Veterans' farm and home purchases: shared equity cooperative housing.

Existing law provides for farm and home purchase benefits for qualifying veterans under the Veterans' Farm and Home Purchase Act of 1943, and subsequent acts, which are collectively referred to as the CalVet Home Loan program. Existing law defines "cooperative housing corporation" for purposes of this program to mean a real estate development in which membership in the corporation, by stock, is coupled with the exclusive right to possess a portion of the real property. The bill would expand the definition of cooperative housing corporation to include a shared equity cooperative. The California National Guard Members' Farm and Home Purchase Act of 1978, administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, provides for farm and home purchase benefits for designated members of the California National Guard. The California National Guard Members' Revenue Bond Act of 1978 authorizes, and prescribes a procedure for, the issuance of debentures for home, farm, and mobilehome loans under the California National Guard Members' Farm and Home Purchase Act of 1978. The California National Guard Members' Revenue Bond Act of 1978 creates the California National Guard Members' Farm and Home Building Fund of 1978, and creates special accounts in that fund, including, but not limited to, the National Guard Members' Revenue Bond Revenue Account. This bill would require all moneys in the California National Guard Members' Farm and Home Building Fund of 1978 and in any account created in that fund that are not needed to meet revenue bond obligations to be deposited into the Veterans' Farm and Home Building Fund of 1943 within 30 days of the effective date of this bill. This bill would also require any revenues that would have otherwise been required to be deposited into the California National Guard Members' Farm and Home Building Fund of 1978, or any other account in that fund, to be deposited into the Veterans' Farm and Home Building Fund of 1943. This bill would continuously appropriate all moneys deposited into the Veterans' Farm and Home Building Fund of 1943 pursuant to this bill to the department, and would authorize those moneys to be used by the department to make shared equity cooperative housing loans. This bill would, 30 days after the effective date of this bill, repeal the California National Guard Members' Farm and Home Purchase Act of 1978 and the California National Guard Members' Revenue Bond Act of 1978, except as provided. The Veterans' Farm and Home Purchase Act of 1974 (act) authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs to assist veterans in acquiring homes and farms by generally providing that the department may purchase a farm or home which the department then sells to a purchaser, as defined. The act includes in the definition of "home" a condominium, a mobilehome, and a residence with 2 or 4 units occupied by veterans and their families. The act requires, before the purchase of any property by the Department of Veterans Affairs, that an appraisement of the market value of the property be filed with the department by an employee or authorized agent of the department, the Federal Housing Administration, or the Veteran's Administration. The act requires the purchaser to make an initial payment of at least 2% of the selling price of the property and requires a loan to be secured by a deed of trust. The act authorizes the department to pay, satisfy, discharge, settle, and compromise the taxes, assessments, charges, and encumbrances, and to insure buildings, improvements, and crops, and to do work necessary to keep the home or farm in good order and repair if the purchaser fails to do so. The act also authorizes the department to add the costs of the purchaser's failure to act onto the selling price of the property and authorizes the department to seek repayment from the purchaser for these costs. The act authorizes the department to cancel a contract, forfeiting all rights of the purchaser, if the purchaser does not comply with any terms of the purchase contract. This bill would expand the definition of "home" to include a cooperative dwelling unit, as defined. This bill would define property, except when used in the phrase "real property" or "personal property," as a farm or a home. This bill would also make changes conforming to those definitions. This bill would authorize the appraisement of the market value of the property to also be filed by an appraiser licensed or certified in this state. This bill would allow the department to require a higher amount than 2% of the selling price of the property as an initial payment, and would authorize the department to allow another form of security, other than a deed of trust, to secure a loan. This bill would authorize the department to add the costs of a stock corporation's failure to pay, satisfy, discharge, settle, and compromise the taxes, assessments, charges, and encumbrances, and to insure buildings, improvements, and crops, and to do work necessary to keep the property in good order and repair to the selling price of the property and would authorize the department to seek repayment from the stock corporation for these costs. This bill would require the department to allow a stock cooperative to cure any failure by a purchaser to comply with the terms of the purchase contract. This bill would require that a purchaser's right to occupy the property under its contract with the department not be subject to consent or approval by the stock cooperative, and would require that a stock cooperative enter into an agreement directly with the department as a condition of taking title to a cooperative dwelling unit. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.