| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to affordable housing; amending s. |
| 3 | 420.5087, F.S.; providing legislative intent; providing |
| 4 | additional purposes for which state apartment incentive |
| 5 | loans may be used; specifying a percentage of State |
| 6 | Apartment Incentive Loan funding to be awarded as |
| 7 | subordinate loan financing for the new construction of |
| 8 | affordable rental housing developments; providing |
| 9 | eligibility and application requirements; providing duties |
| 10 | of the Florida Housing Development Corporation; providing |
| 11 | an effective date. |
| 12 |
|
| 13 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 14 |
|
| 15 | Section 1. Subsection (9) is added to section 420.5087, |
| 16 | Florida Statutes, to read: |
| 17 | 420.5087 State Apartment Incentive Loan Program.-There is |
| 18 | hereby created the State Apartment Incentive Loan Program for |
| 19 | the purpose of providing first, second, or other subordinated |
| 20 | mortgage loans or loan guarantees to sponsors, including for- |
| 21 | profit, nonprofit, and public entities, to provide housing |
| 22 | affordable to very-low-income persons. |
| 23 | (9) It is the intent of the Legislature that funds of the |
| 24 | State Apartment Incentive Loan Program be used in conjunction |
| 25 | with private activity bond allocation to encourage the new |
| 26 | construction of affordable rental housing. Notwithstanding any |
| 27 | other provision of this section, at least 90 percent of the |
| 28 | moneys in the State Apartment Incentive Loan Fund in each |
| 29 | calendar year shall be awarded as subordinate loan financing for |
| 30 | the construction of new affordable rental housing developments |
| 31 | whose primary source of financing is an allocation of tax-exempt |
| 32 | private activity bonds issued by the corporation or by a local |
| 33 | or regional agency pursuant to part VI of chapter 159. |
| 34 | Applicants who closed their bond financing or commenced |
| 35 | construction before December 31, 2010, are not eligible to apply |
| 36 | for subordinate loan financing under this subsection. Applicants |
| 37 | who began construction after December 31, 2010, are eligible to |
| 38 | apply for subordinate loan financing under this subsection if |
| 39 | the application seeking such financing was submitted to the |
| 40 | corporation prior to or not more than 18 months after |
| 41 | commencement of construction. In awarding subordinate loan |
| 42 | financing under this subsection, the corporation shall use a |
| 43 | scoring system for evaluation and competitive ranking of |
| 44 | applications other than that under paragraph (6)(c) and shall |
| 45 | award such financing without regard to whether the tax-exempt |
| 46 | private activity bond allocation is issued by it or by a local |
| 47 | or regional agency. The award of subordinate loan financing |
| 48 | under this subsection may not take into consideration an |
| 49 | applicant's proposal to reserve units for persons or families |
| 50 | who have incomes below the income requirements set out in |
| 51 | subsection (2), to reserve more such units for such persons or |
| 52 | families than required by subsection (2), or to reserve such |
| 53 | units for a time period exceeding the minimum required by |
| 54 | federal law. Before the receipt of competitive applications for |
| 55 | the award of subordinate loan financing under this subsection, |
| 56 | the corporation shall generate and distribute an estimate of the |
| 57 | total amount of moneys available in the State Apartment |
| 58 | Incentive Loan Fund in the calendar year the financing will be |
| 59 | awarded. A rank-ordered list of applicants selected for receipt |
| 60 | of subordinate loan financing under this subsection shall be |
| 61 | presented to the corporation's board of directors as soon as |
| 62 | practicable after the corporation calculates the amount of |
| 63 | interest due on outstanding state apartment incentive loans, |
| 64 | which amount shall be included in the moneys available for award |
| 65 | under this subsection. |
| 66 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011. |