(a) In addition to amounts otherwise authorized by this chapter, a state agency shall make a payment to or for any displaced person displaced from any dwelling not eligible to receive a payment under Section 18-4-5 which dwelling was actually and lawfully occupied by the displaced person for not less than 90 days immediately prior to the initiation of negotiations for acquisition of the dwelling, or in any case in which displacement is not a direct result of acquisition, or other event as the agency shall prescribe. The payment shall consist of the amount necessary to enable a displaced person to lease or rent, for a period not to exceed 42 months, a comparable replacement dwelling, but not to exceed five thousand two hundred fifty dollars ($5,250).

(b) Any displaced person eligible for a payment under subsection (a) may elect to apply the payment to a down payment on, and other incidental expenses pursuant to, the purchase of a decent, safe, and sanitary replacement dwelling. Any person may, at the discretion of the state agency, be eligible under this subsection for the maximum payment allowed under subsection (a) except that in the case of a displaced homeowner who has owned and occupied the displacement dwelling for at least 90 days but not more than 180 days immediately prior to the initiation of negotiations for the acquisition of the dwelling, the payment shall not exceed the payment the person would otherwise have received under Section 18-4-5 had the person owned and occupied the displacement dwelling 180 days immediately prior to the initiation of the negotiations.