2012 New York Consolidated Laws
PVH - Private Housing Finance
Article 17-A - (1020 - 1025) RENTAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FOR RURAL AREAS
1020 - Legislative findings and statement of policy.

 
    §  1020. Legislative findings and statement of policy. The legislature
  hereby finds that in  certain  rural  areas  of  the  state  significant
  numbers of low income residents are unable to obtain decent housing. The
  normal operation of the private market has not addressed their needs.
    The  elderly  and  families  are  especially  affected  by the lack of
  housing in rural areas. Elderly persons are frequently forced to  choose
  between  continuing to live in homes which have become too large to care
  for and use  well  or  leaving  their  communities  to  live  elsewhere.
  Families, particularly those just beginning, are often faced with either
  substandard,  unsafe  housing,  living  with  relatives  in  overcrowded
  conditions,  or  leaving  their  communities.  The  ensuing  social  and
  economic   disruption  has  profoundly  adverse  effects  on  the  rural
  communities as well as the residents.
    Numerous  housing  programs  have  been  initiated  by   the   federal
  government  to  provide  housing  for  those of low income. For the most
  part, these programs have  worked  best  in  areas  of  high  population
  density,  thus effectively, although unintentionally, failing to fulfill
  their intent in rural areas.
    The legislature further finds that locally based housing providers can
  effectively serve the needs of low and moderate income persons in  rural
  areas.  Their  efforts  have  been  severely  limited,  however,  by the
  contemporary high cost of financing, inflation and massive  retrenchment
  in federal housing assistance programs.
    The  legislature  further  finds it to be in the best interests of the
  people of New York state to assist local housing  providers  in  meeting
  the  needs  of  low  income  occupants  in  rural areas by supplementing
  federal assistance programs with a program of  state  rental  assistance
  payments similar to the federal Farmer's Home Administration Program.