Housing Type Definitions
At Risk of Homelessness
- Individuals or families who will imminently lose their primary nighttime residence provided that:
- Residence will be lost within 14 days of date of application for homeless assistance;
- No subsequent residence has been identified; and
- The individual or family lacks the resources or support networks; e.g. family, friends, faith-based or other social networks, to obtain other permanent housing
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Chronically Homeless
- A person who is “chronically homeless” is an unaccompanied homeless individual with a disabling condition, or a family with at least one adult member who has a disabling condition, who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more OR has had at least four (4) episodes of homelessness in the past three (3) years. An episode of homelessness is a separate, distinct, and sustained stay in a place not meant for human habitation, on the streets, in an emergency homeless shelter and/or in a HUD-defined Safe Haven. A chronically homeless person must be disabled during each episode. A disabling condition is defined as “a diagnosable substance use disorder, serious mental illness, developmental disability, or chronic physical illness or disability, including the co-occurrence of two or more of these conditions.” A disabling condition limits an individual’s ability to work or perform one or more activities of daily living.
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Domestic Violence Survivor – Domestic Violence (DV) / Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)
- “Domestic Violence” means the occurrence of any of the following acts by a person that is not an act of self-defense:
- Causing or attempting to cause physical or mental harm to an intimate partner;
- Placing an intimate partner in fear of physical harm;
- Causing or attempting to cause an intimate partner to engage in involuntary sexual activity by force, threat of force, or duress;
- Engaging in activity toward an intimate partner that would cause a reasonable person to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested.
- “Intimate Partner” includes any of the following:
- A spouse or former spouse;
- An individual with whom the person has or has had a dating relationship;
- An individual with whom the person is or has engaged in a sexual relationship;
- An individual with whom the person has a child in common.
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Disabled
- A person who has a disability, as defined in 42 U.S.C. 423 and is determined to have a physical, mental, or emotional impairment that is expected to
- be of long-continued and indefinite duration,
- substantially impede his or her ability to live independently, and
- be of such a nature that the ability to live independently could be improved by more suitable housing conditions, or
has a developmental disability as defined in 42 U.S.C. 6001. This definition includes persons who have the disease of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or any conditions arising from the etiologic agent for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. For purposes of qualifying for low-income housing, it does not include a person whose disability is based solely on any drug or alcohol dependence; and means “individual with handicaps,” for purposes of reasonable accommodation and program accessibility for persons with disabilities.
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Elderly
- Person age 55 or older.
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Homeless
- A person/prospective household must meet the following definition of homeless to qualify. The tenant must:
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- An individual or family with 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, or camping ground.
- Individual or family living in a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designated to provide temporary living arrangements
- Individual who resided in a shelter or place not meant for human habitation & exiting an institution where he/she temporarily resided
- The individual must have been homeless prior to entering the institution
- “temporarily resided” now means a period of 90 days or less
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Homeless Youth
- Unaccompanied youth under 25 years of age, or families with children and youth, who do not otherwise qualify as homeless under this definition, but who:
- Are defined as homeless under section 387 of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (42 U.S.C. 5732a), section 637 of the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. 9832), section 41403 of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14043e-2),section 330(h) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b(h)), section 3 of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012), section 17(b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1786(b)), or section 725 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a);
- Have not had a lease, ownership interest, or occupancy agreement in permanent housing at any time during the 60 days immediately preceding the date of application for homeless assistance;
- Have experienced persistent instability as measured by two moves or more during the 60-day period immediately preceding the date of applying for homeless assistance; and
- Can be 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 (including neglect), the presence of a child or youth with a disability, or two or more barriers to employment, which include the lack of a high school degree or General Education Development (GED), illiteracy, low English proficiency, a history of incarceration or detention for criminal activity, and a history of unstable employment;
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Income Based – Multifamily Housing Actions
Generally, total gross household income cannot exceed 50% of the Area Median Income level (as determined by HUD) based on family size for the appropriate county.
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Income Eligible – Permanent Supportive Housing Units
Generally, total gross household income cannot exceed 30% of the Area Median Income level (as determined by HUD) based on family size for the appropriate county.
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Multifamily Housing Actions
These are typically HUD Section 236, Section 202 or Section 8 projects that have terminated contracts, opt-out, or prepaid; were issued tenant protection vouchers (TPV) in the form of Housing Choice Project Based Vouchers. This allows the units to remain affordable for lower income families at or below 50% of Area Median Income (AMI) for the appropriate county.
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Special Needs Populations
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An adult person/prospective tenant with a physical (including profound deafness and legally blind), mental or emotional impairment that is of long-term duration, and, at the same time the prospective tenant must have a substantial and sustained need for supportive services in order to successfully live independently.
In order to meet the “special needs” definition, prospective tenants must be a recipient of SSI/SSDI or require assistance in at least two life-skill areas, such as:
- Ability to independently meet personal care needs;
- Economic self-sufficiency (capacity for sustained and successful functioning in vocational, learning or employment contexts);
- Use of language (ability to understand, be understood and handles communication as needed on a daily and ongoing basis);
- Instrumental living skills (managing money, getting around in the community, grocery shopping, complying with prescription requirement, meal planning and preparation, mobility, etc.);
- Self-direction (making decisions/choices about one’s day-to-day activities and regarding one’s future);
- Substance use treatment.
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Veteran
- As used by the Department of Veterans Affairs as codified at 38 U.S.C. 101(2): a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service, and who was discharged or released from there under conditions other than dishonorable.
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