MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2026 Regular Session
To: Banking and Financial Services; Ways and Means
By: Representative Mickens
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 43-33-1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AMEND THE HOUSING AUTHORITIES LAW BY ADDING AND DEFINING THE TERM "MIXED-FINANCE PROJECT" TO SUCH LAW; TO PROVIDE THAT MIXED-FINANCE PROJECT MEANS A PROJECT THAT IS FINANCIALLY ASSISTED BY PRIVATE RESOURCES WHICH MAY INCLUDE LOW INCOME HOUSING TAX CREDITS IN ADDITION TO AN AMOUNT PROVIDED UNDER ANY STATE OR FEDERAL PROGRAM; TO AMEND SECTION 43-33-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE HOUSING AUTHORITIES TO OWN, OPERATE, ASSIST OR OTHERWISE PARTICIPATE IN ONE OR MORE MIXED-FINANCE PROJECTS; TO AMEND SECTION 43-33-17, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT A CERTAIN SELF INSURANCE AGREEMENT MAY BE FORMED WHEN ONE OR MORE HOUSING AUTHORITIES HAVE FORMED PARTNERSHIPS, LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANIES OR ENTITIES IN WHICH AN AUTHORITY OR AN ENTITY AFFILIATED WITH AN AUTHORITY IS A GENERAL PARTNER, MANAGING MEMBER OR OTHERWISE PARTICIPATES IN THE ACTIVITIES OF THE ENTITY WHEN UNDERTAKING A MIXED-FINANCE PROJECT; TO AMEND SECTION 43-33-17, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE ANY TWO OR MORE HOUSING AUTHORITIES TO COOPERATE WHEN UNDERTAKING A MIXED-FINANCE PROJECT; TO CREATE NEW SECTION 43-33-52, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE CERTAIN IMMUNITY TO INDIVIDUAL COMMISSIONERS, DIRECTORS, SUPERVISORY EMPLOYEES, AND SUPERVISORY AGENTS OF A HOUSING AUTHORITY WITH RESPECT TO A MIXED-FINANCE PROJECT IF SUCH INDIVIDUALS WHILE ACTING IN THE SCOPE OF THEIR DUTIES AS THEY RELATE TO SUCH PROJECTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 43-33-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-33-1. Sections 43-33-1
through 43-33-53 may be referred to as the "Housing Authorities Law,"
and the following terms, whenever used or referred to in * * * such sections, shall have the
following respective meanings, unless a different meaning clearly appears from
the context:
(a) "Authority" or "housing authority" shall mean any of the public corporations created by or pursuant to this Housing Authorities Law, or any law amendatory or supplemental thereto, with power to undertake housing projects for the persons of low income.
(b) "City" shall mean any city in this state. "County" shall mean any county in this state. "The city" shall mean the particular city for which a particular housing authority is created. "The county" shall mean the particular county for which a particular housing authority is created.
(c) "State public body" shall mean any city, town, village, county, municipal corporation, commission, district, authority, or other subdivision or other public body of this state.
(d) "Governing body" shall mean, in the case of a city, the board of aldermen, commissioners, or council; in the case of a county, the board of supervisors; and in the case of any other state public body, the board of aldermen, council, commissioners, board or other body having charge of the fiscal affairs of such state public body.
(e) "Mayor" shall mean the mayor of the city or the officer thereof charged with the duties customarily imposed on the mayor or executive head of the city.
(f) "Clerk" shall mean the clerk of the city or the clerk of the county, as the case may be, or the officer charged with the duties customarily imposed on such clerk.
(g) "Area of operation," in the case of a housing authority of a city, shall include such city and the area within five (5) miles of the territorial boundaries thereof.
(h) "Federal government" shall include the United States of America, the United States Housing Authority, or any other agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America.
(i) "Slum" shall mean any area where dwellings predominate which, by reason of dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangement, or design, lack of ventilation, light or sanitary facilities, or any combination of these factors, are detrimental to safety, health or morals.
(j) "Housing project" shall mean any work or undertaking: (1) to demolish, clear or remove buildings from any slum area; such work or undertaking may embrace the adoption of such area to public purposes, including parks or other recreational or community purposes; or (2) to provide decent, safe and sanitary urban or rural dwellings, apartments, or other living accommodations for persons of low income; such work or undertaking may include buildings, land, equipment, facilities, and other real or personal property for necessary, convenient, or desirable appurtenances, streets, sewers, water service, parks, site preparation, gardening, administrative, community, health, recreational, welfare or other purposes; or (3) to accomplish a combination of the aforegoing. The term "housing project" also may be applied to the planning of the buildings and improvements, the acquisition of property, the demolition of existing structures, the construction, reconstruction, alteration and repair of the improvements and all other work in connection therewith.
(k) "Mixed-finance project" means a project that is financially assisted by private resources, which may include low-income housing tax credits, in addition to an amount provided under any state or federal program. "Mixed-finance project" includes a project that is developed by:
(i) An authority or by an entity affiliated with an authority;
(ii) A partnership, a limited liability company, or other entity in which the authority, or an entity affiliated with an authority, is a general partner, managing member, or otherwise participates in the activities of the entity; or
(iii) Any entity that grants to the authority the right of first refusal and first option to purchase, after the close of the compliance period, the qualified low-income building in which the public housing units exist in accordance with the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Section 42(i)(7) (26 USC Section 42(i)(7));
( * * *l) "Persons of low
income" shall mean persons or families who lack the amount of income which
is necessary (as determined by the authority undertaking the housing project)
to enable them, without financial assistance, to live in decent, safe and
sanitary dwellings, without overcrowding.
( * * *m) "Bonds" shall
mean any bonds, notes, interim certificates, debentures, or other obligations
issued by a housing authority.
( * * *n) "Real property"
shall include all lands, including improvements and fixtures thereon, and
property of any nature appurtenant thereto, or used in connection therewith,
and every estate, interest and right, legal or equitable, therein including terms
for years and liens by way of judgment, mortgage or otherwise and the
indebtedness secured by such liens.
( * * *o) "Obligee of the
authority" or "obligee" shall include any bondholder, trustee or
trustees for any bondholders, or lessor demising to the authority property used
in connection with a housing project, or any assignee or assignees of such
lessor's interest or any part thereof, and the federal government when it is a
party to any contract with the authority.
SECTION 2. Section 43-33-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-33-11. 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:
(a) To sue and to 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, to carry into effect the powers and purposes of the authority.
(b) Within its area of operation: to prepare, carry out, acquire, lease and operate housing projects; to provide for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, alteration or repair of any housing project or any part thereof by direct sponsorship of the authority, by the purchase of a mortgage or by the making of a mortgage loan to a not-for-profit entity or corporation.
(c) To own, operate, assist, or otherwise participate in one or more mixed-finance projects to provide for the construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, alteration or repair of any housing project or any part thereof. An authority may provide capital assistance, operating assistance and financing assistance to a mixed-finance project in the form of a grant, loan, guaranty, collateralization or other form of investment in the project, or other form of public or private borrowings, for the construction or rehabilitation of a housing project.
( * * *d) To arrange or contract for the
furnishing by any person or agency, public or private, of services, privileges,
works or facilities for, or in connection with, a housing project or the
occupants thereof; 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 federal government may
have attached to its financial aid of the project.
( * * *e) 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 any
interest therein; to acquire by the exercise of the power of eminent domain any
real property; 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 or agree to the procurement of
insurance or guarantees from the federal government of the payment of any bonds
or parts thereof issued by an authority, including the power to pay premiums on
any such insurance.
(f) When one or more authorities have formed partnerships, limited liability companies, or other entities in which an authority, or an entity affiliated with an authority, is a general partner, managing member, or otherwise participates in the activities of the entity for the sake of undertaking a mixed-finance project, the housing authority related entities may form a self-insurance pooling arrangement under Section 11-46-17. Notwithstanding another law to the contrary, such housing authority-related entities may enter into an agreement or agreements with each other for joint or cooperative action to pool their financial and administrative resources for the purpose of providing to the participating housing authority-related entities risk management, insurance, reinsurance, self-insurance, or any combination thereof for any and all of the areas of liability or insurability, or both, for such housing authority-related entities.
( * * *g) 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.
( * * *h) 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 slum areas exist or
where there is a shortage of decent, safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations
for persons of low income; to make studies and recommendations relating to the
problem of clearing, replanning and reconstructing of slum areas, and the
problem of providing dwelling accommodations for persons of low 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.
( * * *i) Acting through one or more
commissioners or other person or persons designated by the authority: to
conduct examinations and investigations and to hear testimony and take proof
under oath at public or private hearings on any matter material to its
information; to administer oaths, issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of
witnesses or the production of books and papers and to issue commissions for
the examination of witnesses who are outside of the state or unable to attend
before the authority, or excused from attendance; 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.
( * * *j) To make payments to public bodies
in the state in such amounts as it finds desirable, notwithstanding any
statutory limitation on the amount of such payments.
( * * *k) To establish and operate a
nonprofit corporation for housing and community development purposes.
* * *l) To exercise all or any part or
combination of powers herein granted.
No provisions of law with respect to the acquisition, operation or disposition of property by other public bodies shall be applicable to an authority unless the Legislature shall specifically so state.
SECTION 3. Section 43-33-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
43-33-17. Any two (2) or
more authorities may join or cooperate with one another in the exercise, either
jointly or otherwise, of any or all of their powers for the purpose of
financing (including the issuance of bonds, notes or other obligations and
giving security therefor), planning, undertaking, owning, constructing,
operating or contracting with respect to a housing project or projects or a
mixed-finance project located within the area of operation of any one * * * or more of * * * the authorities. For such purpose
an authority may by resolution prescribe and authorize any other housing
authority or authorities, so joining or cooperating with it, to act on its
behalf with respect to any or all of such powers. Any authorities joining or
cooperating with one another may by resolutions appoint from among the
commissioners of such authorities an executive committee with full power to act
on behalf of such authorities with respect to any or all of their powers, as
prescribed by resolutions of such authorities.
SECTION 4. The following shall be codified as Section 43-33-52, Mississippi Code of 1972:
43-33-52. The individual commissioners, directors, supervisory employees, and supervisory agents of a housing authority, whether such housing authority is formed under this chapter or by private act, while acting in the scope of their authority, including those entities that a housing authority or entity affiliated with a housing authority may form, incorporate or join as a partner or member to develop or manage a mixed-finance project, and the directors, supervisory employees, and supervisory agents of such entities, while acting in the scope of their authority for the development or management of the mixed-finance project, enjoy the same protections and immunities that are presently provided for housing authority corporations under the law of this state, and any protections and immunities that may be provided to housing authorities in the future under the law of this state.
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2026.