N.Y. Urban Development Corporation Act § 2
It is hereby found and declared that there exists in urban areas of this state a condition of substantial and persistent unemployment and underemployment which causes hardship to many individuals and families, wastes vital human resources, increases the public assistance burdens of the state and municipalities, impairs the security of family life, contributes to the growth of crime and delinquency, prevents many of our youth from finishing their educations, impedes the economic and physical development of municipalities and adversely affects the welfare and prosperity of all the people of the state. Many existing industrial, manufacturing and commercial facilities in such urban areas are obsolete and inefficient, dilapidated, and without adequate mass transportation facilities and public services. Many of such facilities are underutilized or in the process of being vacated, creating additional unemployment. Technological advances and the provision of modern, efficient facilities in other states will speed the obsolescence and abandonment of existing facilities causing serious injury to the economy of the state. Many existing and planned industrial, manufacturing and commercial facilities are, moreover, far from or not easily accessible to the places of residence of substantial numbers of unemployed persons. As a result, problems of chronic unemployment are not being alleviated but are aggravated. New industrial, manufacturing and commercial facilities are required to attract and house new industries and thereby to reduce the hazards of unemployment. The unaided efforts of private enterprise have not met and cannot meet the needs of providing such facilities due to problems encountered in assembling suitable building sites, lack of adequate public services, the unavailability of private capital for development in such urban areas, and the inability of private enterprise alone to plan, finance and coordinate industrial and commercial development with residential developments for persons and families of low income and with public services and mass transportation facilities.
It is further found and declared that there exist in many municipalities within this state residential, nonresidential, commercial, industrial or vacant areas, and combinations thereof, which are slum or blighted, or which are becoming slum or blighted areas because of substandard, insanitary, deteriorated or deteriorating conditions, including obsolete and dilapidated buildings and structures, defective construction, outmoded design, lack of proper sanitary facilities or adequate fire or safety protection, excessive land coverage, insufficient light and ventilation, excessive population density, illegal uses and conversions, inadequate maintenance, buildings abandoned or not utilized in whole or substantial part, obsolete systems of utilities, poorly or improperly designed street patterns and intersections, inadequate access to areas, traffic congestion hazardous to the public safety, lack of suitable off-street parking, inadequate loading and unloading facilities, impractical street widths, sizes and shapes, blocks and lots of irregular form, shape or insufficient size, width or depth, unsuitable topography, subsoil or other physical conditions, all of which hamper or impede proper and economic development of such areas and which impair or arrest the sound growth of the area, community or municipality, and the state as a whole.
It is further found and declared that there is a serious need throughout the state for adequate educational, recreational, cultural and other community facilities, the lack of which threatens and adversely affects the health, safety, morals and welfare of the people of the state.
It is further found and declared that there continues to exist throughout the state a seriously inadequate supply of safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations for persons and families of low income. This condition is contrary to the public interest and threatens the health, safety, welfare, comfort and security of the people of the state. The ordinary operations of private enterprise cannot provide an adequate supply of safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations at rentals which persons and families of low income can afford.
It is hereby declared to be the policy of the state to promote a vigorous and growing economy, to prevent economic stagnation and to encourage the creation of new job opportunities in order to protect against the hazards of unemployment, reduce the level of public assistance to now indigent individuals and families, increase revenues to the state and to its municipalities and to achieve stable and diversified local economies. In furtherance of these goals, it is the policy of the state to retain existing industries and to attract new industries through the acquisition, construction, reconstruction and rehabilitation of industrial and manufacturing plants and commercial facilities, and to develop sites for new industrial and commercial building. It is further declared to be the policy of the state to promote the development of such plants and facilities, reasonably accessible to residential facilities, in those areas where substantial unemployment or underemployment exists, to the end that the industrial and commercial development of our urban areas will proceed in sound fashion and in coordination with development of housing, mass transportation and public services, and that job opportunities will be available in those areas where people lack jobs.
It is further declared to be the policy of the state to promote the safety, health, morals and welfare of the people of the state and to promote the sound growth and development of our municipalities through the correction of such substandard, insanitary, blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating conditions, factors and characteristics by the clearance, replanning, reconstruction, redevelopment, rehabilitation, restoration or conservation of such areas, and of areas reasonably accessible thereto the undertaking of public and private improvement programs related thereto, including the provision of educational, recreational and cultural facilities, and the encouragement of participation in these programs by private enterprise.
It is further declared to be the policy of the state to promote the safety, health, morals and welfare of the people of the state through the provision of adequate, safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations and facilities incidental or appurtenant thereto for persons and families of low income.
For these purposes, there should be created a corporate governmental agency to be known as the "New York state urban development corporation" which, through issuance of bonds and notes to the private, investing public, by encouraging maximum participation by the private sector of the economy, including the sale or lease of the corporation's interest in projects at the earliest time deemed feasible, and through participation in programs undertaken by the state, its agencies and subdivisions, and by municipalities and the federal government, may provide or obtain the capital resources necessary to acquire, construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate or improve such industrial, manufacturing, commercial, educational, recreational and cultural facilities, and housing accommodations for persons and families of low income, and facilities incidental or appurtenant thereto, and to carry out the clearance, replanning, reconstruction and rehabilitation of such substandard and insanitary areas.
It is further declared to be the policy of New York state to encourage the development of research and development facilities and high technology industrial incubator space at institutions of higher education located in this state and authorized to confer degrees by law or by the board of regents, or on lands in reasonable proximity to such institutions provided that (i) in the case of research and development facilities such facilities are for the cooperative use of one or more such institutions and one or more business corporations, research consortia or other industrial organizations involved in research, development, demonstration, or other technologically oriented industrial activities; and (ii) in the case of high technology industrial incubator space, such space shall be for rental to business concerns which are in their formative stages and which are involved in high technology activities, including but not limited to business concerns initiated by students, employees of such institution, including faculty members and other persons or firms academically associated with such institution.
It is hereby declared that the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation or improvement of such industrial, manufacturing and commercial facilities, and of such cultural, educational and recreational facilities including but not limited to facilities identified as projects and called for to implement a state designated heritage area management plan as provided in title G of the parks, recreation and historic preservation law; the clearance, replanning, reconstruction and rehabilitation of such substandard and insanitary areas; and the provision of adequate, safe and sanitary housing accommodations for persons and families of low income and such facilities as may be incidental or appurtenant thereto are public uses and public purposes for which public money may be loaned and private property may be acquired and tax exemption granted, and that the powers and duties of the New York state urban development corporation as hereinafter prescribed are necessary and proper for the purpose of achieving the ends here recited.
N.Y. Urban Development Corporation Act § 2