Pennsylvania § 905 - Housing replacement authorization.

§ 905. Housing replacement authorization.

(a) Short title of section.--This section shall be known and may be cited as the Housing Replacement Authorization Act.

(b) Housing replacements by acquiring agency as last resort.--

(1) If comparable replacement sale or rental housing is not available in the neighborhood or community in which a program or project is located and this housing cannot otherwise be made available, the acquiring agency may purchase, construct, reconstruct or otherwise provide replacement housing by use of funds authorized for the program or project. For this purpose, the acquiring agency may exercise its power of eminent domain to acquire property in fee simple or any lesser estate as it deems advisable.

(2) Replacement housing provided under this section may be sold, leased or otherwise disposed of by the acquiring agency, for or without consideration, to displaced persons or to nonprofit, limited dividend or cooperative organizations or public bodies, on terms and conditions as the acquiring agency deems necessary and proper to effect the relocation of persons displaced by a program or project.

(3) The acquiring agency may contract with other public agencies or any person for the financing, planning, acquisition, development, construction, management, sale, lease or other disposition of replacement housing provided under this section.

(c) Planning and other preliminary expenses for replacement housing.--

(1) A governmental acquiring agency may make loans and grants to nonprofit, limited dividend or cooperative organizations or public bodies for necessary and reasonable expenses, prior to construction, for planning and obtaining mortgage financing for the rehabilitation or construction of housing for these displaced persons.

(2) The loans and grants shall be made prior to the availability of financing for items such as preliminary surveys and analyses of market needs, preliminary site engineering, preliminary architectural fees, legal, appraisal and organizational fees, site acquisition, application and mortgage commitment fees, construction loan fees and discounts and similar items.

(3) Loans to an organization established for profit shall bear interest at market rate determined by the acquiring agency. All other loans and grants shall be without interest.

(4) The acquiring agency shall require repayment of loans and grants made under this section, under any terms and conditions it requires, upon completion of the project or sooner. However, except in the case of a loan to an organization established for profit, the acquiring agency may cancel any part or all of a loan and may cancel the repayment provisions of a grant if it determines that a permanent loan to finance the rehabilitation or the construction of the housing cannot be obtained in an amount adequate for repayment of the loan.

(d) Availability of funds.--Funds, including motor license funds and other special funds, appropriated or otherwise available to any acquiring agency for a program or project, which results in the displacement of any person, shall be available also for obligations and expenditures to carry out the provisions of this section.