Hawaii Administrative Rules › Title 15 - DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM › Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation › Chapter 185 - SECTION 8 - HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER PROGRAM › Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 15-185-3 - Definitions

Current through June, 2024
As used in this chapter:
"Adjusted income" means 'annual income" minus any HUD
					 allowable expenses and deductions as defined in 24 C.F.R. 55.611, 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.B. 55.609, which is incorporated by
					 reference and attached as exhibit B.
"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. 55.603, which is incorporated by reference and attached as
					 exhibit C.
"Board" means the board of directors of the housing and
					 community development corporation of ' Hawaii.
"Certificate" means a document issued by the corporation to
					 a family selected for admission to the certificate program.
"C.F.R." means the United States Code of Federal
					 Regulations.
"Community wide" means inclusive of any location that is
					 under the jurisdiction of the corporation.
"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.
"Corporation" means the housing and community development
					 corporation of Hawaii, the successor to the Hawaii housing authority.
"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."
"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 unit with the family.
"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 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 tho program.
"Executive director" means the executive director of the
					 corporation 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, with
					 adjustments for smaller and larger families, except that income ceilings higher
					 or lower than thirty per cent of the median income for the area may be
					 established if 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 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:
(1) Two or more persons who live or intend to live together
					 as a unit 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. Family may include foster
					 children and hanai children;
(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 corporation in accordance with 24 C.F.R. Part 984
					 to promote self-sufficiency of assisted families, including the coordination of
					 supportive services.
"Gross rent" means the contract rent plus allowances for
					 utilities and other services.
"Hanai children" means a person or persons, under eighteen
					 years of age, for whom an applicant or participant provides food, nourishment
					 and support for a minimum period of at least a year or has been recognized in
					 the household for support by the Department of Human Services and who is
					 acknowledged as the applicant's or participant's child among friends, relatives
					 and the community.
"HAP" means the monthly housing assistance payment by the
					 corporation as defined in 24 C.F.R. 9982.4 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.
"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 of
					 determining rent.
"Involuntarily displaced" means an applicant who has
					 vacated or may have to vacate the 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
(4) 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 determined to be essential to the care and
					 well-being of the persons;
(2) Is not obligated for the support of the persons;
					 and
(3) Would not be living in the unit except to provide the
					 necessary support services.
"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.
"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
					 certificate and voucher programs.
"Resident" means a United States citizen or a permanent
					 United States resident who is able to demonstrate his or her intent to reside
					 in Hawaii. Intent to reside in Hawaii shall 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 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.
"Security deposit" means the deposit required by an owner
					 from a participant as defined in the Residential Landlord-Tenant Code, §
										521-44,
					 HRS.
"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 illegal criminal
					 activity that has one of its elements the use, attempted use, or threatened use
					 of physical force against the person or property of another.
"Voucher" means a document issued by the corporation to a
					 family selected for admission to the voucher program.
"Voucher holder'' means an applicant who has a valid
					 voucher but an approved lease.