Chap. 185.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Sections 4 and 4-j of Chapter 310
of the Acts of 1938, approved March 29, 1938, as amended by Chapter 224 of
the Acts of 1942, approved March 14, 1942, relating to the creation of political
subdivisions of the Commonwealth with powers to undertake slum clearance
and housing projects for persons of low income in urban and rural areas; to
provide that such political subdivisions shall be known as redevelopment and
housing authorities and to define “farmers of low income”; and to further
amend said Chapter 310, as amended, by adding thereto eleven new sections
numbered Sections 4-p, 4-q, 4-r, 8-a, 8-b, 8-c, 8-d, 8-e, 8-f, 8-g, and 8-h to
clarify provisions relating to slum clearance and housing on farms and in
other areas outside of cities; to authorize payments to other political subdivi-
sions; to provide for housing research and study; to authorize redevelopment
and housing authorities to clear slums and blighted areas, to acquire real
property in connection therewith and make it available for redevelopment by
private enterprise or public agencies; to confer certain powers relating to re-
development projects on cities and other public bodies; and to make obligations
issued in connection with redevelopment projects legal investments and se-
curity for deposits. [H B 236]

Approved March 13, 1946

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That sections four and four-j of chapter three hundred ten
of the Acts of the General Assembly of nineteen hundred thirty-eight.
approved March twenty-nine, nineteen hundred thirty-eight, as amended,
be amended and re-enacted, and that such chapter be further amended by
adding thereto eleven new sections numbered four-p, four-q, four-r,
eight-a, eight-b, eight-c, eight-d, eight-e, eight-f, eight-g, and eight-h,
as follows:

Section 4+. Creation of Redevelopment and Housing Authorities.—
In each city and in each county there is hereby created a political sub-
division of the Commonwealth, with such public and corporate powers
as are set forth in this act, to be known respectively as the ‘ Redevelop-
ment and Housing Authority” (hereinafter referred to as “authority”
or “housing authority’): provided, however, that an authority shall
not transact any business or exercise its powers hereunder until or
unless the governing body of the city or the county, as the case may
be, by proper resolution has declared that there is need for an authority
to function in such city or county. The determination as to whether or
not there 1s such need for an authority to function (a) may be made by
the governing body on its own motion or (b) may be made by the
governing body upon the filing of a petition signed by one hundred
freeholders of the city or county, as the case may be, asserting that
there is need for an authority to function in such city or county and
requesting that the governing body so declare.

The governing body may adopt a resolution declaring that there
is need for an authority in the city or county, as the case may be, if it
shall find (a) that insanitary or unsafe inhabited dwelling accommoda-
tions exist in such city or county or (b) that there is a shortage of safe
or sanitary dwelling accommodations in such city or county available to
persons of low income at rentals they can afford. In determining whether
dwelling accommodations are unsafe or insanitary said governing body
may take into consideration the degree of overcrowding, the percentage
of land coverage, the light, air, space and access available to the inhabi-
tants of such dwelling accommodations, the size and arrangement of
the rooms, the sanitary facilities, and the extent to which conditions
exist in such buildings which endanger life or property by fire or other
causes.

In any suit, action or proceeding involving the validity or enforce-
ment of or relating to any contract of the authority, the authority shall
be conclusively deemed to have become established and authorized to
transact business and exercise its powers hereunder upon proof of the
adoption of a resolution by the governing body declaring the need for
the authority. Such resolution or resolutions shall be deemed sufficient
if 1t declares that there is such need for an authority and finds in sub-
stantially the foregoing terms (no further detail being necessary) that
either or both of the above enumerated conditions exist in the city or
county, as the case may be. A copy of such resolution duly certified
by the clerk shall be admissible in evidence in any suit, action or pro-
ceeding.

Section 4-j. Farmers of Low Income Defined.—‘Farmers of low
income” as used in this Act shall mean persons of low income as defined
in section 3-j hereof who derive their principal income from operating
or working upon a farm.

Section 4-p. Housing in Rural Areas.—A regional or county hous-
ing authority shall have power to rent, sell, or make loans to finance
the cost of dwellings on farms or in other areas outside of cities and
to make or accept such conveyances or leases as it deems necessary to
carry out the rural housing purposes of this Act. With respect to such
housing, county and regional housing authorities shall not be subject
to the tenant selection limitations provided in clause (c) of section ten.

When an authority provides a dwelling on a farm hereunder, the
owner of the farm living in the dwelling under a lease or purchase

ent shall be entitled to receive the same homestead exemption
as if he had title to the dwelling.
Section 4-q. Payments by Housing Authorities to Local Bodies.—
An authority may agree to make such payments to the city or county, the
State, or any political subdivision thereof (which payments such bodies
are hereby authorized to accept) as the authority finds consistent with
the maintenance of the low-rent character of housing projects or the
achievement of the purposes of this housing authorities law.

Section 4-r. Housing Research and Studies.—In addition to all
its other powers, an authority may, within its area of operation, under-
take and carry out studies and analyses of the housing needs, and of
the meeting of such needs (including data with respect to population
and family groups and the distribution thereof according to income
groups, the amount and quality of available housing and its distribution
according to rentals and sales prices, employment, wages and other
factors affecting the local housing needs and the meeting thereof) and
make the results of such studies and analyses available to the public
and the building, housing and supply industries; and may also engage
in research and disseminate information on the subject of housing.

Section 8-a. Finding and Declaration—It is hereby found and
declared (a) that there exist in many communities within this Com-
monwealth blighted areas (as herein defined) which impair economic
values and tax revenues, cause an increase in and spread of disease
and crime, and constitute a menace to the health, safety, morals and
welfare of the residents of the Commonwealth; (b) that the clearance,
replanning, rehabilitation and reconstruction of such blighted areas and
the sale or lease of land within such areas for redevelopment in accord-
ance with locally approved redevelopment plans are necessary for the
public welfare and are public uses and public purposes for which public
money may be spent and private property acquired by purchase or the
power of eminent domain, and are governmental functions of grave
concern to the Commonwealth; (c) that there are also certain areas
where the condition of title, diverse ownership of the land to be as-
sembled, the street or lot layouts, or other conditions prevent a proper
development of the land and that it is in the public interest that such
areas, as well as blighted areas, be acquired by eminent domain and
made available for sound and wholesome development in accordance
with a redevelopment plan, and that the exercise of the power of emi-
nent domain and the financing of acquisition and preparation of the
land by a public agency for such redevelopment is likewise a public
use and purpose.

Section 8-b. Redevelopment Projects—Any authority now or
hereafter established, in addition to other powers granted by this or
any other law, is specifically empowered to carry out any work or un-
dertaking (hereafter called a “redevelopment project”) :

(1) to acquire blighted or deteriorated areas, which are hereby
defined as areas (including slum areas) with buildings or improve-
ments which, by reason of dilapidation, obsolescense, overcrowding,
faulty arrangement of design, lack of ventilation, light and sanitary
facilities, excessive land coverage, deleterious land use or obsolete lay-
out, or any combination of these or other factors, are detrimental to
the safety, health, morals, or welfare of the community ;

(2) to acquire other real property for the purpose of removing,
preventing, or reducing blight, blighting factors or the cause of blight;

(3) to acquire real property where the condition of the title, the
diverse ownership of the real property to be assembled, the street or
lot layouts, or other conditions prevent a proper development of the
property and where the acquisition of the areas by the authority 1s
necessary to carry out a redevelopment plan ;

(4) to clear any areas acquired and install, construct, or recon-
struct streets, utilities, and site improvements essential to the prepara-
tion of sites for uses in accordance with the redevelopment plan ;

(5) to make land so acquired available to private enterprise or
public agencies (including sale, leasing, or retention by the authority
itself) in accordance with the redevelopment plan; or

(6) to accomplish any combination of the foregoing to carry out
a redevelopment plan.

Section 8-c. Extension of General Powers for Redevelopment.—In
undertaking redevelopment projects an authority shall have all the
rights, powers, privileges, and immunities that such authority has in
connection with undertaking slum clearance and housing projects (in-
cluding, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the power
to make and execute contracts, to issue bonds and other obligations.
and give security therefor, to acquire real property by eminent domain
or purchase, and to do any and all things necessary to carry out re-
development projects); provided, that nothing contained in sections
nine and ten of this housing authorities law shall be construed as limit-
ing the power of an authority, in the event of a default (including fail-
ure of compliance with a redevelopment plan) by a purchaser or lessee
of land in a redevelopment plan, to acquire property and operate it free
from the restrictions contained in said Sections nine and ten; and pro-
vided further, that any property which an authority leases to private
corporations, individuals, or partnerships for redevelopment under a
redevelopment plan shall have the same tax status as if such leased
property were owned by such private corporations, individuals, or part-
nerships.

Section 8-d. Redevelopment Plan.—An authority shall not in-
itiate any redevelopment project under this law until the governing
body (or planning agency or other public agency designated by it or
empowered by law so to act) of each city or town or county (herein-
after called “municipalities”) in which any of the area to be covered
by said project is situated, has approved a plan (herein called the ‘“rede-
velopment plan’) which provides an outline for the development or
redevelopment of said area and is sufficiently complete (1) to indicate
its relationship to definite local objectives as to appropriate land uses
and improved traffic, public transportation, public utilities, recreational
and community facilities and other public improvements; (2) to indi-
cate proposed land uses and building requirements in the area; (3) to
indicate the land in the area to be made available to private enterprise
for redevelopment and that land which 1s to be made available to public
enterprise for redevelopment; and (4) to indicate the method for the
temporary relocation of persons living in such areas; and also the meth-
od for providing (unless already available) decent, safe and sanitary
dwellings in the locality substantially equal in number to the number
of substandard dwellings to be cleared from said area, at rents within
the financial reach of the income groups displaced from such substand-
ard dwellings. Such municipalities are hereby authorized to approve
redevelopment plans through their governing body or agency designated
for that purpose.

Section 8-e. Cooperation by Counties, Cities or Towns.—Any
county, city or town shall have the same rights and powers to cooperate
with and assist authorities with respect to redevelopment projects that
such county, city or town has pursuant to sections twenty-three and
twenty-four and any other provision of this housing authorities law
for the purpose of assisting the development or administration of slum
clearance and housing projects.

Section &-f. Making Property Available for Redevelopment.—An
authority may make land in a redevelopment project available for use
by private enterprise or public agencies in accordance with the re-
development plan. Such land may be made available at its fair value.
which represents the value (whether expressed in terms of rental
or capital price) at which the authority determines such land should
be made available in order that it may be developed or redeveloped
for the purposes specified in such plan.

To assure that land acquired in a redevelopment project is used
in accordance with the redevelopment plan, an authority, upon the
sale or lease of such land, shall obligate purchasers or lessees: (1) to
use the land for the purpose designated in the redevelopment plan;
(2) to begin the building of their improvements within a period of
time which the authority fixes as reasonable; and (3) to comply with
such other conditions as are necessary to carry out the purposes of this
Act. Any such obligations by the purchaser shall be covenants and con-
ditions running with the land where the authority so stipulates.

Section 8-g. Aid from Federal Government.—An authority may
borrow money or accept contributions from the Federal Government
to assist in its undertaking redevelopment projects. An authority may
do any and all things necessary or desirable to secure such financial
aid (including obligating itself in any contract with the Federal Gov-
ernment for annual contributions to convey to the Federal Govern-
ment the project to which said contract relates upon the occurrence
of a substantial default thereunder), in the same manner as it may do
to secure such aid in connection with slum clearance and housing proj-
ects.

Section 8-h. Bonds to Be Legal Investments and Security.—Bonds
or other obligations issued by an authority in connection with a rede-
velopment project pursuant to this Act shall be security for public de-
posits and legal investments to the same extent and for the same persons,
institutions, associations, corporations, and other bodies and _ officers
as bonds or other obligations issued by an authority in connection with
the development of slum clearance or housing projects.

2. The powers conferred by this Act shall be in addition and sup-
plemental to the powers conferred by any other law.

3. Notwithstanding any other evidence of legislative intent, it
is hereby declared to be the controlling legislative intent that if any
provision of this act, or the application thereof to any person or cir-
cumstances, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act and the application
of such provision to persons or circumstances other than those as to
which it is held invalid, shall not be affected thereby.

4. Insofar as the provisions of this Act are inconsistent with the
provisions of any other law, the provisions of this Act shall control.