N.Y. Public Housing Law § 605: Definitions

* § 605. Definitions. For the purposes of this article, the following

terms shall have the following meanings:

1. "Homeless" means lacking a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime

residence; having a primary nighttime residence that is a public or

private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping

accommodation for human beings, including a car, park, abandoned

building, bus or train station, airport, campground, or other place not

meant for human habitation; living in a supervised publicly or privately

operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements

(including hotels and motels paid for by federal, state or local

government programs for low-income individuals or by charitable

organizations, congregate shelters, or transitional housing); exiting an

institution where an individual or family has resided and lacking a

regular fixed and adequate nighttime residence upon release or

discharge; individuals released or scheduled to be released from

incarceration and lacking a regular fixed and adequate nighttime

residence upon release or discharge; being a homeless family with

children or unaccompanied youth defined as homeless under 42 U.S.C. §

11302(a); having experienced a long-term period without living

independently in permanent housing or having experienced persistent

instability as measured by frequent moves and being reasonably expected

to continue in such status for an extended period of time because of

chronic disabilities, chronic physical health or mental health

conditions, substance addiction, histories of domestic violence or

childhood abuse, the presence of a child or youth with a disability,

multiple barriers to employment, or other dangerous or life-threatening

conditions, including conditions that relate to violence against an

individual or a family member.

2. "Imminent loss of housing" means having received a verified rent

demand or a petition for eviction; having received a court order

resulting from an eviction action that notifies the individual or family

that they must leave their housing; facing loss of housing due to a

court order to vacate the premises due to hazardous conditions, which

may include but not be limited to asbestos, lead exposure, mold, and

radon; having a primary nighttime residence that is a room in a hotel or

motel and lacking the resources necessary to stay; facing loss of the

primary nighttime residence, which may include living in the home of

another household, where the owner or renter of the housing will not

allow the individual or family to stay, provided further, that an

assertion from an individual or family member alleging such loss of

housing or homelessness shall be sufficient to establish eligibility; or

fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual

assault, stalking, human trafficking or other dangerous or

life-threatening conditions that relate to violence against the

individual or a family member, provided further that an assertion from

an individual or family member alleging such abuse and loss of housing

shall be sufficient to establish eligibility.

3. "Public housing agency" means any county, municipality, or other

governmental entity or public body that is authorized to administer any

public housing program (or an agency or instrumentality of such an

entity), and any other public or private non-profit entity that

administers any other public housing program or assistance.

4. "Section 8 local administrator" means a public housing agency that

administers the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program under section 8

of the United States housing act of 1937 within a community, county or

region, or statewide, on behalf of and under contract with the housing

trust fund corporation.

5. "Housing access voucher local administrator" means a public housing

agency, as defined in subdivision three of this section, or Section 8

local administrator designated to administer the housing access voucher

pilot program within a community, county or region, or statewide, on

behalf of and under contract with the housing trust fund corporation. In

the city of New York, the housing access voucher local administrator

shall be the New York city department of housing preservation and

development, or the New York city housing authority, or both.

6. "Family" means a group of persons residing together. Such group

includes, but is not limited to a family with or without children (a

child who is temporarily away from the home because of placement in

foster care is considered a member of the family) or any remaining

members of a tenant family. The commissioner shall have the discretion

to determine if any other group of persons qualifies as a family.

7. "Owner" means any private person or any entity, including a

cooperative, an agency of the federal government, or a public housing

agency, having the legal right to lease or sublease dwelling units.

8. "Dwelling unit" means a single-family dwelling, including attached

structures such as porches and stoops; or a single-family dwelling unit

in a structure that contains more than one separate residential dwelling

unit, and in which each such unit is used or occupied, or intended to be

used or occupied, in whole or in part, as the residence of one or more

persons.

9. "Income" shall mean the same as it is defined by 24 CFR § 5.609 and

any amendments thereto.

10. "Adjusted income" shall mean the same as it is defined by 24 CFR §

5.611 and any amendments thereto.

11. "Reasonable rent" means rent not more than the rent charged on

comparable units in the private unassisted market and rent charged for

comparable unassisted units in the premises.

12. "Fair market rent" means the fair market rent for each rental area

as promulgated annually by the United States department of housing and

urban development pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1437f.

13. "Voucher" means a document issued by the housing trust fund

corporation pursuant to this article to an individual or family selected

for admission to the housing access voucher pilot program, which

describes such pilot program and the procedures for approval of a unit

selected by the family and states the obligations of the individual or

family under the pilot program.

14. "Lease" means a written agreement between an owner and a tenant

for the leasing of a dwelling unit to the tenant. The lease establishes

the conditions for occupancy of the dwelling unit by an individual or

family with housing assistance payments under a contract between the

owner and the housing access voucher local administrator.

15. "Dependent" means any member of the family who is neither the head

of household, nor the head of the household's spouse, and who is:

(a) under the age of eighteen;

(b) a person with a disability; or

(c) a full-time student.

16. "Elderly" means a person sixty-two years of age or older.

17. "Child care expenses" means expenses relating to the care of

children under the age of thirteen.

18. "Severely rent burdened" means those individuals and families who

pay more than fifty percent of their income in rent as defined by the

United States census bureau.

19. "Disability" means:

(a) the inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by

reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which

can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be

expected to last for a continuous period of not less than twelve months;

or

(b) in the case of an individual who has attained the age of

fifty-five and is blind, the inability by reason of such blindness to

engage in substantial gainful activity requiring skills or abilities

comparable to those of any gainful activity in which they have

previously engaged with some regularity and over a substantial period of

time; or

(c) a physical, mental, or emotional impairment which:

(i) is expected to be of long-continued and indefinite duration;

(ii) substantially impedes their ability to live independently; and

(iii) is of such a nature that such ability could be improved by more

suitable housing conditions; or

(d) a developmental disability that is a severe, chronic disability of

an individual that:

(i) is attributable to a mental or physical impairment or combination

of mental and physical impairments;

(ii) is manifested before the individual attains age twenty-two;

(iii) is likely to continue indefinitely;

(iv) results in substantial functional limitations in three or more of

the following areas of major life activity:

(A) self-care;

(B) receptive and expressive language;

(C) learning;

(D) mobility;

(E) self-direction;

(F) capacity for independent living; or

(G) economic self-sufficiency; and

(v) reflects the individual's need for a combination and sequence of

special, interdisciplinary, or generic services, individualized

supports, or other forms of assistance that are of lifelong or extended

duration and are individually planned and coordinated.

* NB Expires May 1, 2030