The purposes of the Program are to: provide decent, safe, and sanitary rental housing for households of lower income; provide financial assistance to political subdivisions or housing authorities to acquire, construct, reconstruct, renovate, or rehabilitate rental housing affordable to households of lower income; stimulate the development and ownership of rental housing for households of lower income by political subdivisions, housing authorities, or partnerships that include political subdivisions or housing authorities; provide financial assistance to private sector entities to acquire, construct, reconstruct, renovate, or rehabilitate housing units: for sale to political subdivisions, housing authorities, or partnerships that include political subdivisions or housing authorities, as affordable rental housing for households of lower income; or for occupancy by households of lower income that include one or more individuals with disabilities or special needs; promote affordable housing programs and increased contributions to the production of affordable rental housing by political subdivisions, housing authorities, and the private sector, including for profit and nonprofit entities; encourage households of lower income that live in partnership rental housing to contribute actively to the operation or maintenance of the housing or the community; finance rental housing that is: to be occupied by households of lower income; to be owned by political subdivisions or housing authorities or partnerships that include political subdivisions or housing authorities; and expected to be financially self-sufficient, without further governmental financing for maintenance, renovation, or operating subsidies; and encourage the private sector to provide rental housing for households of lower income that include one or more individuals with disabilities or special needs.