The legislature finds that current economic conditions, federal housing policies and declining resources at the federal, state, and local level adversely affect the ability of low and very low-income persons to obtain safe, decent, and affordable housing.

     The legislature further finds that members of over one hundred twenty thousand households live in housing units which are overcrowded, lack plumbing, are otherwise threatening to health and safety, and have rents and utility payments which exceed thirty percent of their income.

     The legislature further finds that minorities, rural households, and migrant farm workers require housing assistance at a rate which significantly exceeds their proportion of the general population.

     The legislature further finds that one of the most dramatic housing needs is that of persons needing special housing-related services, such as the mentally ill, recovering alcoholics, frail elderly persons, families with members who have disabilities, and single parents. These services include medical assistance, counseling, chore services, and child care.

     The legislature further finds that housing assistance programs in the past have often failed to help those in greatest need.

     The legislature declares that it is in the public interest to establish a continuously renewable resource known as the housing trust fund and housing assistance program to assist low and very low-income citizens in meeting their basic housing needs, and that the needs of very low-income citizens should be given priority and that whenever feasible, assistance should be in the form of loans.

[1991 c 356 § 1; 1986 c 298 § 1.]