§ 35A-8-702. Policy -- Finding and declaration.

(1) The Legislature declares that the policy of the state is to assure the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens, that an adequate supply of decent, safe, and sanitary housing is essential to the well-being of the citizens of the state, and that an adequate supply of mortgage funds for housing at reasonable interest rates is in the public interest.

(2) The Legislature finds and declares that:

(a) there continues to exist throughout the state a seriously inadequate supply of safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations within the financial means of persons and families of low or moderate income who wish to purchase or rent residential housing;

(b) from time to time the high rates of interest charged by mortgage lenders seriously restrict the transfer of existing housing and new housing starts;

(c) the reduction in residential construction starts associated with the high rates causes a condition of substantial unemployment and underemployment in the construction industry which impedes the economy of the state and affects the welfare and prosperity of all the people of the state;

(d) these conditions associated with the recurrent shortages of residential mortgage funds contribute to slums and blight in the cities and rural areas of the state and ultimately to the deterioration of the quality of living conditions within the state;

(e) in accordance with the purpose of this part to assist in providing housing for low and moderate income persons who otherwise could not achieve decent, safe, and sanitary housing, the agency shall make every effort to make housing available in rural, inner city, and other areas experiencing difficulty in securing construction and mortgage loans, and to make decent, safe, and sanitary housing available to low income persons and families;

(f) in order to assure an adequate fund of private capital into this housing, the cooperation between private enterprise and state government is essential and is in the public interest;

(g) low and moderate income persons in Utah have a wide range of housing needs, which necessitates the development of many different kinds of programs to address those needs, including programs providing mortgage loans, nontraditional loans, grants, and other forms of financial assistance, and combinations of these forms;

(h) there are private organizations and governmental entities throughout Utah that are endeavoring to improve the availability of housing for low and moderate income, but many of these organizations and entities lack expertise and financial resources to act efficiently and expeditiously in these efforts;

(i) innovative programs that bring together resources from the public, nonprofit, and private sector are necessary in order to increase the supply of housing for low and moderate individuals, but these programs usually need advice and financial assistance to become established;

(j) all of the foregoing are public purposes and uses for which money may be borrowed, expended, advanced, loaned, or granted, and that these activities serve a public purpose in improving or otherwise benefiting the people of this state, and that the necessity of enacting the provisions in this part is in the public interest and is so declared as a matter of express legislative determination; and

(k) the compelling need within the state for the creation of an adequate supply of mortgage funds at reasonable interest rates and for other kinds of financial assistance to help provide affordable housing for low and moderate income individuals can be best met by the establishment of an independent body corporate and politic, constituting a public corporation, vested with the powers and duties specified in this part.

(3) The Legislature declares that the corporation is intended to operate:

(a) with the power to issue tax exempt bonds to finance the purchase of mortgage loans to qualified buyers;

(b) as a financially independent body; and

(c) so that its debts shall be payable solely from payments received by the corporation from mortgage borrowers and other revenues generated internally by the corporation.

Renumbered and Amended by Chapter 212, 2012 General Session