A. In the operation or management of housing projects or the sale of any property pursuant to the Regional Housing Law, a regional housing authority shall:

(1) rent, lease or sell the dwelling accommodations in the housing project only to persons falling within the standards adopted by the regional housing authority, which standards shall comply with state and federal law;

(2) rent, lease or sell to a person dwelling accommodations consisting of the number of rooms, but no greater number, that it deems necessary to provide safe and sanitary accommodations to the proposed occupants without overcrowding; and

(3) reject any person as a tenant in any federally subsidized housing project if the person has an annual gross income in excess of federally established standards.

B. Nothing contained in this section or Section 11-3A-12 NMSA 1978 shall be construed as limiting the power of a regional housing authority to vest in an obligee the right, in the event of a default by the regional housing authority, to take possession and operate a housing project or cause the appointment of a receiver for the housing project, free from all the restrictions imposed by this section or Section 11-3A-12 NMSA 1978.

History: Laws 1994, ch. 132, § 13; 1995, ch. 191, § 12; 2009, ch. 48, § 11.

Compiler's notes. — Laws 1995, ch. 191, § 25, effective June 16, 1995, repealed Laws 1994, ch. 132, § 30, which provided for the repeal of this section on July 1, 1995.

The 2009 amendment, effective March 31, 2009, added "regional housing authority"; in Paragraph (1) of Subsection A, added the requirement that standards adopted by an authority comply with state and federal standards; in Paragraph (3) of Subsection A, added "federally subsidized" before "housing project" and changed "net income" to "gross income".

The 1995 amendment, effective June 16, 1995, deleted "at all times observe the following duties with respect to rentals, property and tenant selection" at the end of the introductory paragraph in Subsection A, deleted "it may" from the beginning of Paragraphs (1) and (2) of Subsection A, substituted "project" for "program" in Paragraph (3) of Subsection A, substituted "for the housing project" for "thereof" in Subsection B, and made minor stylistic changes throughout the section.