services; and to make and from time to time amend and repeal bylaws, rules and regulations, not inconsistent with this chapter, to carry into effect the powers and purposes of the authority.

(b)  Within the area of operation: to prepare, carry out, acquire, lease and operate housing projects; to provide for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, alteration or repair of any housing project or any part thereof.

(c)  To arrange or contract for the furnishing by any person or agency, public or private, of services, privileges, works or facilities for, or in connection with, a housing project or the occupants thereof; and, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this chapter or in any other provision of law, to include in any contract let in connection with a project, stipulations requiring that the contractor and any subcontractors comply with requirements as to minimum wages and maximum hours of labor, and comply with any conditions which the federal government may have attached to its financial aid of the project.

(d)  To lease or rent any dwellings, houses, accommodations, lands, buildings, structures or facilities embraced in any housing project and, subject to the limitations contained in this chapter, to establish and revise the rents or charges therefor; to own, hold and improve real or personal property; to purchase, lease, obtain options upon, acquire by gift, grant, bequest, devise or otherwise, any real or personal property or any interest therein; to acquire, by the exercise of the power of eminent domain, any real property; to sell, lease, exchange, transfer, assign, pledge or dispose of any real or personal property or any interest therein; to insure or provide for the insurance of any real or personal property or operation of the authority against any risks or hazards; to procure or agree to the procurement of insurance or guarantees from the federal government of the payment of any bonds or parts thereof issued by an authority, including the power to pay premiums on any such insurance; to rent or sell and to agree to rent or sell dwellings forming part of the housing projects to or for persons of low income. Where an agreement or option is made to sell a dwelling to a person of low income, the authority may convey the dwelling to the person upon fulfillment of the agreement irrespective of whether the person is at the time of the conveyance a person of low income. Leases, options, agreements or conveyances may include such covenants as the authority deems appropriate to assure the achievement of the objectives of this chapter.

(e)  To invest any funds held in reserves or sinking funds, or any funds not required for immediate disbursement, in property or securities in which banks may legally invest funds, subject to the control of the housing authority; to purchase its own bonds at a price not more than the principal amount thereof and accrued interest, and all bonds so purchased shall be canceled.

(f)  Within its area of operation: to investigate into living, dwelling and housing conditions and into the means and methods of improving such conditions; to determine where slum areas exist or where there is a shortage of adequate, safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations for persons of low income; to make studies and recommendations relating to the problem of clearing, replanning and reconstruction of slum areas and the problem of providing dwelling accommodations for persons of low income, and to cooperate with the city, the county, the state or any political subdivision thereof in action taken in connection with such problems; and to engage in research, studies and experimentation on the subject of housing.

(g)  Acting through one (1) or more commissioners or other person or persons designated by the authority, to conduct examinations and investigations and to hear testimony and take proof, under oath, at public or private hearings on any matter material for its information; to administer oaths, issue subpoenas requiring attendance of witnesses or the production of books and papers, and to issue commissions for the examination of witnesses who are outside of the state or unable to attend before the authority, or excused from attendance; to make available, to appropriate agencies (including those charged with the duty of abating or requiring the correction of nuisances or like conditions, or of demolishing unsafe or insanitary structures within its area of operation), its findings and recommendations with regard to any building or property where conditions exist which are dangerous to the public health, morals, safety or welfare.

(h)  To make, purchase, participate in, invest in, take assignments of, or otherwise acquire loans to persons of low income to enable them to acquire, construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate, improve, lease or refinance their dwellings, and to take such security therefor as is deemed necessary and prudent by the authority.

(i)  To make, purchase, participate in, invest in, take assignments of, or otherwise acquire loans for the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, leasing or refinancing of land, buildings or developments for housing for persons of low income. For purposes of this subsection, development shall include either land or buildings or both.

(j)  Any housing project shall be subject to the requirement that the dwelling units made available to persons of low income, together with functionally related and subordinate facilities, shall occupy at least thirty percent (30%) of the interior space of any individual building other than a detached single-family or duplex residential building or mobile or manufactured home and shall occupy at least fifty percent (50%) of the total number of units in the development, whichever produces the greater number of units for persons of low income. For mobile or manufactured home parks, the mobile or manufactured home lots made available to persons of low income shall be at least fifty percent (50%) of the total number of mobile or manufactured home lots in the park.

(k)  To exercise all or any part or combination of powers herein granted.

History:

[31-4204, added 1970, ch. 211, sec. 4, p. 584; am. 1998, ch. 367, sec. 1, p. 1147; am. 2001, ch. 260, sec. 2, p. 937.]