§ 1001. Legislative findings and statement of policy. The legislature
hereby finds and declares that there exist in certain rural areas of the
state significant unmet housing needs of persons and families of low or
moderate income, numerous housing units which are deteriorating or in
need of rehabilitation or improvement, and related factors demonstrating
a need for increased attention to housing preservation and community
revitalization in such areas. Meeting the housing and community renewal
needs of rural areas entails special problems arising from the dispersal
of population over wide areas, the existence of substandard areas in the
form of small, often isolated, pockets of poverty rather than massive
concentrations, the extremely limited resources of the small units of
local government involved, and other characteristics of these areas.

Locally based not-for-profit organizations can play a crucial role in
housing preservation and community revitalization. The public policy of
support for such organizations embodied in article sixteen of this
chapter, and the legislative findings set forth in such article, are
hereby reaffirmed. The legislature further finds and determines that the
needs of rural areas and of existing and potential not-for-profit
organizations serving such areas will be best met by a program of
support for such organizations and their activities similar to that in
article sixteen of this chapter but recognizing the distinctive
characteristics of such areas. It is the purpose of this article to
establish such a program within the division of housing and community
renewal.

It is further declared to be the public policy of the state that all
programs of housing and community assistance administered by the
division of housing and community renewal or other agencies should be
carried out with due regard for the special conditions in and needs of
the rural areas of the state.