Hawaii Administrative Rules › Title 17 - DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES › Hawaii Public Housing Authority › Chapter 2031 - SECTION 8 - HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER AND PROJECT BASED VOUCHER PROGRAM › Subchapter 1 - General Provisions › Section 17-2031-3 - Definitions

Current through June, 2024
As used in this chapter:
"Adjusted income" means "annual income" of the members of
					 the family residing or intending to reside in the dwelling unit minus any HUD
					 allowable expenses and deductions as defined in
					 24 C.F.R. §
											5.611, as it existed on October 20, 2022,
					 which is incorporated by reference and attached as exhibit A.
"Annual income" means the gross amount of income
					 anticipated to be received by the family during the twelve months after
					 certification or recertification. Gross income is the amount of income prior to
					 any HUD allowable expenses or deductions and does not include income which has
					 been excluded by HUD, as defined in
					 24 C.F.R. §
											5.609, as it existed on October 20,
					 2022.
"Applicant" means an individual or family that submits an
					 application for admission to the program but is not yet a participant in the
					 program.
"Assets" or "net family assets" means net cash value after
					 deducting reasonable costs that would be incurred in disposing of real
					 property, savings, stocks, bonds, and other forms of capital investment as
					 defined in 24 C.F.R. §
											5.603, as it existed on October 20,
					 2022.
"Authority" means the Hawaii public housing
					 authority.
"Board" means the board of directors of the Hawaii public
					 housing authority.
"C.F.R." means the United States Code of Federal
					 Regulations.
"Child" means a person who is born alive and is less than
					 eighteen years of age.
"Community wide" means inclusive of any location that is
					 under the jurisdiction of the authority.
"Continuously assisted" means that the applicant is
					 currently receiving assistance under any program of the U.S. Housing Act of
					 1937, as amended, and there is no break in assistance to the family.
"Contract rent" means the total rent payable to the owner
					 of a dwelling unit through a housing assistance payments contract.
"Covered families" means families who receive welfare
					 assistance or other public assistance benefits ("welfare benefits") from a
					 State or other public agency ("welfare agency") under a program for which
					 federal, State, or local law requires that a member of the family must
					 participate in an economic self-sufficiency program as a condition for such
					 assistance.
"Criminal activity" means any conduct that is prohibited by
					 any criminal laws, whether federal, state or county, regardless of whether
					 there has been an arrest or conviction and without satisfying the standard of
					 proof for a criminal conviction.
"Disability" means having a physical or mental impairment
					 which substantially limits one or more major life activities, having a record
					 of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment,
					 including persons who have human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or AIDs. The term
					 does not include current illegal use or addition to a controlled substance or
					 alcohol or drug abuse that threatens the property or safety of others. Disabled
					 individual or family includes:
(1) A
				  single individual who or a family whose head or spouse is unable to engage in
				  any substantial, gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable
				  physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in indefinite
				  duration; or
(2) A single
				  individual who or a family whose head or spouse has a physical impairment which
				  is expected to be of long, continued and indefinite duration and which
				  substantially impedes the ability to live independently, and which is of a
				  nature that the ability could be improved by suitable housing conditions.
"Disabled family" means a family whose head, spouse, or
					 sole member is a person with disabilities; or two or more persons with
					 disabilities living together; or one or more persons with disabilities living
					 with one or more live-in aides.
"Domestic violence" means the actual or threatened physical
					 violence directed against a family member by a spouse or other household member
					 who lives in the dwelling unit with the family.
"Domiciled" means physically residing in the dwelling unit
					 with intent to remain.
"Drug" means a controlled substance as defined in section
					 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. §
												802) as it
					 existed on October 20, 2022.
"Drug related criminal activity" means the manufacture,
					 sale, distribution, use or possession with intent to manufacture, sell,
					 distribute or use a controlled substance as defined in
					 21 U.S.C.
					 802, as it existed on October 20, 2022, and
					 which activity is conducted on or near the premises of the assisted dwelling
					 unit.
"Dwelling unit" means a residential unit accepted for lease
					 in the program.
"Economic self-sufficiency program" means any program
					 designed to encourage, assist, train, or facilitate the economic independence
					 of HUD-assisted families or to provide work for such families.
"Elderly" or "elderly family" means a family whose head,
					 spouse, or sole member is a person who is at least sixty-two years of age; or
					 two or more persons who are at least sixty-two years of age living together; or
					 one or more persons who are at least sixty-two years of age living with one or
					 more live-in aides.
"Eligible family" means a family that meets the
					 qualifications and requirements of the program.
"Executive director" means the executive director of the
					 authority or the executive director's designated representative.
"Extremely low income family" means a family whose annual
					 income does not exceed thirty per cent of the median income for the area, as
					 determined by HUD, with adjustments for smaller and larger families, except
					 that HUD may establish income ceilings higher or lower than thirty per cent of
					 the median income for the area [may be established] if if HUD finds that such
					 variations are necessary because of unusually high or low family
					 incomes.
"Fair market rent" or "FMR" means the rent including the
					 cost of utilities (except telephone or cable television), as established by HUD
					 for dwelling units of varying sizes (by number of bedrooms), that must be paid
					 in the housing market area to rent privately owned, existing, decent, safe and
					 sanitary rental housing of modest (non-luxury) nature with suitable
					 amenities.
Family means regardless of actual or perceived sexual
					 orientation, gender identity, or marital status:
(1) Two or more persons who live or intend to
				  live together and whose income and resources are available to meet the family's
				  needs and who may be related by blood, marriage, or operation of law and whose
				  head of family has reached the age of majority. A child who is temporarily away
				  from the home because of placement in foster care is considered a member of the
				  family. Family may include foster children and hanai children or a child who is
				  domiciled with, and for whom an adult member of the current household is caring
				  for with written or unwritten permission from the legal parent or other person
				  having legal custody, or child domiciled with, and for whom an adult member of
				  the current household is in the process of securing custody;
(2) An elderly family;
(3) A disabled family;
(4) A displaced family;
(5) The remaining member of a tenant family
				  who is recorded as an authorized occupant on the current list of household
				  members and who has reached the age of majority; or
(6) A single person who is not an elderly or
				  displaced person, or a person with disabilities, or the remaining member of a
				  tenant family.
"Family self sufficiency program" or "FSS program" means
					 the program establish by the authority in accordance with 24 C.F.R. Part 984 to
					 promote self-sufficiency of assisted families, including the coordination of
					 supportive services.
"Foster child" or "Foster children" means a person or
					 persons under eighteen years of age who is or are provided foster care by a
					 foster parent pursuant to Chapter
					 587A, HRS.
"Foster parent" means any adult person licensed by the
					 department of human services or another authorized agency to provide foster
					 care services for a child or children under Chapter
					 587A, HRS.
"Gender identity or expression" includes a person's actual
					 or perceived gender, as well as a person's gender identity, gender-related
					 self-image, gender-related appearance, or gender-related expression, regardless
					 of whether that gender identity, gender-related self-image, gender-related
					 appearance, or gender-related expression is different from that traditionally
					 associated with the person's sex at birth.
"Gross rent" means the contract rent plus allowances for
					 utilities and other services.
"Hanai child" or "Hanai children" means a child who is
					 taken permanently to reside, be educated, and reared by someone other than the
					 natural parents, traditionally a grandparent or other relative, with the
					 written or unwritten permission of the natural parents.
"HAP" means the monthly housing assistance payment by the
					 authority as defined in 24
					 C.F.R. §
											982.4, as it existed on October
					 20, 2022, which includes:
(1) A
				  payment to the owner for rent under the family's lease and
(2) Any additional payment to the family if
				  the total assistance payment exceeds the rent to the owner.
"HAP contract" means housing assistance payments
					 contract.
"HCV" means Housing Choice Voucher
"Household" means the family and the authority-approved
					 live-in aide.
"HRS" means Hawaii Revised Statutes.
"Housing quality standards" means the HUD minimum quality
					 standards for housing assisted under the tenant-based programs.
"HUD" means the United States Department of Housing and
					 Urban Development.
"Imputed welfare income" means the amount of annual income
					 not actually received by a family, as a result of a specified welfare benefit
					 reduction, that is nonetheless included in the family's annual income for
					 purposes of determining rent.
"Involuntarily displaced" means an applicant who has
					 vacated or may have to vacate the dwelling unit where the applicant lives
					 because of one or more of the following:
(1) Displacement by disaster;
(2) Displacement by governmental action;
				  or
(3) Displacement by action of
				  housing owner for reasons beyond the applicant's control and despite the
				  applicant meeting all previously imposed conditions of occupancy. The action
				  taken by the owner is for reasons other than rent increase.
"Landlord" means either the owner of the property or his or
					 her representative or the managing agent or his or her representative, as shall
					 be designated by the owner.
"Live-in aide" means a person who resides with one or more
					 elderly persons, or near elderly persons, or persons with disabilities, and
					 who:
(1) Is eighteen years of age or
				  older;
(2) Is determined by the
				  authority to be essential to the care and well-being of the elder or elderly
				  family member or the family member with disabilities;
(3) Is not obligated for the support of the
				  elder or the elderly family member or family member with
				  disabilities;
(4) Would not be
				  living in the dwelling unit except to provide the necessary support
				  services;
(5) Is not a tenant;
				  and
(6) Notwithstanding any other
				  rule, has no rights of tenancy, continued occupancy of dwelling unit, and is
				  not a remaining member of the household and shall cease to be an occupant
				  therein upon the recovery of the dwelling unit by the authority, or removal
				  from the project of the elder or elderly family member or a family member with
				  disabilities who required the live-in aide.
"Near elderly" means a family whose head, spouse, or solo
					 member is at least fifty years of age but below the age of sixty two.
"Owner" means any persons or entity having the legal right
					 to lease or sublease a residential dwelling unit to a participant and includes,
					 when applicable, a mortgagee.
"Participant" or "tenant" means a person or family that is
					 receiving rental assistance in the program. Participation begins on the first
					 day of the approved lease term.
"Payment standard" means the maximum monthly assistance
					 payment for a family assisted in the voucher program before deducting the total
					 tenant payment by the family.
"PBRA" means Project-Based Rental Assistance. "PBV" means
					 Project-Based Voucher.
"Portability" means the right to receive Section 8
					 tenant-based assistance outside of the jurisdiction of the initial public
					 housing agency.
"Program" means the tenant-based Section 8 rental and
					 voucher programs.
"RAD" means Rental Assistance Demonstration.
"Resident" for the purpose of conducting eligibility means
					 a United States citizen or national or an eligible immigrant under one of the
					 categories set forth in 42
					 U.S.C. §
												1436a(a), as
					 it existed on October 20, 2022, also known as "noncitizen", who is able to
					 demonstrate his or her intent to reside in Hawaii. Under one of these
					 categories, one eligible immigrant is an alien who is a lawful resident in the
					 United States and its territories and possessions under section 141 of the
					 Compacts of the Free Association between the Government of the Republic of the
					 Marshall Islands, the Federal States of Micronesia (48 U.S.C. 1901 note),
					 and the Republic of Palau (48 U.S.C. 931 note) while the
					 applicable section is in effect, also known as "COFA" resident. Intent to
					 reside in Hawaii may be demonstrated by the following: length of time spent in
					 Hawaii; leasing or renting of a home in Hawaii; filing of personal Hawaii
					 income tax returns; registering to vote in Hawaii; Hawaii driver's license;
					 record of Hawaii motor vehicle registration; notification of hire to work in
					 Hawaii; record of employment in Hawaii; military records substantiating Hawaii
					 residency; record of Hawaii residency; enrollment of minor children in Hawaii
					 schools; establishment of bank accounts and other accounts in Hawaii; written
					 reference from Hawaii residents, relatives, or social agencies; and any other
					 indicia which could substantiate a claim of an intent to reside in
					 Hawaii.
"Security deposit" means the deposit required by an owner
					 from a participant as defined in the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, §
											521-44, HRS, as it existed on
					 October 20, 2022.
"Sexual orientation" means having a preference for
					 heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality, having a history of any one or
					 more of the preferences, or being identified with any one of more of these
					 preferences, "sexual orientation" shall not be construed to protect conduct
					 otherwise proscribed by law.
"Utility allowance" means the value of utilities such as
					 electricity, gas, and water costs that are included in the gross rent of the
					 participant. This does not include telephone or cable TV services.
"Veteran" means a person who has served in the active
					 military or naval service of the United States at any time and who shall have
					 been discharged or released from active service under conditions other than
					 dishonorable.
"Violent criminal activity" means any criminal activity
					 that has as one of its elements the use, attempted use, or threatened use of
					 physical force substantial enough to cause, or be reasonably likely to cause,
					 serious bodily injury or property damage.
"Voucher" means a document issued by the authority to a
					 family selected for admission to a voucher program.
"Voucher holder" means an applicant who has a valid voucher
					 but not an approved lease.