An authority shall constitute a public body corporate and
politic, exercising public and essential governmental functions, and
having all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and
effectuate the purposes and provisions of this article, including the
following powers in addition to others herein granted:
(1) To sue and be sued, to have a seal and to alter the same at pleasure,
to have perpetual succession, to make and execute contracts and other
instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers of
the authority, and to make and from time to time amend and repeal
bylaws, rules and regulations not inconsistent with this article, and
to carry into effect the powers and purposes of the authority;
(2) Within its area of operation, to prepare, carry out, acquire, own,
lease, and operate housing projects; to provide for the construction,
reconstruction, improvement, alteration, or repair of any housing
project or any part thereof;
(3) To provide directly or arrange or contract for the furnishing by any
person or agency, public or private, of services or facilities for, or
in connection with, a housing project or the occupants thereof
including drug rehabilitation, elderly or child day care, or other
social services; and, notwithstanding anything to the contrary
contained in this article or in any other provision of law, to include
in any contract let in connection with a project, stipulations
requiring that the contractor and any subcontractors comply with
requirements as to minimum wages and maximum hours of labor, and comply
with any conditions which the State or federal government may have
attached to its financial aid of the project;
(4) To make rent subsidy payments to or on behalf of persons of eligible
income; to lease or rent any dwellings, houses, accommodations, lands,
buildings, structures, or facilities embraced in any housing project
and, subject to the limitations contained in this article, to establish
and revise the rents or charges therefor; to own, hold, and improve
real or personal property; to purchase, lease, obtain options upon,
acquire by gift, grant, bequest, devise, or otherwise any real or
personal property or interest therein; to sell, lease, exchange,
transfer, assign, pledge, or dispose of any real or personal property
or any interest therein; to insure or provide for the insurance of any
real or personal property or operations of the authority against any
risks or hazards; to procure insurance or guarantees from the State or
federal government of the payment of any debts or parts thereof
(whether or not incurred by said authority) secured by mortgages on any
property included in any of its housing projects;
(5) To invest any funds held in reserves or sinking funds, or any funds not
required for immediate disbursement, in property or securities in which
savings banks may legally invest funds subject to their control; to
purchase its bonds at a price not more than the principal amount
thereof and accrued interest, all bonds so purchased to be canceled;
(6) Within its area of operation, to investigate into living, dwelling, and
housing conditions, and into the means and methods of improving such
conditions; to determine where economically depressed or physically
deteriorated areas exist or where there is a shortage of decent, safe,
and sanitary dwelling accommodations for persons of eligible income; to
make studies and recommendations relating to the problem of clearing,
replanning, and reconstructing of economically depressed or physically
deteriorated areas, and the problem of providing dwelling
accommodations for persons of eligible income, and to cooperate with
the city, the county, the State, or any political subdivision thereof
in action taken in connection with such problems; and to engage in
research, studies, and experimentation on the subject of housing;
(7) Acting through 1 or more commissioners or other person or persons
designated by the authority: To conduct examinations and investigations
and to hear testimony and take proof at public or private hearings on
any matter material for its information; to make available to
appropriate agencies (including those charged with the duty of abating
or requiring the correction of nuisances or like conditions, or of
demolishing unsafe or unsanitary structures within its area of
operation) its findings and recommendations with regard to any building
or property where conditions exist which are dangerous to the public
health, morals, safety, or welfare;
(8) To establish 1 or more not-for-profit corporations controlled by the
authority, which may own, operate, or take any and all steps necessary
or convenient to develop or otherwise undertake housing projects within
the authority's area of operation;
(9) Subject to the approval of the legislative body and the chief elected
official of the local jurisdiction, to acquire by the exercise of the
power of eminent domain any real property which it deems necessary for
its purposes under this article after the adoption by it of a
resolution declaring that the acquisition of the real property
described therein is necessary for those purposes. An authority may
exercise the power of eminent domain in the manner provided in Title 12
of the Real Property Article of the Code or it may exercise the power
of eminent domain in the manner provided by any other applicable
statutory provisions for the exercise of the power of eminent domain.
Property already devoted to a public use may be acquired in like
manner, provided that no real property belonging to the city, the
county, the State, or any political subdivision thereof may be acquired
without its consent;
(10) To borrow money or accept grants or other financial assistance from the
local, State, or federal government and accept grants from
nongovernmental sources for or in aid of any housing project within its
area of operation, to take over or lease or manage any housing project
or undertaking constructed, financed, or owned by the local, State, or
federal government, and to these ends, to comply with such conditions
and enter into such mortgages, trust indentures, leases, or agreements
as may be necessary, convenient, or desirable. It is the purpose and
intent of this article to authorize every authority to do any and all
things necessary or desirable to secure the financial aid or
cooperation of the local, State, or federal government in the
undertaking, construction, maintenance, or operation of any housing
project by such authority; and
(11) To exercise all or any part or combination of powers herein
granted.
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