§ 1221. Definitions. As used in this article:

1. "Corporation" shall mean the housing trust fund corporation established in section forty-five-a of this chapter.

2. "Eligible applicant" shall mean a unit of local government or not-for-profit corporation in existence for a period of one or more years prior to application, which is, or will be at the time of award, incorporated under the not-for-profit corporation law and has been engaged primarily in community development activities.

3. "Eligible area" shall mean an area: (i) that has experienced sustained physical deterioration, decay, neglect, or disinvestment; (ii) has a number of substandard buildings or vacant residential or commercial units; and (iii) in which more than fifty percent of the residents are persons of low income, or which is designated by a state or federal agency to be eligible for a community or economic development program.

4. "Main street program" or "program" shall mean a proposal by an eligible applicant for a specific work or series of works for the revitalization and improvement of an eligible area through the creation, preservation or improvement of residential housing units; local commercial facilities; public facilities or other aspects of the area environment. Not less than eighty percent of the total amount awarded pursuant to this article in any fiscal year shall be allocated to main street programs that include the creation, preservation or improvement of residential housing units as an objective.

5. "Persons of low income" shall mean those persons and families whose incomes do not exceed ninety percent of the area median income for the county in which a project is located as calculated by the United States department of housing and urban development.