(a) Each housing authority shall manage and operate its housing projects in an efficient and cost-effective manner so as to enable it to set the rents for housing units at the lowest possible rates consistent with providing decent, safe and sanitary housing and fulfilling the unmet need of affordable housing for persons or families of lower income.
(b) No housing authority shall construct or operate any such housing for profit, or as a source of revenue to a city or a county.
(2) Notwithstanding any provisions of this section to the contrary, a housing authority may establish and maintain reasonable reserves for the purpose of providing additional housing projects that the authority owns or manages and otherwise administering its programs pursuant to this chapter. [Amended by 1977 c.343 §1; 1989 c.874 §4; 1995 c.445 §10]