* § 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