BILL NUMBER: S8178
SPONSOR: KAVANAGH
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the private housing finance law, in relation to the
amount of funds that may be used per dwelling unit to modernize certain
authorities used by the housing trust fund corporation
 
PURPOSE OF THE BILL:
This bill would amend the Private Housing Finance Law (PHFL) in order to
amend HTFC's governing statute to increase the maximum loan or grant
amount per dwelling unit from $125,000 to $250,000 and to clarify that
HTFC may make a finding to exceed this cap in certain circumstances.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends subdivision one of Section 1102 of the
PHFL, as amended by chapter 235 of the laws of 2021, increasing the
maximum cap on HTFC payments, grants, and loans from $125,000 to
$250,000 per dwelling unit and clarifying that HTFC may make a finding
to exceed this cap in certain circumstances.
Section 2 of the bill provides for an immediate effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
HTFC is currently limited to a maximum loan and grant amount of $125,000
per unit. The current $125,000 per unit cap was set in 2008 and has not
been revised since that time. Over the past decade and a half, land and
construction costs have risen dramatically, driving up the costs of
affordable housing. To keep pace with the rising costs of housing devel-
opment, this increase in the per unit maximum is necessary to ensure
that HTFC will continue to be able to develop affordable housing across
New York State. Existing law also suggests that HTFC may provide addi-
tional funds in certain circumstances, and this legislation would clari-
fy such authority.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This HTFC maximum loan increase proposal was included as a departmental
in 2018. At that time, the increase would have been from $125,000 to
$175,000.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
N/A
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S8178: 1102 private housing finance law, 1102(1) private housing finance law