66.1205 Housing authorities; rentals and tenant selection.

(1) In the operation or management of housing projects an authority shall at all times observe the following duties with respect to rentals and tenant selection:

(a) It may rent or lease the dwelling accommodations in a housing project only to persons of low income and at rentals within the financial reach of persons of low income.

(b) It may rent or lease to a tenant dwelling accommodations consisting of the number of rooms, but no greater number, that it considers necessary to provide safe and sanitary accommodations to the proposed occupants, without overcrowding.

(c) It shall not accept any person as a tenant in any housing project if the person or persons who would occupy the dwelling accommodations have an aggregate annual income in excess of 5 times the annual rental of the quarters to be furnished the person or persons, except that in the case of families with minor dependents the aggregate annual income of the person or persons who would occupy the dwelling accommodations may exceed 5 times the annual rental of the quarters to be furnished by $100 for each minor dependent or by an amount equal to the annual income of the minor dependents. In computing the rental for the purpose of selecting tenants, the authority shall determine and include in the rental the average annual cost to the occupants, of heat, water, electricity, gas, cooking range and other necessary services or facilities, whether or not the charge for such services and facilities is in fact included in the rental.

(2) Sections 66.1201 to 66.1211 do not limit the power of an authority to do any of the following:

(a) Invest in an obligee the right, if the authority defaults, to take possession of a housing project or cause the appointment of a receiver of the housing project, free from all the restrictions imposed under ss. 66.1201 to 66.1211, with respect to rentals, tenant selection, manner of operation, or otherwise.

(b) Pursuant to s. 66.1201 (16) vest in obligees the right, if the authority defaults, to acquire title to a housing project or the property mortgaged by the housing authority, free from all of the restrictions imposed by s. 66.1203 and this section.

(3) Subsection (1) (a) and (c) does not apply in the case of housing projects to the financing of which the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority is a party, as to which ch. 234 shall be controlling.

History: 1971 c. 213 s. 5; 1975 c. 221; 1983 a. 81 s. 11; 1983 a. 83 s. 20; 1995 a. 225; 1999 a. 150 s. 390; Stats. 1999 s. 66.1205; 2001 a. 103, 104.