(a) The Commissioner of Housing shall establish and implement a five-year pilot program of rental assistance for low-income families living in newly created privately-owned rental housing. For the purposes of this section, a low-income family is one whose income does not exceed sixty per cent of the area median income adjusted for family size in which such family lives, as determined by the commissioner. The commissioner shall provide such rental assistance in order to encourage the creation of additional rental housing.

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(b) The state, acting by and in the discretion of the Commissioner of Housing, may enter into a contract with the owner or developer of new rental housing to provide rental assistance linked to a specific number of units in such housing which shall be set aside for low-income families. Each contract to provide rental assistance for units set aside for occupancy by low-income families under this section shall be for a period not to exceed fifteen years and may provide that the state shall receive an equity interest in such rental housing. The commissioner shall not provide rental assistance for more than five hundred new rental housing units under the pilot program.

(c) The commissioner shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, to carry out the purposes of this section. Such regulations shall establish maximum income eligibility guidelines for such rental assistance and criteria for determining the amount of rental assistance which shall be provided.