Request By:
Ms. Julia M. May
Executive Director
Prestonsburg Housing Authority
P.O. Box 230
Prestonsburg, Kentucky 41653
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
This is in reply to your letter raising a question as to the power and authority of the Municipal Housing Authority of Prestonsburg to enter into an agreement with the Floyd County Fiscal Court whereby the housing authority will produce housing in Floyd County, Kentucky.
The Housing Authority of Prestonsburg has been awarded 68 units of low rent public housing which the housing authority wants to construct in Floyd County. The Floyd County Fiscal Court also desires that the housing units be constructed in the county. There is no housing authority of Floyd County.
The 68 housing units have been awarded to the Housing Authority of Prestonsburg and cannot be changed to any other housing authority. Initially HUD told the Housing Authority of Prestonsburg that it could place the housing units in Floyd County by obtaining a "Cooperation Agreement with the Floyd County Fiscal Court." Such an agreement was executed but HUD now desires an opinion from this office on the matter.
Your specific question as well as HUD's position are set forth in your letter as follows:
"The issue is whether the powers granted Housing Authorities by Chapter 80, KRS are exclusive.
City of Louisville Municipal Housing Commission v. Public Housing Commission, 261 S.W.2d 286 (1953) states that Housing Commissions are political entities. HUD's position is that as a political entity, the Housing Authority of Prestonsburg has powers beyond those specifically given in KRS Chapter 80 and can enter into the enclosed Cooperation Agreement and produce housing in Floyd County with the agreement of the Floyd County Fiscal Court."
KRS 80.020 to 80.257 deal with municipal housing commissions and we first direct your attention to KRS 80.020 which provides:
"Cities of all classes may acquire, establish and operate, within their limits, low-cost housing projects, under the provisions of this chapter, for the purpose of providing adequate and sanitary living quarters for individuals or families. They may create city housing authorities, and they and the authorities created by them shall have all powers necessary and appropriate to engage in low-cost housing and slum clearance projects."
The jurisdiction and operating authority of a municipal housing commission are, therefore, limited to the corporate limits of the municipal corporation which created it.
In OAG 72-323, copy enclosed, at page three, we said the law appears to be clear that any city that desires to establish and operate housing projects and a housing commission must do so pursuant to the legislative grant of authority set forth in KRS Chapter 80. The statutory provisions of KRS Chapter 80 must be followed and, in your situation, KRS 80.020 to 80.257 govern as to the powers, duties and obligations of a municipal housing commission.
In
City of Louisville Municipal Housing Commission v. Public Housing Administration, Ky., 261 S.W.2d 286 (1953), the Court recognized that housing commissions, like all commissions, have certain territorial limitations in the exercise of their authority. Another indication that housing commissions operate within the territorial boundaries of the governmental entities creating them is the fact that KRS Chapter 80 not only contains provisions for municipal housing commissions but also provides for county housing commissions (KRS 80.310 to 80.610) and joint city-county housing authorities (KRS 60.262 to 80.266). These various sections deal with three different statutory creations to meet the needs of the various governmental entities involved and are mutually exclusive. See OAG 73-106, copy enclosed.
It is, therefore, our opinion that no statutory authority exists for a municipal housing commission to enter into an agreement with a fiscal court whereby the municipal housing commission will establish housing units out in the county. A municipal housing commission operates within the territorial boundaries of the governmental entity which created it.
We would suggest, however, that the city and county consider the creation of a city-county housing authority pursuant to KRS 80.262 to 80.266. As you will note in KRS 80.262, the city council and the fiscal court would have to declare, by resolution, that there is a need for one housing authority to be created for the city and county. Such resolution of the governing bodies would have to be preceded by a request of the existing municipal housing commission to create such an entity. Hopefully, HUD would then transfer the housing units awarded to the city housing commission to the newly created city-county housing authority.