Property Search Field Brief Definitions *

 
Common Area Unit: 
Unit in a property that is occupied by full-time resident managers, maintenance personnel, or security personnel, and is reasonably required for operation of the property.

Disabilities/Disabled Housing:
Units that are set-aside for at least one individual in a household that has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities such as not being able to care for oneself, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, or learning.

Elderly Housing:
Property that conforms to the Fair Housing Act, as amended, and, in which:

1. All Housing Units are intended for and solely occupied by Residents who are 62 or older;

2. All Housing Units are intended and operated for occupancy by at least one Resident who is 55 or older, and where at least 80% of the Total Housing Units are in fact occupied by at least one Resident who is 55 or older; or

3. Units are financed, constructed, and operated under the RD Section 515 program for the Elderly or HUD program (i.e., where each Resident is either 62 or older or is a person with handicaps or disabilities regardless of age, as such terms are defined in the RD or HUD program).

Farmworker:
Household where one or more residents income is derived from farm work in an amount not less than $3,000 per year and which, at the time of initial occupancy at the property, has an income at or below 50% of the Area Median Gross Income.

Farm Work:
Services in connection with cultivating the soil, raising or harvesting, or in catching, netting, handling, planting, drying, packing, grading, storing, or in preserving in its unmanufactured state any agriculture or aquaculture commodity: or delivering to storage, market, or a carrier for transportation to market or to processing any agricultural or aquacultural commodity; or working in a processing plant and directly handling agricultural or aquacultural product.

Transitional Housing for the Homeless:
In the Commission’s Tax Credit Program, there are two categories of Housing for the Homeless. The first category is defined in Section 42 of the Code and is called “Transitional Housing for the Homeless.” The second category is defined by the Commission as “Homeless Housing.”  

1. A minimum of 20% of the Total Housing Units in the Project must be reserved for Transitional Housing for the Homeless. Each Housing Unit in a Building used for Transitional Housing for the Homeless must contain sleeping accommodations as well as kitchen and bathroom facilities. The Building must be used exclusively to ease the transition of homeless persons to independent living within 24 months.

2. A minimum of 20% of the Total Housing Units in the Project must be reserved for Housing for the Homeless. Unlike the first category, these units are not required to be located in a Building used exclusively for Homeless.  Each unit set-aside must serve Homeless Households as defined under the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act and must provide Supportive Services designed to promote self-sufficiency, meeting the needs of the target population. Support services must be provided throughout the regulatory term and are subject to annual compliance review.

Large Household Unit:
Low-Income Housing Unit containing three or more bedrooms which are occupied by four or more income qualified Residents who are not necessarily related.

Market Rate Housing Unit:  
Housing Unit that does not meet the definition of a Low-Income Housing Unit or in other words, does not have income or rent restrictions.

Set Aside Units:
Units that are income and/or rent restricted at or below the Area Medium Gross Income and or rent levels. A Bond property may only have income restricted units.  Many properties have other public funded commitments so their actual restriction levels may be lower than the Commission’s.

SRO Unit:
Single room occupancy units (SRO’s) are units where the washroom and cooking areas for residents are separate from individual units and shared by the entire community.

Total LIH:
Total Low-Income Housing Units

Type:

Tax Credit Property ("Tax Credit"):  The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (“LIHTC”) was created in 1986 under Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code to foster the development of affordable multifamily rental housing. The credit is generally referred to as Section 42 credit, low-income housing tax credits, or LIHTC. LIHTC provides equity from the sale of tax credits. The equity funds are used to pay for part of the property development costs. The equity comes into the property from investors as a contribution to the legal entity that owns the property.  The trade-off for receiving tax credits is that the owner must agree that the housing units receiving credit will be restricted to income qualified households for a specific period of time.

Tax-Exempt Bond-Financed Property ("Bond"):  A property in which a portion of the Eligible Basis of a Building is financed with certain tax-exempt bonds, as described in Section 42(h)(4)(A) and (B) of the Code.  Owner must agree that some of the housing units receiving tax-exempt bond financing will be restricted to income qualified households for a specific period of time.

* NOTE:  The definitions above are abbreviated.  See the Tax Credit or Bond Compliance Manual for a more complete explanation.

UPDATED JUNE 18, 2012