A regional or county housing authority shall have power to rent, sell, or make loans to finance the cost of dwellings on farms or in other areas outside of cities and to make or accept such conveyances or leases as it deems necessary to carry out the rural housing purposes of this chapter. With respect to such housing, county and regional housing authorities shall not be subject to the tenant selection limitations provided in clause (c) of § 36-22. When an authority provides a dwelling on a farm hereunder, the owner of the farm living in the dwelling under a lease or purchase agreement shall be entitled to receive the same homestead exemption as if he had title to the dwelling.