S 1399: Establishes the vacant rental improvement program to provide grants of up to $75,000 per unit to owners of buildings with five or fewer units.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1399 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE January 9, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. S. RYAN -- 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 private housing finance law and the state finance law, in relation to establishing the rental improvement fund pilot program The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The private housing finance law is amended by adding a new 2 article 33 to read as follows: 3 ARTICLE XXXIII 4 RENTAL IMPROVEMENT FUND PILOT PROGRAM 5 Section 1300. Statement of legislative findings and purpose. 6 1301. Rental improvement fund pilot program. 7 § 1300. Statement of legislative findings and purpose. It is hereby 8 declared and found that there exists across upstate New York a shortage 9 of safe and affordable rental units. It is further found that stable 10 housing is tied to positive employment, education, and health outcomes, 11 and that the state therefore has an interest in promoting safe and 12 affordable housing opportunities. In order, further, to promote such 13 opportunities, it is hereby declared that additional provisions should 14 be made to provide public monies for the purpose of grants to small 15 landlords to make necessary improvements to rental units on the condi- 16 tion that renovated units will be leased at a reasonable rate for ten 17 years. The necessity in the public interest for the provisions of this 18 article is hereby declared as a matter of legislative determination. 19 § 1301. Rental improvement fund pilot program. 1. (a) Over a period of 20 five years beginning on the effective date of this article, the division 21 of housing and community renewal shall, subject to appropriation, make 22 capital grants of up to seventy-five thousand dollars per unit available 23 to small landlords for the purpose of making necessary improvements to EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD03464-01-5 
 S. 1399 2 1 up to four thousand rental units located in Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, 2 and Syracuse. The allocation of the four thousand grants shall be 3 proportional to the populations of each of the four cities. 4 (b) Receipt of such capital grants shall be conditioned upon an agree- 5 ment by such landlords to lease such renovated units at a reasonable 6 rate for the ten-year period following the receipt of such capital 7 grants. Over such ten-year period, each such rental unit shall be eligi- 8 ble to receive an additional ten thousand dollars for maintenance 9 purposes. Upon a finding by the commissioner of housing and community 10 renewal that a landlord who has received a grant to renovate a rental 11 unit pursuant to this section increased the rent at such unit at an 12 unreasonable rate, any grants received by such landlord shall be subject 13 to recoupment in full. 14 2. The commissioner of housing and community renewal shall promulgate 15 rules and regulations deemed necessary and appropriate to establish and 16 administer the rental improvement fund pilot program pursuant to this 17 article, including but not limited to the application process, eligibil- 18 ity requirements, disbursement of grants, determination of a reasonable 19 lease rate, and any other rules, regulations, or definitions necessary 20 to carry out the provisions of this article. 21 § 2. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 99-ss to 22 read as follows: 23 § 99-ss. Rental improvement fund. 1. There is hereby established in 24 the joint custody of the state comptroller and the commissioner of hous- 25 ing and community renewal a fund to be known as the "rental improvement 26 fund". 27 2. Such fund shall consist of all moneys collected therefor, or moneys 28 credited, appropriated or transferred thereto from any other fund or 29 source pursuant to law, or any other moneys made available for the 30 purposes of the fund. 31 3. Moneys of the fund, following appropriation by the legislature and 32 allocation by the director of the budget, shall be available only for 33 purposes of the rental improvement fund pilot program, as set forth in 34 article thirty-three of the private housing finance law. 35 § 3. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall 36 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or 37 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of 38 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed 39 on or before such effective date.