§ 2. Statement of legislative findings and purposes. The legislature
hereby finds that in certain urban areas of our state the growth of
small business is impeded by the unavailability of reasonable credit for
buildings, equipment, credit for inventory and working capital. This
unavailability of reasonable credit restricts business growth and job
opportunities and causes business failures resulting in unemployment and
underemployment with resulting persistent poverty in such urban areas.
The amelioration of these conditions is a responsibility of both the
public and private sector of our economy. Rehabilitation of the economic
life of blighted areas is necessary in order to prevent business
failures, to maintain the income of existing small business enterprises,
to provide a business climate conducive to the growth of new small
business enterprises, and to broaden the tax base of such urban areas,
all to afford more meaningful and rewarding business and job
opportunities for the residents of such areas, thereby reducing the
hazards of unemployment and raising the job opportunities of the
underemployed.

The legislature further finds that in certain urban areas of our state
the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation and improvement of
housing accommodations is impeded by the shortage of mortgage funds at
reasonable interest rates and the lack of available credit for the
rehabilitation of older buildings which lack proper heating or sanitary
facilities or which do not comply in full with modern building and
maintenance code standards. The unaided efforts of private enterprise
have not provided and cannot provide an adequate supply of safe and
sanitary housing within the financial reach of many families in urban
areas. The upgrading and improvement of such areas through programs of
new construction, rehabilitation and home improvement can provide
additional tax revenues to the community and assist in attracting and
retaining business and industry.

In order to assist in the rehabilitation of these areas and give
constructive attention to the welfare of the needy residents of these
areas, the legislature finds and declares that the marshalling of public
and private capital to make sufficient credit available at the lowest
feasible interest rates to encourage the expansion of small business, to
provide the incentives for the establishment of sound new small business
enterprises and to promote the construction and rehabilitation of
housing accommodations in such areas, will create new job opportunities,
effectively reduce unemployment and strengthen the economic base of the
community as a whole, thereby reducing the burdens of poverty and need.

This result can best be accomplished by a loan guarantee program to
guarantee loans to small businesses and owners of housing
accommodations, including one and two family homes and multiple
dwellings, unable to obtain reasonable credit through conventional
financial sources. The legislature further finds that the adoption of
such a loan guarantee program to mitigate the economic and social evils
of unemployment, underemployment and inadequate housing is for a public
purpose, and to achieve these ends there should be created a non-profit
corporation to be known as the urban development guarantee fund of New
York, having such powers and duties as set forth herein.