Bill Text: NY S08443 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Authorizes the commissioner of New York homes and community renewal, as soon as practicable and subject to the disbursement of federal funds expressly for this purpose to the housing finance agency, to implement an emergency COVID-19 homeownership stability program and issue an emergency homeownership payment directly to the eligible homeowner; makes related provisions.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-06-03 - REFERRED TO HOUSING, CONSTRUCTION AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT [S08443 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-S08443-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8443 IN SENATE June 3, 2020 ___________ Introduced by Sens. GAUGHRAN, KAVANAGH, ADDABBO, BROOKS, CARLUCCI, HARCKHAM, KAMINSKY, KAPLAN, MARTINEZ, MAY, METZGER, SKOUFIS, THOMAS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development AN ACT to amend the public housing law, in relation to establishing the COVID-19 emergency homeownership stability program The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The public housing law is amended by adding a new article 2 14 to read as follows: 3 ARTICLE 14 4 COVID-19 EMERGENCY HOMEOWNERSHIP STABILITY PROGRAM 5 Section 600. Definitions. 6 601. Authority to implement COVID-19 emergency homeownership 7 stability program. 8 602. Eligibility. 9 603. Tax lien foreclosure. 10 604. Mortgage foreclosure. 11 605. Payment. 12 § 600. Definitions. For purposes of this article, the following terms 13 shall have the following meanings: 14 1. "Adjusted income" shall mean income minus any deductions allowable 15 at the discretion of the commissioner pursuant to this section. In 16 determining the income of a household for the purposes of this para- 17 graph, income shall be considered to include only income that the house- 18 hold is receiving at the time of application for assistance from the 19 program and any income recently terminated shall not be included, except 20 that for purposes of households receiving assistance for arrearages 21 income may include the income that the household was receiving at the 22 time such arrearages were incurred. 23 2. "Income" shall mean income from all sources of each member of the 24 household, including all wages, tips, overtime, salary, recurring gifts, 25 returns on investments, welfare assistance, social security payments, 26 child support payments, unemployment benefits, any benefit, payment or EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD16482-01-0S. 8443 2 1 cash grant whose purpose is to assist with rental payments, any payments 2 whose purpose is to replace lost income, and any other government bene- 3 fit or cash grant. The term "income" shall not include: employment 4 income from children under eighteen years of age, employment income from 5 children eighteen years of age or older who are full-time students, 6 foster care payments, sporadic gifts, groceries provided by persons not 7 living in the household, supplemental nutrition assistance program bene- 8 fits, earned income disregard, or the earned income tax credit. 9 3. "Qualified property" means residential real property owned by the 10 homeowner which is used exclusively as the homeowner's primary resi- 11 dence; provided however, that in the event any portion of such property 12 is not so used exclusively for residential purposes but is used for 13 other purposes, such portion shall be ineligible for the payment estab- 14 lished pursuant to this subdivision. 15 4. "Property tax" shall mean a tax levied, or portion of those taxes 16 levied, by or on behalf of any county, city, town, village, school 17 district or special district on the qualified property which is attrib- 18 utable to the year two thousand twenty. 19 5. "Mortgagor" shall mean an individual who resides in New York whose 20 principal dwelling is encumbered by a home loan pursuant to paragraph 21 (a) of subdivision six of section thirteen hundred four of the real 22 property actions and proceedings law or whose principal dwelling is a 23 co-operative unit whose shares are encumbered by any loan otherwise 24 meeting the requirements of a home loan under paragraph (a) of subdivi- 25 sion six of section thirteen hundred four of the real property actions 26 and proceedings law, from or serviced by a regulated institution. 27 6. "Reverse mortgage loan" shall have the same meaning as section two 28 hundred eighty of the real property law. 29 7. "Homeowner" shall mean a person or persons who is a resident of the 30 state and who owns and primarily resides in qualified property within 31 the state. 32 8. "Homeownership payments" shall mean mortgage payments, reverse 33 mortgage payments, property taxes, hazard insurance payments, flood 34 insurance payments, mortgage insurance payments, homeowners' association 35 fees, condominium common charges, or utility payments. Homeownership 36 payments shall not include: any mortgage payments that have been placed 37 in forbearance at the time of application if such forbearance extends 38 beyond the covered period. 39 9. "Utility" shall mean electric, gas, water, and internet service, 40 including broadband internet access service. 41 10. "Fair market rent" shall mean the fair market rent for each rental 42 area as promulgated annually by the United States department of housing 43 and urban development's office of policy development and research pursu- 44 ant to 42 U.S.C. 1437(f). 45 11. "Commissioner" shall mean the commissioner of New York homes and 46 community renewal and its subsidiary, the housing finance agency. 47 12. "Covered period" means the period during which the restrictions 48 constituting New York on PAUSE, as defined by Executive Order 202.31, 49 applied in the county of the homeowner's residence. 50 § 601. Authority to implement COVID-19 emergency homeownership 51 stability program. The commissioner, as soon as practicable and subject 52 to the disbursement of federal funds expressly for this purpose to the 53 housing finance agency, shall implement an emergency COVID-19 homeowner- 54 ship stability program. The commissioner may delegate the administration 55 of portions of this program to any state agency, city, county, town, or 56 non-profit organization in accordance with the provisions of this arti-S. 8443 3 1 cle. The housing finance agency, or the agency, governmental entity, or 2 organization so designated by the commissioner, shall issue an emergency 3 homeownership payment directly to the eligible homeowner. 4 § 602. Eligibility. The commissioner shall promulgate standards for 5 determining eligibility for this program. A homeowner shall be eligible 6 for this program if: 7 1. The homeowner, during the covered period: 8 (a) applied and qualified for unemployment insurance benefits; or 9 (b) experienced a significant loss of income as determined by the 10 department of taxation and finance or as determined in a manner 11 prescribed by the commissioner; and 12 (c) the sum total of all homeownership payments that came due or will 13 be owed during the covered period is greater than thirty percent of 14 annualized adjusted income as pro-rated by the length of the covered 15 period. 16 2. In addition to the eligibility criteria above, the commissioner may 17 promulgate limits on assets as part of any determination of eligibility 18 for this program. 19 3. A homeowner shall not be eligible for this program if their current 20 annualized income is an amount equal to or greater than their income for 21 the year two thousand nineteen. 22 4. Any ambiguity in eligibility criteria promulgated by the commis- 23 sioner shall be resolved in favor of the applicant when determining 24 eligibility. 25 5. Not less than sixty percent of the amount made available to the 26 state shall be used for emergency homeownership payments that assist 27 homeowners having incomes equal to or less than eighty percent of the 28 area median income. 29 6. The commissioner may establish preference in processing applica- 30 tions for this payment. Such preference may include any or all of the 31 following: 32 (a) the homeowner's historical income level prior to the covered peri- 33 od as it relates to the area median income; 34 (b) the homeowner's current income as it relates to the area median 35 income; 36 (c) the taxpayer's property tax burden; 37 (d) the percentage of income the homeowner lost; 38 (e) the homeowner's status as a victim of domestic violence; and 39 (f) the current income of any additional parties on the deed for the 40 qualified property who are not homeowners as defined in this section 41 and, to the extent that any mortgage payments are considered in the 42 total sum reached in paragraph (b) of this subdivision, the current 43 income of any additional parties to the mortgage. 44 § 603. Tax lien foreclosure. Notwithstanding any provision of law to 45 the contrary, a tax lien foreclosure initiated pursuant to article elev- 46 en of the real property tax law which includes unpaid taxes that came 47 due during the covered period cannot be commenced against a homeowner 48 who has applied for this program unless or until a final determination 49 of ineligibility has been issued. The action may proceed ninety days 50 after the determination of ineligibility or after payment is released by 51 the housing finance agency. 52 § 604. Mortgage foreclosure. Notwithstanding any provision of law to 53 the contrary, a mortgage foreclosure on a home loan as defined by 54 section thirteen hundred four of the real property actions and 55 proceedings law which includes unpaid mortgage payments that came due 56 during the covered period cannot be commenced or proceed against a home-S. 8443 4 1 owner who has applied for this program unless or until a final determi- 2 nation of ineligibility has been issued. The action may proceed ninety 3 days after the determination of ineligibility or after payment is 4 released by the housing finance agency. 5 § 605. Payment. The emergency homeownership payment shall be a one- 6 time payment paid directly to the homeowner. The amount of emergency 7 homeownership payment shall be the lesser of: 8 1. the difference between the sum of homeownership payments due pursu- 9 ant to section six hundred three of this article and thirty percent of 10 the current annualized adjusted income as pro-rated by the duration of 11 the covered period; or 12 2. the difference between two hundred fifty percent of the fair market 13 rent for the area and thirty percent of the current annualized adjusted 14 income as pro-rated by the duration of the covered period. 15 § 2. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi- 16 sion, section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of 17 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, 18 impair, or invalidate the remainder of this act, but shall be confined 19 in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, 20 section or part of this act directly involved in the controversy in 21 which such judgment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to 22 be the intent of the legislature that this act would have been enacted 23 even if such invalid clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section 24 or part had not been included herein. 25 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
