2011 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 40 — Public health and safety
RS 40:600.1 — Short title; findings; purpose

CHAPTER 3-A. LOUISIANA HOUSING FINANCE ACT

§600.1. Short title; findings; purpose

NOTE: Repealed by Acts 2011, No. 408, §3, eff. midnight, June 30, 2012.

A. This Chapter shall be known and may be referred to as the "Louisiana Housing Finance Act."

B.(1) The legislature hereby finds and declares that there exists in the state of Louisiana a serious shortage of decent, safe and sanitary residential housing available at prices within the financial means of persons and families of low or moderate income. This shortage is severe in both rural and urban areas of the state, and constitutes a threat to the health, welfare, safety and morals and prosperity of all residents of the state.

(2) The legislature hereby finds and declares further that such shortage of residential housing results in overcrowding and congestion and exacerbates existing slum conditions which, in turn, contribute substantially and increasingly to the spread of disease and crime, impair economic values of property, necessitate excessive and disproportionate expenditures of public funds for crime prevention and punishment, public health, welfare and safety programs, fire and accident protection and other services, substantially impair or arrest the growth of urban and rural areas, aggravate traffic problems and exacerbate juvenile delinquency and other social ills.

(3) The legislature hereby finds and declares further that private enterprise unaided has not been able to produce the needed construction of decent, safe and sanitary residential housing at prices which persons and families of low or moderate income can afford, or to achieve the urgently needed rehabilitation of existing inadequate and substandard residential housing. The legislature further finds and declares that it is imperative that the supply of residential housing for persons and families of low or moderate income be increased substantially and that private enterprise and investors be encouraged to sponsor, build and rehabilitate residential housing for such persons and families.

(4) The legislature hereby finds and declares further that a major cause of the shortage of residential housing is the inadequate supply of funds available from private mortgage lenders for residential housing mortgage loans at interest rates within the financial means of persons and families of low or moderate income.

(5) The legislature hereby finds and declares that the limited resources available directly to the state or its agencies may be more effectively and efficiently utilized if a single agency is authorized and directed to coordinate housing programs administered by the state or its agencies and instrumentalities.

(6) The legislature hereby finds and declares further that additional financial resources and technical skills must be available in local communities if the state is to mobilize the capacity of the private sector, including nonprofit community housing development organizations, to provide a more adequate supply of decent, safe, and sanitary housing.

(7) The legislature hereby finds and declares further that state leadership is needed to achieve an adequate supply of affordable housing for all residents of the state and that such leadership shall be provided through the agency.

(8) The legislature hereby finds and declares further that the agency should have the maximum amount of flexibility, responsibility, and discretion to assure that all the residents of the state shall have access to decent, safe, sanitary, and affordable housing; therefore, in carrying out the purposes of this Chapter, the agency shall be presumed to possess broad powers and legal prerogatives which enable the agency to carry out its purposes directly or indirectly through one or more nonprofit subsidiaries.

Added by Acts 1980, No. 707, §1, eff. July 24, 1980; Acts 1990, No. 1032, §2; Acts 2004, No. 723, §1; Acts 2011, No. 408, §3, eff. midnight, June 30, 2012.