(a) The state, acting by and in the discretion of the Commissioner of Housing, may enter into a contract with a community housing development corporation, a municipal developer or a nonprofit corporation for state financial assistance in the form of a state grant-in-aid, loan, deferred loan, loan guarantee or interest subsidy for the cost of acquisition, construction, rehabilitation or renovation of multifamily dwellings for persons and families whose adjusted monthly income does not exceed fifty per cent of the median household income, as determined by the commissioner, for the area in which they reside and who have received emergency shelter services or shelter services for victims of domestic violence and are in need of transitional housing and support services for a period of six to twenty-four months. Such housing and services shall be designed to enable such persons to maintain their current jobs, improve their employment skills, retrain for different occupations or continue their education. Such services may include, without limitation, information and referral; counseling and support groups; aid in finding vocational training, education or employment; health, nutrition, fitness and recreation programs; child care; transportation; legal aid; and financial counseling. In the case of a deferred loan, the contract shall require that payments on interest are due immediately but that payments on principal may be made at a later time.

(b) The commissioner may consider, without limitation, the following criteria in determining which project shall be eligible for assistance under this section: (1) Whether the project has been approved by local planning and zoning commissions, (2) the amount of resources which have been committed to the project by the private sector and the municipality in which the project would be located, (3) the extent to which resources of existing social services agencies are planned to be utilized, (4) the extent to which both privacy and community living are planned for residents of the project, (5) whether the project is capable of operating without ongoing state subsidies, and (6) the proximity of the project to schools, potential employers, stores and transportation, medical, child care and recreational facilities.

(P.A. 85-485, S. 3; P.A. 87-309, S. 3; 87-436, S. 21, 23; P.A. 92-166, S. 24, 31; P.A. 93-309, S. 28, 29; 93-435, S. 81, 95; P.A. 95-250, S. 1; P.A. 96-211, S. 1, 5, 6; P.A. 06-93, S. 20; P.A. 13-214, S. 5; 13-234, S. 2.)

History: P.A. 87-309 made technical changes to Subsec. (a); P.A. 87-436 added provision in Subsec. (a) authorizing state to enter into contracts with municipal developers; P.A. 92-166 amended Subsec. (a) to make deferred loans a form of financial assistance available under the section and to provide that payments on interest are due immediately but that payments on principal may be made at a later time; P.A. 93-309 added new Subsec. (c) prohibiting the commissioner of housing, on and after July 1, 1994, or the effective date of regulations adopted under Sec. 8-437, from accepting applications for housing developments that qualify for financial assistance under Sec. 8-433, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 93-435 amended Subsec. (c) by deleting reference to “July 1, 1994,” re the deadline for the receipt by the commissioner of housing of certain applications for state financial assistance, and made technical changes, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-250 and P.A. 96-211 replaced Commissioner and Department of Housing with Commissioner and Department of Economic and Community Development; P.A. 06-93 made a technical change in Subsec. (b) and deleted former Subsec. (c) re regulations and application to program repealed by the same act; P.A. 13-214 amended Subsec. (a) to substitute “victims of domestic violence” for “battered women”; pursuant to P.A. 13-234, reference to Commissioner of Economic and Community Development was changed editorially by the Revisors to reference to Commissioner of Housing in Subsec. (a), effective June 19, 2013.