71-1575. Terms, defined.

For purposes of the Nebraska Housing Agency Act:

(1) Affiliate means any corporation, entity, partnership, venture, syndicate, or arrangement in which a local housing agency participates by holding an ownership interest or participating in its governance, including both controlled and noncontrolled affiliates;

(2) Affordable housing means dwelling units that may be rented or purchased, as the case may be, by persons of eligible income and qualifying tenants, with or without government assistance;

(3) Agreement means a contract or other legal relations with another party, whether public or private;

(4) Area of operation means the geographical area within which a local housing agency may own or operate housing developments as described in section 71-1588;

(5) City means an incorporated city or village;

(6) Commissioner means a person serving on the governing board of a local housing agency, including any person identified under prior law as a member of a housing authority;

(7) Community facilities means real and personal property suitable for recreational, educational, health, or welfare purposes, including, but not limited to, buildings, equipment, and parks and other spaces or structures;

(8) Controlled affiliate means any affiliate of a local housing agency (a) in which commissioners, officers, employees, and agents of such agency constitute a majority of the governing body of such entity or (b) in which such agency holds a majority of the ownership interests;

(9) Development or housing development means and includes all dwellings and associated appurtenances, including real and personal property, and all other facilities and improvements of every kind and description which a local housing agency may own or operate or in which it may hold an interest under the provisions of the act; all land upon which such dwellings, appurtenances, and facilities are situated; all work and activities undertaken by a local housing agency or others relating to the creation of such property and all tangible and intangible personal property relating thereto, including all leases, licenses, agreements, and other instruments; and all rights and obligations arising thereunder establishing or confirming ownership, title, or right of use or possession in or to any such property by a local housing agency;

(10) Establishing a housing agency means taking all actions required under sections 71-1576 to 71-1587 to be taken by the governing body of a city or county or, in the case of a regional housing agency, by the governing bodies of all political subdivisions participating therein, for a housing agency to conduct business and to exercise its powers. In the case of a housing agency or housing authority existing on January 1, 2000, established means that such agency has been authorized to conduct business and exercise its powers in accordance with prior law;

(11) Family means a single person or a number of persons that may, but need not, include children, that a local housing agency accepts for occupancy of a dwelling, or to which such agency offers or provides other assistance, as particularly defined in the eligibility and occupancy standards adopted by the agency;

(12) Guest means any person, not a resident of such development, who is present within a development, or any person, not a resident in such dwelling, who is present within a dwelling in a development, as an invitee of or otherwise with the acquiescence or consent of a resident of such development or dwelling, as the case may be;

(13) Hold an interest means ownership, control of, or participation in an arrangement with respect to a development by a local housing agency or any affiliate thereof;

(14) Household means a family as defined in subdivision (11) of this section;

(15) Housing agency or agency means and includes both a local housing agency established pursuant to sections 71-1576 to 71-1580 and a regional housing agency established pursuant to sections 71-1581 to 71-1587. Reference in any prior or other law to housing authority is deemed to refer to housing agency. Wherever the context requires or permits, housing agency or agency includes controlled affiliates of a housing agency;

(16) Local housing agency or agency means a public body, corporate and politic, previously established or to be established by a city or a county pursuant to the authority provided in the act, exercising necessary and essential governmental functions for the purposes stated in the act in matters of statewide concern, although its operations are local in nature. A local housing agency shall be a political subdivision of this state, independent from the city or county which established or establishes it or which may appoint some or all of its commissioners. Any reference in the act to a local housing agency includes a housing agency or a regional housing agency, unless the context clearly otherwise requires. The term local housing agency also includes any housing authority established under prior law;

(17) Mixed-finance development means a development that is financed both by funding derived from the private sector and funding provided by the government that is permitted to be used for the development of affordable housing;

(18) Mixed-income development means a housing development intended to be, and which in fact is, occupied both by persons of eligible income and by other persons, and if such other persons are living in a development constructed or acquired and substantially occupied after January 1, 2000, the incomes of such other persons at initial occupancy shall not exceed one hundred percent of the median income in the county in which the development is located;

(19) Noncontrolled affiliate means an affiliate in which a local housing agency participates that is not a controlled affiliate;

(20) Person includes a family;

(21) Persons of eligible income means:

(a) With respect to state or federally funded activities or developments, individuals or families who meet the applicable income requirements of the state or federal program involved, if any such state or federal income requirements are applicable, and, if none are so applicable, then individuals or families who meet the requirements of subdivision (b) of this subdivision; and

(b) With respect to activities and developments other than those to which subdivision (a) of this subdivision is applicable, individuals or families who, in the determination of the local housing agency, lack sufficient income or assets, taking into account all resources available to such individuals or families from whatever source derived or reasonably derivable, to enable them, without undue hardship or governmental financial assistance, to purchase or rent, as the case may be, decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings of adequate size, except that the income of such families shall not exceed eighty percent of the area median income for families of like size;

(22) Public agency means and includes any: (a) County, city, village, or township; school, drainage, tax, improvement, or other district; local housing agency; department, division, or political subdivision of this state or another state; housing agency, housing finance agency, or housing trust of this state or another state; and other agency, bureau, office, authority, or instrumentality of this state or another state; (b) board, agency, commission, division, or other instrumentality of a city or county; and (c) board, commission, agency, department, or other instrumentality of the United States, or any political subdivision or governmental unit thereof;

(23) Qualifying tenants means persons described in subdivision (21)(b) of this section and individuals and families whose income does not exceed one hundred twenty-five percent of the maximum income standard applicable under subdivision (21)(b) of this section;

(24) Regional housing agency means a public body, corporate and politic, and a governmental subdivision of this state, formed by two or more cities, two or more counties, or a combination of cities and counties, pursuant to the authority provided in sections 71-1581 to 71-1587, exercising necessary and essential governmental functions for the purposes stated in the act in matters of statewide concern, although its operations are local or regional in nature. It is a political subdivision of this state, independent from political subdivisions of this state which established it or which may appoint some or all of its commissioners;

(25) Representative means a commissioner, officer, employee, or agent of a local housing agency; and

(26) Resident means a person residing in a development of a housing agency pursuant to an agreement with such agency.

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