2023 Rhode Island General Laws › Title 45 - Towns and Cities › Chapter 45-25 - City Housing Authorities › Section 45-25-3. - Definitions.

§ 45-25-3. Definitions.
The following terms, wherever used or referred to in chapters 25 — 27 of this title, have the following respective meanings, unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context:
(1)
“Authority” or “housing authority” means a public body and a body corporate and politic, organized in accordance with the provisions of chapters 25 and 26 of this title for the purposes, with the powers, and subject to the restrictions established in chapters 25 and 26 of this title.
(2)
“Bonds” means any bonds, interim certificates, notes, debentures, or other obligations of the authority issued pursuant to chapters 25 — 27 of this title.
(3)
“City” means a city, the boundaries of which are or are about to be coterminous with the territorial boundaries of an authority when created hereunder.
(4)
“City clerk and mayor” means, in the case of a city, the clerk and mayor, of the city, or the officers charged with the duties customarily imposed on the clerk and mayor.
(5)
“Commissioner” means one of the members of an authority appointed in accordance with the provisions of chapters 25 and 26 of this title.
(6)
“Community facilities” includes real and personal property, and buildings and equipment for recreational or social assemblies, for educational, health or welfare purposes, and necessary utilities, when designed primarily for the benefit and use of the housing authority and/or the occupants of the dwelling accommodations.
(7)
“Contract” means any agreement of an authority with or for the benefit of an obligee whether contained in a resolution, trust indenture, mortgage, lease, bond, or other instrument.
(8)
“Council” means, in the case of a city, the council or other body charged with governing the city.
(9)
“Federal government” includes the United States of America, the Federal Public Housing Administration or any agency, instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America.
(10)
“Government” includes the state and federal governments and any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of either of them.
(11)
“Housing project” includes all real and personal property, buildings and improvements, stores, offices, lands for farming and gardening, and community facilities acquired or constructed or to be acquired or constructed pursuant to a single plan or undertaking to: (i) demolish, clear, remove, alter, or repair unsanitary or unsafe housing, and/or (ii) provide safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations for persons of low income. The term “housing project” may also be applied to the planning of the buildings and improvements, the acquisition of property, the demolition of existing structures, the construction, reconstruction, alteration and repair of the improvements, and all other work in connection therewith.
(12)
“Mortgage” includes deeds of trust, mortgages, building and loan contracts or other instruments conveying real or personal property as security for bonds and conferring a right to foreclose and cause a sale thereof.
(13)
“Municipality” means any city, town or incorporated village, other than the city as defined in subsection (3) of this section, which is located within the territorial boundaries of an authority.
(14)
“Obligee of the authority” or “obligee” includes any bondholder, trustee or trustees for any bondholders, any lessor demising property to the authority used in connection with a housing project or any assignee or assignees of the lessor’s interest or any part thereof, and the United States of America, when it is a party to any contract with the authority.
(15)
“Real property” includes lands, lands under water, structures, and any and all easements, franchises, and incorporeal hereditaments and every estate and right therein, legal and equitable, including terms for years and liens by way of judgment, mortgage, or otherwise.
(16)
“State” means the state of Rhode Island.
(17)
“State public body” means any city, town, municipal corporation, commission, district, authority, or other subdivision or public body of the state.
(18)
“Trust indenture” includes instruments pledging the revenues of real or personal properties but not conveying those properties or conferring a right to foreclose and cause a sale thereof.
History of Section.
P.L. 1935, ch. 2255, § 3; G.L. 1938, ch. 344, § 3; P.L. 1939, ch. 726, § 1; G.L. 1956, § 45-25-3.