Payments to help displaced homeowners and renters find new housing

(a) In addition to any amount authorized herein as part of the cost of construction of the airport for which land acquisition is initiated, the director shall make a payment to the owner of real property improved by a single-family, two-family, or three-family dwelling actually owned and occupied by the owner for not less than one year prior to the first written offer by the department of transportation for the acquisition of such property. Such payment, not to exceed $5,000, shall be the amount, if any, which when added to the acquisition payment, equals the average price required for a comparable dwelling determined, in accordance with standards established by the director to be a decent, safe, and sanitary dwelling adequate to accommodate the displaced owner, reasonably accessible to public services and places of employment, and available on the private market. Such payment shall be made only to a displaced owner who purchases and occupies a dwelling within one year subsequent to the date on which the displaced owner is required to move from the dwelling acquired for the project. (b) In addition to amounts otherwise authorized by this section and section 261-32, the director shall make a payment to any individual or family displaced from any dwelling not eligible to receive a payment under subsection (a) which dwelling was actually and lawfully occupied by such individual or family for not less than ninety days prior to the first written offer by the department of transportation for acquisition of such property. Such payment, not to exceed $1,500, shall be the amount which is necessary to enable such person to lease or rent for a period not to exceed two years, or to make the downpayment on the purchase of a decent, safe, and sanitary dwelling of standards adequate to accommodate such individual or family in areas not generally less desirable in regard to public utilities and public and commercial facilities.