(a) The Commissioner of Housing shall establish and administer an assessment and mediation program for families at risk of becoming homeless or in imminent danger of eviction or foreclosure whose income does not exceed sixty per cent of the median income in the state.

(b) After evaluation of the causes of the risk of becoming homeless or the imminent danger of eviction or foreclosure and after attempting mediation, the commissioner shall assist eligible participants with application to appropriate resources.

(c) No family shall be eligible for grants under the rent bank program established under section 8-347 without prior referral to the assessment and mediation program.

(d) The commissioner may enter into regional contracts with local or regional nonprofit corporations or social service organizations having expertise in landlord-tenant mediation to implement the program established under this section.

(e) The Commissioner of Housing may adopt regulations in accordance with chapter 54 to carry out the purposes of this section.

(P.A. 90-257, S. 3, 17; P.A. 93-262, S. 48, 87; P.A. 03-25, S. 2; P.A. 13-234, S. 2.)

History: P.A. 93-262 replaced references to commissioners of income maintenance and human resources with commissioner of social services, effective July 1, 1993; Sec. 17-620 transferred to Sec. 17b-805 in 1995; P.A. 03-25 amended Subsec. (c) to eliminate reference to “loans”; pursuant to P.A. 13-234, references to Commissioner of Social Services were changed editorially by the Revisors to references to Commissioner of Housing in Subsecs. (a) and (e), effective June 19, 2013; Sec. 17b-805 transferred to Sec. 8-347a in 2015.