AN ACT CONCERNING THE UNIFORM RELOCATION ASSISTANCE ACT.

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House of Representatives

File No. 751
General Assembly
February Session, 2026 (Reprint of File No. 263)

Substitute House Bill No. 5394
As Amended by House Amendment
Schedule "A"

Approved by the Legislative Commissioner
April 30, 2026

AN ACT CONCERNING THE UNIFORM RELOCATION ASSISTANCE
ACT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 8 -270 of the general statutes is repealed and the 1
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2026): 2
(a) In addition to amounts otherwise authorized by this chapter, a 3
state agency shall make a payment to or for any displaced person who 4
is displaced from any dwelling and not eligible to receive a payment 5
under section 8-269, [which] provided such dwelling was actually and 6
lawfully occupied by such displaced person for not less than ninety days 7
prior to the initiation of negotiations for the acquisition of such dwelling 8
under the program or project which results in such person being 9
displaced. [Such] 10
(b) Any payment made pursuant to this section shall be [either (1) 11
the] in an amount necessary to enable such displaced person to (1) lease 12

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or rent , for a period not to exceed four years, a decent, safe [,] and 13
sanitary dwelling of standards adequate to accommodate such person 14
in [areas] an area not generally less desirable with regard to public 15
utilities and public and commercial facilities, and reasonably accessible 16
to such displaced person's place of employment, [but not to] provided 17
no such payment shall exceed four thousand dollars, or (2) [the amount 18
necessary to enable such displaced person to ] make a down payment, 19
including reasonable expenses incurred by such displaced person for 20
evidence of title, recording fees [,] and other closing costs incident to the 21
purchase of a decent, safe [,] and sanitary dwelling of standards 22
adequate to accommodate such person in [areas] an area not generally 23
less desirable with regard to public utilities and public and commercial 24
facilities, [but not to ] provided no such payment shall exceed four 25
thousand dollars. [, except that if such amount exceeds two thousand 26
dollars, such ] Any person [must equally ] who receives a payment 27
pursuant to subdivision (2) of this subsection in excess of two thousand 28
dollars shall match any such amount in excess of two thousand dollars 29
in making [the downpayment, and provided, whenever ] such down 30
payment. 31
(c) Whenever any tenant [in any] of a dwelling unit is displaced as 32
the result of the enforcement of any code to which this section is 33
applicable by any town, city or borough or agency thereof, the landlord 34
of such dwelling unit shall be liable for any payments made by such 35
town, city or borough pursuant to subsection (b) of this section or by the 36
state pursuant to subsection (b) of section 8-280, as amended by this act, 37
[and the ] or section 8 -271, as amended by this act in addition to 38
payments for emergency housing and temporary housing for a 39
displaced person. A town, city or borough or the state may place a lien 40
on any real property owned by such landlord to secure repayment to 41
the town, city or borough or the state of such payments, which lien shall 42
have the same priority as and shall be filed, enforced and discharged in 43
the same manner as a lien for municipal taxes under chapter 205. 44
[(b)] (d) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, in the case of 45
displacement of a person on or after October 1, 2007, because of 46
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acquisition of real property by a redevelopment agency pursuant to 47
section 8 -128, a development agency pursuant to section 8 -193, or an 48
implementing agency pursuant to section 32 -224, pursuant to a 49
redevelopment plan approved under chapter 130 or a development plan 50
approved under chapter 132 or 588 l, the agency shall make relocation 51
payments as provided under the federal Uniform Relocation Assistance 52
and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, 42 USC 4601 et seq. 53
and any subsequent amendments thereto and regulations promulgated 54
thereunder if payments under said act and regulations would be greater 55
than payments under this section and sections 8-268 and 8-269. 56
Sec. 2. Subsection (b) of section 8 -271 of the general statutes is 57
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 58
1, 2026): 59
(b) Each relocation advisory assistance program required by 60
subsection (a) of this section shall include such measures, facilities, or 61
services as may be necessary or appropriate in order (1) to determine 62
the needs, if any, of displaced persons for relocation assistance; (2) to 63
provide current and continuing information on the availability, prices 64
and rentals, of comparable decent, safe and sanitary sales and rental 65
housing, and of comparable commercial properties and locations for 66
displaced businesses; (3) to assure that, within a reasonable period of 67
time, prior to displacement there will be available in areas not generally 68
less desirable in regard to public utilities and public and commercial 69
facilities and at rents or prices within the financial means of the families 70
and individuals displaced, decent, safe and sanitary dwellings, as 71
defined by the Commissioner of Transportation for transportation 72
projects and by the Commissioner of Housing for all other state agency 73
programs and projects, equal in number to the number of and available 74
to such displaced persons who require such dwellings and reasonably 75
accessible to their places of employment, except that the Commissioner 76
of Transportation for transportation projects and the Commissioner of 77
Housing for all other state agency programs and projects may prescribe 78
by regulation situations when such assurances may be waived; (4) to 79
assist a displaced person displaced from the person's business or farm 80
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operation in obtaining and becoming established in a suitable 81
replacement location; (5) to supply information concerning federal and 82
state housing programs, disaster loan programs and other federal and 83
state programs offering assistance to displaced persons; (6) to provide 84
other advisory assistance services to displaced persons in order to 85
minimize hardship to such persons in adjusting to relocation, including 86
programs to provide emergency housing and temporary housing to 87
displaced persons. 88
Sec. 3. Section 8 -280 of the general statutes is repealed and the 89
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2026): 90
(a) The state, acting by and in the discretion of the Commissioner of 91
Housing, may enter into a contract or agreement with a state agency to 92
provide state financial assistance to [such] the state agency in the form 93
of a grant -in-aid equal to two -thirds of the net cost of [carrying out] a 94
program [of] to provide relocation assistance pursuant to a relocation 95
plan [as provided under ] prepared pursuant to section 8 -281 and 96
approved by the commissioner. [Such] Any such grant-in-aid shall: (1) 97
Provide actual administration costs not to exceed one hundred dollars 98
for each dwelling unit and two hundred fifty dollars for each farm or 99
business, relocated in accordance with the provisions of this chapter; (2) 100
provide advance grants for relocation assistance paid pursuant to the 101
provisions of said section to persons, families, businesses and farm 102
operations and nonprofit organizations not otherwise entitled to 103
relocation assistance from any program of any other state agency or any 104
program of the federal government and who have not been reimbursed 105
for moving costs in a condemnation proceeding; and (3) include the cost 106
of the preparation of the relocation plan. 107
(b) The Commissioner of Housing shall not provide a grant -in-aid 108
pursuant to subsection (a) of this section to any town, city or borough 109
for the cost of [carrying out ] a program [of] to provide relocation 110
assistance for persons displaced as the direct result of code enforcement 111
activities undertaken by a town, city or borough, unless such town, city 112
or borough agrees to (1) [places, pursuant to section 8-270,] place a lien 113
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on all real property in such town, city or borough, [which] pursuant to 114
section 8-270, as amended by this act, that is owned by the landlord of 115
the persons who are displaced by such code enforcement activities, and 116
(2) [assigns] assign to the state [the claim of ] any claim that the town, 117
city or borough may have against such landlord for the costs of [carrying 118
out such program of] such relocation assistance not later than one year 119
after the final payment to any person under such program. The Attorney 120
General shall [be responsible for collecting] collect any such claim [and 121
may carry out such responsibility ] by (A) enforcing any such lien 122
assigned to the state by the town, city or borough, (B) placing and 123
enforcing a lien on any other real property owned by the landlord in the 124
state, or (C) instituting civil proceedings in the Superior Court against 125
such landlord. Two-thirds of all funds collected by the Attorney General 126
from a landlord pursuant to this subsection shall be deposited in the 127
General Fund and the remaining one -third of such funds shall be 128
remitted to the town, city or borough [which] that brought code 129
enforcement activities against such landlord. 130
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:

Section 1 October 1, 2026 8-270
Sec. 2 October 1, 2026 8-271(b)
Sec. 3 October 1, 2026 8-280

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The following Fiscal Impact Statement and Bill Analysis are prepared for the benefit of the members of
the General Assembly, solely for purposes of information, summarization and explanation and do not
represent the intent of the General Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general,
fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of informational sources, including the analyst’s professional
knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is consulted as part of the analysis, however final
products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any specific department.

OFA Fiscal Note

State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 27 $ FY 28 $
Department of Housing GF - Potential
Cost
Minimal Minimal
Resources of the General Fund GF - Potential
Revenue Gain
Minimal Minimal
Note: GF=General Fund

Municipal Impact:
Municipalities Effect FY 27 $ FY 28 $
All Municipalities Potential
Revenue
Gain
Minimal Minimal
All Municipalities Potential
Cost
Minimal Minimal

Explanation
The bill expands what municipalities must pay for when relocating
individuals who are displaced for certain reasons to include hotel stays.
This may result in a potential cost to municipalities beginning in FY 27
to the extent hotel stays are paid for, how ever, under existing law
unchanged by the bill , the payments may not exceed $4,000. To the
extent municipalities would have already made payments that reached
the cap this provision will not result in a fiscal impact.
The bill also requires a municipality to lien the property and assign
such lien(s) after a period to qualify for a grant from the Department of
Housing (DOH) that would cover a portion of the municipality's
relocation costs.
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The existing grant program is not currently operational; no grants
dependent on the above requirements have been issued since at least
1986. If grants are issued, this will result in a cost to DOH for the grant,
a revenue gain to the General Fund for grant s recovered via lien
enforcement, and a revenue gain to municipalities.
House "A" makes various technical and clarifying changes that do not
alter the fiscal impact.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to actual relocation assistance payments
made, actual grants issued by DOH, and the ability of the state to
recover funds.

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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 5394 (as amended by House "A")*

AN ACT CONCERNING THE UNIFORM RELOCATION ASSISTANCE
ACT.

SUMMARY
Under the state’s Uniform Relocation Assistance Act (URAA),
municipalities and state agencies must pay to relocate people who are
displaced due to, among other things, their code enforcement actions
(like for health or building code violations). For displaced tenants, the
bill adds that the payments may cover emergency and temporary
housing. Under the bill, the tenant’s landlord is responsible for repaying
these costs, as they are for other tenant relocation assistance under
existing law (such as rental assistance or a down payment).
Under existing law, the state may give a municipality a grant to cover
part of its costs to relocate a tenant, in exchange for the municipality ’s
right to repayment from the landlord. The bill modifies this process,
allowing municipalities to receive a grant even if it has not yet taken
certain legal steps.
The URAA also requires municipalities and state agencies to provide
advisory assistance to displaced people. If the displaced person is a
tenant, the bill makes the landlord responsible for paying for this
assistance.
The bill also makes various minor, technical, and conforming
changes.
*House Amendment “A” (1) allows payments for emergency and
temporary housing, rather than hotels, and removes these payments
from the $4,000 cap that applies to certain other types of assistance and
(2) adds the requirement that landlords pay for advisory assistance.
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EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2026
EMERGENCY AND TEMPORARY HOUSING COSTS
Existing law requires municipalities to pay up to $4,000 toward a
displaced tenant ’s rent (for up to four years) or downpayment on a
home. The landlord must repay these relocation costs if tenants were
displaced due to code enforcement and the municipality may put a lien
on the landlord’s real property (buildings and land) to secure
repayment.
The bill makes landlords also responsible for a municipality ’s
payments for emergency and temporary housing for displaced tenant s
(the $4,000 cap does not apply to these payments).
State Grants for Municipal Relocation Costs
Existing law also allows the state to enter into a contract with a
municipality under which it gives a grant for part of the municipality’s
tenant relocation costs in exchange for the municipality’s related claims
against the landlord. The bill allows the municipality to receive a grant
if it (1) agrees to lien the landlord’s property, even if it has not done so
yet, and (2) assigns its claims to the state within one year after the last
payment has been made for the relocated tenant.
ADVISORY ASSISTANCE
Under the URAA, state agencies and municipalities must provide an
advisory assistance program to people who are displaced because the
agency or municipality acquired their land and ordered them to vacate
it or enforced health or building codes, among other things.
Existing law requires the program to provide services to minimize
hardship for people adjusting to relocat ion. The bill (1) specifies this
includes programs for emergency and temporary housing and (2) makes
landlords responsible for paying for this and other assistance their
tenants receive under the program.
Other advisory assistance available under existing law includes
measures, facilities, or services to:
1. determine displaced people’s relocation assistance needs;
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2. give up-to-date information on housing available to rent or buy,
including price, and the availability of commercial properties for
displaced businesses;
3. assure people, before they are displaced, of the availability of
decent, safe, and sanitary housing that is close to their workplace
and not less desirable;
4. help people displaced from their businesses or farms to get
established in a new place; and
5. give information on federal and state programs that help
displaced people, including disaster loan programs.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Planning and Development Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 21 Nay 0 (03/13/2026)