Housing Development Corporation of Florida; creation, membership, and purposes.

(1) Twenty-five or more persons, a majority of whom shall be residents of this state, who may desire to create a housing development corporation under the provisions of this part for the purpose of promoting and developing housing and advancing the prosperity and economic welfare of the state and, to that end, to exercise the powers and privileges hereinafter provided, may be incorporated by filing in the Department of State, as hereinafter provided, articles of incorporation. The articles of incorporation shall contain:

(a) The name of the corporation, which shall include the words “Housing Development Corporation of Florida.”

(b) The location of the principal office of the corporation. The corporation may have offices in such other places within the state as may be fixed by the board of directors.

(c) The purposes for which the corporation is founded, which shall be:

1. To mobilize capital;

2. To finance new or rehabilitated housing, particularly for persons of low or moderate income in the state;

3. To find new methods of providing subsidies for housing;

4. To encourage and assist, through loans, including loans at below-market interest rates, investments, or other business transactions, in the elimination of substandard housing in this state;

5. To rehabilitate and assist existing housing, and so to stimulate and assist in the expansion of all kinds of housing activity which will tend to promote the development of new or rehabilitated housing and improve the standard of living of the low-income and moderate-income citizens of this state;

6. To cooperate and act in conjunction with other organizations, public or private, in the promotion and advancement of housing developments in this state;

7. To provide financing for the construction of all kinds of housing activity in this state, particularly for low-income and moderate-income citizens; and

8. To make, service, and manage home equity conversion mortgages to assist elderly citizens.

(d) The names and post office addresses of the members of the first board of directors. The first board of directors shall be elected by and from the stockholders of the corporation and shall consist of 21 members. However, five of such members shall consist of the following persons, who shall be nonvoting members: the Secretary of Commerce or her or his designee; the head of the Department of Financial Services or her or his designee with expertise in banking matters; a designee of the head of the Department of Financial Services with expertise in insurance matters; one state senator appointed by the President of the Senate; and one representative appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

(e) Any provision which the incorporators may choose to insert for the regulation of the business and for the conduct of the affairs of the corporation and any provision creating, dividing, limiting, and regulating the powers of the corporation, the directors, stockholders, or any class of the stockholders, including, but not limited to, a list of the officers, and provisions governing the issuance of stock certificates to replace lost or destroyed certificates.

(f) The amount of the authorized capital stock and the number of shares into which it is divided, the par value of each share, and the amount of capital with which it will commence business; if there is more than one class of stock, a description of the different classes; and the names and post office addresses of the subscribers of stock and the number of shares subscribed by each. The aggregate of the subscription shall be the minimum amount of capital with which the corporation shall commence business, which shall not be less than $100,000. The articles of incorporation may also contain any provision consistent with the laws of this state for the regulation of the affairs of the corporation.

(2) The articles of incorporation shall be in writing, subscribed by not less than nine natural persons competent to contract, acknowledged by each of the subscribers before an officer authorized to take acknowledgments, and filed with the Department of State for approval. A duplicate copy so subscribed and acknowledged may also be filed.

(3) The articles of incorporation shall recite that the corporation is organized under the provisions of this chapter. The Department of State shall not approve articles of incorporation for a corporation organized under this part until a total of at least 15 national banks, federal savings and loan associations, state banks, savings banks, industrial savings banks, domestic building and loan associations, or insurance companies authorized to do business within this state, or any combination thereof, have agreed in writing to become stockholders of the corporation. The written agreement shall be filed with the Department of State with the articles of incorporation, and the filing of same shall be a condition precedent to the approval of the articles of incorporation by the Department of State.

(4) Whenever the articles of incorporation have been filed in the Department of State and approved by it and all filing fees and taxes prescribed by part I of chapter 607 have been paid, the subscribers and their successors and assigns shall constitute a corporation, and the corporation shall then be authorized to commence business, and stock thereof to the extent herein or hereafter duly authorized may from time to time be issued.