A. Oklahoma's rural areas suffer from a lack of interim financing for builder-developers of housing in rural areas, inadequate profit incentives for builder-developers, economy of scale problems which work against economics of developing projects consistent with local market needs, and lack of available interim financing from local lenders to fund land acquisition, site development, or construction of housing in rural areas.

B. It is the purpose of the Oklahoma Rural and Affordable Housing Linked Deposit Act to provide funding for eligible rural housing developers to build affordable housing in rural Oklahoma. It is the specific intent of the Legislature that any funding provided to eligible rural housing developers for the purpose of building affordable rural housing shall assist in the development of Oklahoma's rural areas in order to broaden Oklahoma's economic base.

C. The Oklahoma Rural and Affordable Housing Linked Deposit Act will meet rural housing needs by creating a revolving capacity of no more than Twenty-five Million Dollars ($25,000,000.00) to enable eligible rural housing developers to finance land acquisition, site development, rehabilitation, and construction of single-family or multifamily housing units in rural areas. For purposes of determining whether this twenty-five-million-dollar maximum is met, the State Treasurer shall consider amounts approved for link deposit participation, whether or not a borrower has actually used the entire amount approved.

Added by Laws 2002, c. 287, § 2, eff. July 1, 2002. Amended by Laws 2003, c. 224, § 14, eff. July 1, 2003.