7-15-4402. Definitions. As used in part 45 or this part, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following definitions apply:

(1) "Authority" or "housing authority" means a public body and a body corporate and politic organized in accordance with the provisions of this part for the purposes, with the powers, and subject to the restrictions set forth in part 45 or this part.

(2) "Bonds" means any bonds, interim certificates, notes, debentures, or other obligations of the authority issued pursuant to part 45 or this part.

(3) "City" means a city that is or is about to be included in the territorial boundaries of an authority.

(4) "City clerk" and "mayor" mean the clerk and mayor, respectively, 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 this part.

(6) "Community facilities" means real and personal property and buildings and equipment for recreational or social assemblies and for educational, health, or welfare purposes and necessary utilities, when designed primarily for the benefit and use of the housing authority 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 the legislative body, council, board of commissioners, board of trustees, or other body charged with governing a city.

(9) "Elderly families" means families of which the head of the family or that person's spouse is at least 60 years of age and who otherwise qualify as persons of low income.

(10) "Federal government" means the United States or any agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States.

(11) "Government" means the state and federal governments and any subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of either.

(12) (a) "Housing project" means 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:

(i) to demolish, clear, remove, alter, or repair unsanitary or unsafe housing; or

(ii) to provide safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations for persons of low income.

(b) The term "housing project" may also be applied to:

(i) the planning of the buildings and improvements;

(ii) the acquisition of property;

(iii) the demolition of existing structures;

(iv) the construction, reconstruction, alteration, and repair of the improvements; and

(v) all other work in connection with subsections (12)(b)(i) through (12)(b)(iv).

(13) "Mortgage" means 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 of the bonds.

(14) "Municipality" means a city, town, or incorporated village that is located within the territorial boundaries of an authority.

(15) "Obligee of the authority" or "obligee" means a bondholder, a trustee for any bondholder, a 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 of the interest, and the United States when it is a party to any contract with the authority.

(16) "Persons of low income" means persons or families who lack the amount of income that is necessary, as determined by the authority undertaking the housing project, to enable them, without financial assistance, to live in decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings without overcrowding.

(17) "Real property" means lands, lands under water, structures, and any and all easements, franchises, and incorporeal hereditaments and every estate and right in an estate, legal and equitable, including terms for years and liens by way of judgment, mortgage, or otherwise.

(18) "State" means the state of Montana.

(19) "Trust indenture" means instruments pledging the revenue of real or personal properties but not conveying the properties or conferring a right to foreclose and cause a sale of the properties.

History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 140, L. 1935; re-en. Sec. 5309.3, R.C.M. 1935; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 193, L. 1957; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 133, L. 1973; R.C.M. 1947, 35-103; amd. Sec. 20, Ch. 253, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 618, Ch. 61, L. 2007.