Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 760 CMR - HOUSING AND LIVABLE COMMUNITIES, EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF › Title 760 CMR 5.00 - Eligibility And Selection Criteria › Section 5.03 - Definitions

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
Affirmative Action Goals
. The applicable
				percentages of an LHA's units of family housing and elderly/handicapped housing as
				calculated pursuant to
				760 CMR
				5.10(3).
AHVP
. Alternative Housing Voucher
				Program.
Appropriate Unit Size
. The size of a unit
				is appropriate for a household if the unit meets all the following criteria:
(a) Household members of the opposite sex, excepting husband and
				wife (or those in a similar living arrangement), do not have to share a bedroom,
				provided that children of the opposite sex younger than eight years old shall share
				a bedroom and provided that other household members of the opposite sex may elect to
				share a bedroom.
(b) Persons of the same sex shall share a bedroom, provided that a
				household member, 21 years of age or older, may elect not to share a bedroom with
				his or her child, grandchild, or legal ward and provided that a household member
				does not have to share a bedroom if a consequence of sharing is or would be a severe
				adverse impact on his or her mental or physical health and if the LHA receives
				reliable medical documentation as to such impact of sharing.
(c) Each bedroom shall contain at least 50 square feet of floor
				space for each occupant and a minimum of 70 square feet and shall meet all other
				applicable requirements of 105 CMR 410.00:
Minimum Standards of Fitness for
				Human Habitation (State Sanitary Code: Chapter II
) for a room occupied for
				sleeping purposes. No bedroom shall be shared by more persons than the number
				permissible under 760 CMR 5.03.
(d) Only bedrooms may be used for sleeping purposes by household
				members; the living room, kitchen, bathroom and hallways shall not be used for
				sleeping purposes by any household member.
Department
. The Department of Housing and
				Community Development.
Elderly Household
. A household, residing in
				or applying for elderly/handicapped housing, containing at least one elderly
				person.
Elderly Persons of Low Income
. Persons
				having reached 60 years of age or older who are income eligible for state-aided
				public housing. As used in
				760 CMR 5.00,
Elderly
				Person
shall mean an elderly person of low income.
Elderly/Handicapped Housing
. St. 1954, c.
				667 housing managed pursuant to the provisions of M.G.L. c. 121B, §§ 39
				and 40 for elderly persons of low income and handicapped persons of low
				income.
Family (Household)
. A family or household
				consists of:
(a) two or more persons who live or will live regularly in a unit as
				their primary residence:
1. whose income and resources are available to meet the household's
				needs; and
2. who are either related by blood, marriage, or operation of law,
				or who have otherwise evidenced a stable interdependent relationship.
(b)
One Person
.
A household member shall be considered to be living regularly with a
				family if temporarily absent for reasons such as hospitalization, duty assignment,
				employment, or school attendance in another location. Upon receipt of notice from
				the Department of Social Services that one or more children will be reunified with a
				household member, such child or children, if eligible and qualified, shall be
				considered household members for purposes of securing a unit of appropriate unit
				size for the reunified family.
A full-time, live-in personal care attendant, as defined in the
				regulation prescribing rent determination, whether or not a household member for
				purposes of rent determination, if determined by the LHA to be qualified, shall be
				deemed a household member for purposes of determining the appropriate unit size in
				public housing.
In the event one or more household members, who have not signed the
				lease, cease living regularly with a family the remaining household members shall
				constitute the family.
In the event that a household member, who has signed the lease,
				ceases to occupy the unit, one or more remaining household members may be given
				permission for continued occupancy of the unit, provided that:
1. the departing household member is not relocating to public or
				assisted housing elsewhere and is current in his or her financial obligations to the
				LHA and is not subject to eviction proceedings;
2. the remaining household members are eligible and qualified for
				public housing and (excepting newborns) have resided in the unit for at least one
				year; and
3. at least one adult household member (or emancipated minor)
				applies for and signs a new lease with the LHA. In the event of divorce or
				separation between spouses who are both household members, or entry of a protective
				order, a Massachusetts court with jurisdiction may determine which spouse and family
				members shall be entitled to continued occupancy.
In the event that a household member, who has signed the lease,
				applies for the addition of a person, who meets the criteria in 760 CMR 5.03:
Family (Household)
(a), as an additional household member,
				the LHA shall determine whether the person is qualified and whether the augmented
				family is eligible. If so, the LHA shall approve addition of the household member to
				the family if the unit is of appropriate unit size or, if the unit is too small,
				upon transfer of the family to a unit of appropriate unit size.
Family Housing
. St. 1948, c. 200 or St.
				1966, c. 705 housing managed pursuant to the provisions ofM.G.L. c. 121B, §
				34.
Handicapped Household
. A household,
				residing in or applying for elderly/handicapped housing, consisting of at least one
				handicapped person and no elderly person.
Handicapped Persons of Low Income
. The
				definition of
Handicapped Persons of Low Income
is set out
				in M.G.L. c. 121B, § 1. As used in
				760 CMR 5.00,
Handicapped Person
shall mean a handicapped person of low
				income.
Homeless Applicant
. An applicant
				who:
(a) is without a place to live or is in a living situation in which
				there is a significant, immediate and direct threat to the life or safety of the
				applicant or a household member which situation would be alleviated by placement in
				a unit of appropriate unit size;
(b) has made reasonable efforts to locate alternative
				housing;
(c) has not caused or substantially contributed to the
				safety-threatening or life-threatening situation;
(d) has pursued available ways to prevent or avoid the
				safety-threatening or life-threatening situation by seeking assistance through the
				courts or appropriate administrative or enforcement agencies; and
(e) has been or is about to be displaced from a Primary
				Residence.
Local Housing Authority (LHA)
. A public
				body politic and corporate created pursuant to M.G.L. c. 121B, § 3 or similar
				provisions of earlier general laws or of special laws.
Local Housing Authority shall include a regional nonprofit
				corporation or other entity under contract to the Department to administer the AHVP
				and the MRVP where made applicable pursuant to
				760 CMR 49.00:
Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program
.
Local Resident
. A person who has a
				principal residence or a place of employment in a city or town at the time of
				application to an LHA in that city or town and at the time of final determination of
				eligibility and qualification. Each person may select up to two cities or towns for
				the purpose of Local Residence, one for residency and one for employment. Temporary
				residence with relatives or friends in the city or town is not sufficient unless the
				person's last residence and domicile was in the city or town. In the case of an
				applicant determined by the LHA to be homeless, the applicant may select one
				community for local preference by residency, either the community from which he or
				she was displaced through no fault of his or her own, or the community in which he
				or she is temporarily housed. In the event that the applicant is employed in more
				than one city or town, the applicant may select one community for local preference
				on the basis of employment.
Minority
:
(a)
Asian
- with origins in any of the
				original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent;
(b)
Black or African American
- with
				origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa;
(c)
Hispanic/Latino
- of Mexican, Puerto
				Rican, Cuban, Central or South American origin;
(d)
American Indian or Alaska Native
-
				with origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America, and who
				maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment; or
(e)
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific
				Islander
- A person having origins in any of the original peoples of
				Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands;
MRVP
. Massachusetts Rental Voucher
				Program.
Primary Residence
. Principal home
				(domicile) occupied by all members of a household not less than nine months of the
				year.
Statewide Online Application System
. An
				internet application system developed by the Department required to be used by all
				LHAs to manage their applications and waiting lists for state-aided family and
				elderly/handicapped public housing.
Transfer for Administrative Reasons
.
				Transfer of a household from one unit to another within one LHA at the discretion of
				the executive director of an LHA at any time for a sound administrative reason such
				as: fire in or condemnation of an occupied unit; harassment or abuse of a tenant or
				household member; or change in the number of persons in the household so that the
				unit is no longer of appropriate unit size for the household. A transfer for
				administrative reasons may be made between units in elderly/handicapped housing and
				family housing in the event that transfer cannot be made to a unit of appropriate
				unit size in the same type of housing, provided that the household is eligible for
				the housing to which the transfer is made.
Transfer for Good Cause
. Transfer of a
				household from one unit to another within one LHA because the unit is no longer of
				appropriate unit size, or there is a compelling and documented medical impairment
				which could be substantially improved by transfer to another available unit. A
				transfer for good cause may be made between units in elderly/handicapped housing and
				family housing in the event that transfer cannot be made to a unit of appropriate
				unit size in the same type of housing. In the absence of mitigating circumstances
				deemed sufficient by the LHA, a transfer for good cause shall not be made, unless
				the applicant:
(a) has filed a transfer application complete with all supporting
				documentation;
(b) is current in rent, charges and fees owed to the LHA; and
(c) has not committed and household members have not committed any
				serious violations of the lease for at least two years, and the applicant is not
				subject to eviction proceedings or to the terms of an agreement for judgment in a
				prior eviction proceeding.
Transfer to the AHVP
. Transfer of a
				household from elderly/handicapped housing to the AHVP pursuant to the provisions of
				760 CMR 53.00:
Alternative
				Housing Voucher Program
.
Unit
. A rental housing unit in state-aided
				public housing. Where the context involves the MRVP or AHVP,
Unit
shall mean a rental housing unit for which the rent is
				subsidized under either program.
Veteran
. The definition of
Veteran
is set out in M.G.L. c. 121B, §
				1.