2006 New York Code - Policy And Purposes Of Article.

 
    § 800. Policy and purposes of article. It is hereby declared and found
  that  there  exists  in  municipalities  in  this  state substandard and
  insanitary areas and neighborhoods characterized by undermaintained  and
  deteriorating  housing accommodations and under-utilized non-residential
  buildings and under-utilized vacant land. It is further found that there
  exists in such municipalities a  diminishing  and  seriously  inadequate
  supply  of  safe  and sanitary dwelling accommodations, particularly for
  persons of low income; that the loss of housing accommodations is caused
  by  the  inability  of  the  ordinary  unaided  operations  of   private
  enterprise  to make loans for rehabilitation or construction purposes or
  for conversion  which  accelerates  the  process  of  deterioration  and
  abandonment,  turning  active  and  viable  neighborhoods into slums and
  blighted areas; and  that  the  prevention  of  deterioration  and  loss
  through   abandonment  can  only  be  achieved  by  the  elimination  of
  conditions which are unsafe or detrimental to health, the replacement of
  antiquated  heating,  plumbing,  and  electrical  systems   and,   where
  necessary, the overall rehabilitation of certain housing accommodations,
  the  construction  of  new housing accommodations on vacant land and the
  conversion of under-utilized  non-residential  property  to  residential
  use,  and  that  the  unavailability  of  funds  for  the  conversion of
  under-utilized property to residential use,  for  the  preservation  and
  rehabilitation of housing accommodations and for the construction of new
  housing  accommodations  on  vacant  land  constitutes  a  threat to the
  health, safety and well-being of the persons who occupy them and  denies
  to  others  the  possibility  of  living  in  safe  and sanitary housing
  accommodations.
    In order to  promote  the  preservation  and  rehabilitation  of  such
  housing  accommodations,  the  creation of new housing accommodations by
  the conversion of under-utilized non-residential property into  multiple
  dwellings  and  the construction of new housing accommodations on vacant
  land in such areas and to encourage the investment of private capital in
  such areas, provision should be  made  for  a  municipality  to  attract
  private  investment  for  such  purposes  by  utilizing funds, which are
  available from the federal government through specific or  discretionary
  grants,  or  are  available  from  other  financing  sources,  for joint
  participation loans  with  private  investors  to  effect  the  required
  construction, rehabilitation or conversion.
    The  necessity  in  the public interest for the provisions hereinafter
  enacted is hereby declared as a matter of legislative determination.