 It was signed into law in 1955 as "The Limited-Profit Housing Companies Act" (officially contained in the "Private Housing Finance" law, article II titled "Limited-Profit Housing Companies" and referring to not-for-profit corp., whereas article IV titled "Limited Dividend Housing Companies" refers to non-Mitchell-Lama affordable housing organized as business corp., partnerships or trusts from 1927 on).The program's publicly stated purpose was the development and building of affordable housing, both rental and co-operatively owned, for middle-income residents.Under this program, local jurisdictions acquired property by eminent domain and provided it to developers to develop housing for low- and middle-income tenants.