GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1997

S	1 

SENATE BILL 982

Short Title:  Housing Authority Amendments.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Senator Jenkins.

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Referred to:  Judiciary.

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April 21, 1997

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO ALLOW A HOUSING AUTHORITY TO TERMINATE OR FAIL TO RENEW A LEASE IF A TENANT ENGAGES IN CRIMINAL ACTIVITY ON OR NEAR THE PREMISES AND TO ALLOW CERTAIN SUMMARY EJECTMENT ACTIONS INITIATED BY A HOUSING AUTHORITY TO BE HELD IN DISTRICT COURT INSTEAD OF IN MAGISTRATE'S COURT.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 157-29 reads as rewritten:
"§ 157-29.  Rentals; tenant selections; and summary ejectments.
(a)	It is hereby declared to be the policy of this State that each housing authority shall manage and operate its housing projects in an efficient manner so as to enable it to fix the cost of dwelling accommodations for persons of low income at the lowest possible rates consistent with its providing decent, safe, and sanitary dwelling accommodations. No housing authority may construct or operate its housing projects so as to provide revenues for other activities of the city.
(b)	In the operation or management of housing projects, or portions of projects, for persons of low income, an authority shall at all times observe the following duties with respect to rentals and tenant selection:
(1)	It may rent or lease dwelling accommodations set aside for persons of low income only to persons who lack the amount of income that is necessary (as determined by the housing authority undertaking the project) to enable them, without financial assistance, to live in decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings, without overcrowding; and
(2)	It may rent or lease dwelling accommodations to persons of low income only at rentals within the financial reach of such persons.
(c)	An authority may terminate or refuse to renew a rental agreement for a serious or repeated violation of a material term of the rental agreement such as (i) failure to make payments due under the rental agreement, if such payments were properly and promptly calculated according to applicable HUD regulation, whether or not such failure was the fault of the tenant, (ii) failure to fulfill the tenant obligations set forth in 24 C.F.R. Section 966.4(f) or other applicable provisions of federal law as they may be amended from time to time, (iii) engaging in criminal activity that threatens the health and safety of housing authority tenants or threatens the tenants' right to peaceful enjoyment of the housing authority premises, (iv) engaging in illegal drug activity on or near the housing authority premises, or (v) other good cause.  
(d)	The receipt or acceptance of rent by an authority, with or without knowledge of a prior default or failure by the tenant under a rental agreement, shall not constitute a waiver of that default or failure unless (i) the authority expressly agrees to such waiver in writing, or (ii) within 120 days after obtaining knowledge of the default or failure, the authority fails either to notify the tenant that a violation of the rental agreement has occurred or to exercise one of the authority's remedies for such violation. 
	(e)  If, in a summary ejectment action under Article 3 of Chapter 42 of the General Statutes, a housing authority alleges that a tenant's lease has been terminated because the tenant engaged in criminal activity or activity involving illegal drugs as provided in subsection (c) of this section, the housing authority may, prior to the hearing before a magistrate pursuant to G.S. 42-31, file a petition with the clerk of superior court demanding that the case be tried at the first session of district court after the petition is filed and that the presiding judge have the discretion that is granted in G.S. 42-34(a).  Upon assignment to the district court, the case shall be handled and disposed of in the same manner as an appeal from a magistrate."
Section 2. This act becomes effective October 1, 1997, and applies to acts committed on or after that date.