1.    In addition to amounts otherwise authorized by this chapter, a displacing agency shall make a payment to or for any displaced person displaced from any dwelling not eligible to receive a payment under section 54-01.1-04, which dwelling was actually and lawfully occupied by the displaced person for not less than ninety days prior to:

a.    The initiation of negotiations for acquisition of such dwelling; or

b.    In any case in which displacement is not a direct result of acquisition, such other event as the state agency may prescribe.

The payment must consist of the amount necessary to enable the person to lease or rent for a period not to exceed forty-two months, a comparable replacement dwelling, but not to exceed five thousand two hundred fifty dollars. At the discretion of the    displacing agency, a payment under this subsection may be made in periodic installments. Computation of a payment under this subsection to a low-income displaced person for a comparable replacement dwelling must take into account such person’s income.

2.    Any person eligible for a payment under subsection 1 may elect to apply the payment to a downpayment on, and other incidental expenses pursuant to, the purchase of a decent, safe, and sanitary replacement dwelling. At the discretion of the displacing agency, any such person may be eligible under this subsection for the maximum payment allowed under subsection 1, except that, in the case of a displaced homeowner who has owned and occupied the displacement dwelling for at least ninety days but not more than one hundred eighty days immediately prior to the initiation of negotiations for the acquisition of the dwelling, the payment may not exceed the payment the person would otherwise have received under subsection 1 of section 54-01.1-04 had the person owned and occupied the displacement dwelling one hundred eighty days immediately prior to the initiation of such negotiations.