BILL NUMBER: S3949

SPONSOR: KENNEDY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the private housing finance law, in relation to creating
the mortgage assisted population recovery program

 
PURPOSE:

To provide an incentive for first-time homebuyers and potential out-of-
area homebuyers to purchase homes in counties that have suffered popu-
lation loss.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends the Private Housing Finance Law by adding a new

Section 45-d, creating the Mortgage Assisted Repopulation Program.  The
Program requires the State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA) to make
the mortgage and down payment incentives it offers potential homebuyers
              

in economically distressed areas available to potential homebuyers in
counties that have suffered population loss from the 2000 decennial
census to the present. Homebuyer eligibility includes first-time home-
buyers and potential homebuyers who have been established residents
outside the respective county for at least a year prior to their appli-
cation to the program. A homebuyer, the homebuyer's spouse, the
homebuyer's domestic partner, or the homebuyer's co-signatory on the
mortgage or co-owner on the property deed can take advantage of the
program only once. Qualifying counties that experience 24 consecutive
months of population growth will be removed from the list of qualified
counties.

Section 2 is the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Post-industrial cities nationwide face higher residential vacancy rates
and declining populations, even as other cities are seeing population
increases.{1} With its history of industrial strength, the situation in
upstate New York reflects this trend. Upstate localities are losing
population, especially younger and working-age residents.(2) Twenty-
eight upstate counties have suffered population loss since the 2000
decennial census, ranging from Greene County in the Hudson Valley, which
has seen a relatively small decline of .04%, to Hamilton County in the
State's North Country, which has seen a decline of over 12% during the
same period. {3} Although federal programs exist to encourage home
buying in certain federally-targeted areas classified as distressed, {4}
expanded state programs could attract new residents to upstate cities,
towns, and villages through location-based mortgage assistance, direct
state incentives for housing and home-ownership in vacant areas, or
other programs. {5} The Mortgage Assisted Population Recovery Program
seeks to address this problem by expanding the home buying incentives
that are currently directed at distressed areas to those counties that
have experienced population loss from the 2000 decennial census to the
2018 estimated population, as determined by the U.S. Bureau of the
Census. Eligible buyers must either be first-time homebuyers or have had
established residences outside the eligible county for at least a year
prior to application to the program. The Program is designed to add
another incentive for young homebuyers to stay in the area rather than
move away, and attract both those who have moved away back to New York.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2016: 5.6287 Referred to Housing, Construction and Community Development
2017-18: S.1812

2019-20: 5649 Passed Senate

 
FISCAL:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
{1} See Vey, J., The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program,
Restoring Prosperity: The State Role in Revitalizing America's Older
Industrial Cities (2007) at 25.
{2} McMahon, E.J. "The Graying of the Empire State." Empire Center.
8/16/2012; Ellis, K. "Panel examines New York's 'rural brain drain."
4/19/2011; Federal Reserve Bank of New York. "Upstate at a Glance."
December 2007.
{3} U.S. Bureau of the Census.
{4} see http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src./program
offices/housing/sth/reo/abtrevt (describing the FHA Revitalization Area
Sales Programs); currently many New York State mortgage incentives
incorporate definitions from these federal programs. See, e.g.,
http://wvvvv.nyshcr.org/topics/home/ purchasingahomeinatargetarea.htm.
{5} For example, Maryland has initiated a variety of mortgage incen-
tives, grants and other assistance to attract new residents and homebuy-
ing throughout Baltimore. See http:/livebaltimore.com/financial-
incentives/.