§ 1001. Legislative findings and statement of policy. The legislature hereby finds and declares that there exist in certain rural areas of the state significant unmet housing needs of persons and families of low or moderate income, numerous housing units which are deteriorating or in need of rehabilitation or improvement, and related factors demonstrating a need for increased attention to housing preservation and community revitalization in such areas. Meeting the housing and community renewal needs of rural areas entails special problems arising from the dispersal of population over wide areas, the existence of substandard areas in the form of small, often isolated, pockets of poverty rather than massive concentrations, the extremely limited resources of the small units of local government involved, and other characteristics of these areas.

Locally based not-for-profit organizations can play a crucial role in housing preservation and community revitalization. The public policy of support for such organizations embodied in article sixteen of this chapter, and the legislative findings set forth in such article, are hereby reaffirmed. The legislature further finds and determines that the needs of rural areas and of existing and potential not-for-profit organizations serving such areas will be best met by a program of support for such organizations and their activities similar to that in article sixteen of this chapter but recognizing the distinctive characteristics of such areas. It is the purpose of this article to establish such a program within the division of housing and community renewal.

It is further declared to be the public policy of the state that all programs of housing and community assistance administered by the division of housing and community renewal or other agencies should be carried out with due regard for the special conditions in and needs of the rural areas of the state.