§201H-202  Rental housing trust fund.  (a) There is established the rental housing trust fund to be administered by thecorporation.

(b)  An amount from the fund, to be set by thecorporation and authorized by the legislature, may be used for administrativeexpenses incurred by the corporation in administering the fund; provided thatfund moneys may not be used to finance day-to-day administrative expenses ofprojects allotted fund moneys.

(c)  The following may be deposited into thefund: appropriations made by the legislature, private contributions, repaymentof loans, interest, other returns, and moneys from other sources.

(d)  The fund shall be used to provide loans orgrants for the development, pre-development, construction, acquisition,preservation, and substantial rehabilitation of rental housing units.  Permitteduses of the fund may include but are not limited to planning, design, landacquisition, costs of options, agreements of sale, downpayments, equityfinancing, capacity building of nonprofit housing developers, or other housingdevelopment services or activities as provided in rules adopted by thecorporation pursuant to chapter 91.  The rules may provide for a means ofrecapturing loans or grants made from the fund if a rental housing projectfinanced under the fund is refinanced or sold at a later date.  The rules mayalso provide that moneys from the fund shall be leveraged with other financialresources to the extent possible.

(e)  Moneys available in the fund shall be usedfor the purpose of providing, in whole or in part, loans or grants for rentalhousing projects in the following order of priority:

(1)  Projects or units in projects that are allocatedlow‑income housing credits pursuant to the state housing credit ceilingunder section 42(h) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, orprojects or units in projects that are funded by programs of the United StatesDepartment of Housing and Urban Development and United States Department ofAgriculture Rural Development wherein:

(A)  At least fifty per cent of the availableunits are for persons and families with incomes at or below eighty per cent ofthe median family income of which at least five per cent of the available unitsare for persons and families with incomes at or below thirty per cent of themedian family income; and

(B)  The remaining units are for persons andfamilies with incomes at or below one hundred per cent of the median familyincome;

provided that the corporation may establish rulesto ensure full occupancy of fund projects; and

(2)  Mixed-income rental projects or units in a mixed‑incomerental project wherein all of the available units are for persons and familieswith incomes at or below one hundred forty per cent of the median familyincome.

(f)  The corporation shall submit an annualreport to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening ofeach regular session describing the projects funded and, with respect to rentalhousing projects targeted for persons and families with incomes at or belowthirty per cent of the median family income, its efforts to develop thoserental housing projects, a description of proposals submitted for this targetgroup and action taken on the proposals, and any barriers to developing housingunits for this target group.

(g)  For the purposes of this subpart, theapplicable median family income shall be the median family income for thecounty or standard metropolitan statistical area in which the project islocated as determined by the United States Department of Housing and UrbanDevelopment, as adjusted from time to time.

(h)  The corporation may provide loans andgrants under this section; provided that the corporation shall establishloan-to-value ratios to protect the fund from inordinate risk and that under nocircumstances shall the rules permit the loan‑to-value ratio to exceedone hundred per cent; and provided further that the underwriting guidelinesinclude a debt-coverage ratio of not less than 1.0 to 1.

(i)  For the period commencing July 1, 2005,through June 30, 2009, the fund may be used to provide grants for rentalunits set aside for persons and families with incomes at or below thirty percent of the median family income in any project financed in whole or in part bythe fund in proportion of those units to the total number of units in theproject.  At the conclusion of the period described in this subsection, thecorporation shall report to the legislature on the number and use of grantsprovided and whether the grants were an effective use of the funds for purposesof developing rental housing for families at or below thirty per cent of themedian family income. [L 2006, c 180, pt of §4; am L 2007, c 249, §33]