An authority shall constitute a public body, corporate and politic, exercising public and essential governmental functions, and having all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this chapter, including the following powers in addition to those herein granted:
(1) To sue and be sued; to have a seal and to alter it at pleasure; to have perpetual succession; to make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers of the authority; and to make and from time to time amend and repeal bylaws, rules, and regulations, not inconsistent with this chapter, to carry into effect the powers and purposes of the authority.(2) Within its area of operations, to prepare, carry out, acquire, lease, and operate housing projects; to provide for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, alteration, or repair of any housing project or any part thereof.(3) To arrange or contract for the furnishing by any person or agency, public or private, of services, privileges, works, or facilities for, or in connection with, a housing project or the occupants thereof; and (notwithstanding anything to the contrary, contained in this chapter, or in any other provisions of law) to include in any contract let in connection with a project, stipulations requiring that the contractor and any subcontractors comply with requirements as to minimum wages and maximum hours of labor and comply with any conditions which the federal government may have attached to its financial aid to the project.(4) To lease or rent any dwellings, houses, accommodations, lands, buildings, structures, or facilities embraced in any housing project and (subject to the limitations contained in this chapter) to establish and revise the rents or charges therefore; to own, hold, and improve real or personal property; to purchase, lease, obtain options upon, acquire by gift, grant, bequest, devise, or otherwise any real or personal property or any interest therein; to acquire by the exercise of the power of eminent domain any real property; to sell, lease, exchange, transfer, assign, pledge, or dispose of any real or personal property or any interest therein; to insure or provide for the insurance of any real or personal property or operation of the authority against any risk or hazards; to procure insurance or guarantees from the federal government of the payment of any debts or part thereof (whether or not incurred by said authority) secured by mortgages on any property included in any of its housing projects.(5) To invest any funds held in reserve or sinking funds, or any funds not required for immediate disbursement, in property or securities in which savings banks may legally invest funds subject to their control; to purchase its bond at a price not more than the principal amount thereof and accrued interest, all bonds so purchased to be cancelled.(6) Within its area of operation: to investigate into living, dwelling, and housing conditions and into the means and methods of improving the conditions; to determine where slum areas exist or where there is a shortage of decent, safe, and sanitary dwelling accommodations for persons of low income as well as elders who are of low income; to make studies and recommendations relating to the problem of clearing, replanning, and reconstructing of slum areas and to cooperate with all urban renewal agencies on the problem of providing dwelling accommodations for persons of low income and to cooperate with the municipality, the State, or any political subdivision thereof in action taken in connection with such problem and to engage in research, studies, and experimentation of the subject of housing.(7) To exercise all or any part or combination of the powers granted in this section.(8) To provide an adequate number of dwelling units, especially designed for occupation by elders when a survey by the authority indicates a need therefor. Elders shall have priority in the rental of such units.(9) No law with respect to the acquisition, operation, or disposition of property by other public bodies shall be applicable to an authority unless the Legislature shall specifically so state.(10) To administer, at its option, allocations of money made under 42 U.S.C.A. § 1437f.Added 1961, No. 212, § 8, eff. 7/11/1961; amended 1975, No. 176 (Adj. Sess.), § 8, eff. 3/26/1976; 2013, No. 96 (Adj. Sess.), § 159.