(1)(a) The Housing and Community Services Department shall, when awarding public funds for low-income rental housing, give a substantial preference to low-income housing providers that do not require applicants for such housing to have net income greater than two times the rent.
(b) As used in this section, “public funds” includes all low-income rental housing grants, loans or tax credits administered or awarded by the department, whether state, federal or otherwise, but does not include funds derived from the sale of bonds by the department.
(c) Enforcement of the preference following an award of funds shall be by complaint to the department.
(2) The department shall adopt any rules necessary to implement this section.