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§42-55-3  Definitions. –


Published: 2015

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TITLE 42

State Affairs and Government

CHAPTER 42-55

Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation

SECTION 42-55-3



   § 42-55-3  Definitions. –

The following words and terms, unless the context clearly indicates a different

meaning, shall have the following meanings:



   (1) "Bonds, notes, and other obligations" or "bonds, bond

anticipation notes, or other obligations" means any bonds, notes, debentures,

interim certificates, or other evidences of financial indebtedness issued by

the corporation pursuant to this chapter;



   (2) "Corporation" means the Rhode Island housing and mortgage

finance corporation created by this chapter;



   (3) "Earned surplus" shall have the same meaning as in

generally accepted accounting standards.



   (4) "Energy saving improvements" means improvements for the

purpose of promoting energy savings or efficiency in residential housing and

shall include, but not be limited to, the installation or upgrading of ceiling,

wall, floor, and duct insulation, storm windows and doors, caulking and weather

stripping, solar, passive or other alternative energy sources, hot water

heaters, heating or cooling systems, and any other improvements of a similar

nature as may from time to time be determined by the corporation;



   (5) "Federally insured mortgage" means a mortgage loan for

land development or residential housing or health care facilities insured or

guaranteed by the United States or a governmental agency or instrumentality of

the United States, or a commitment by the United States or a governmental

agency or instrumentality of the United States to insure that mortgage;



   (6) "Federal mortgage" means a mortgage loan for land

development or residential housing or health care facility made by the United

States or a governmental agency or instrumentality of the United States or for

which there is a commitment by the United States or a governmental agency or

instrumentality of the United States to make that mortgage loan;



   (7) "Governmental agency" or "instrumentality" means any

department, division, public corporation, public agency, political subdivision,

or other public instrumentality of the state, the federal government, any other

state or public agency, or any two (2) or more of these;



   (8) "Health care facilities" means real property (or a lease

of the fee of real property) located in the state and improved by buildings,

structures, or other improvements, including fixtures and equipment,

constituting a facility providing services by or under the supervision of a

physician or, in the case of a dental clinic or dental dispensary, of a

dentist, for the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of a human disease, pain,

injury, deformity, or physical condition or constituting a facility providing

to occupants nursing care to sick, invalid, infirm, disabled, or convalescent

persons in addition to lodging and board or health-related service or providing

nursing care and health-related service to persons who are not occupants of the

facilities, or unimproved if the proceeds of an eligible mortgage shall be used

for the purpose of erecting these buildings, structures, or other improvements;



   (9) "Housing development" or "housing project" means any work

or undertaking, whether new construction or rehabilitation, constituting a

single family or multi-family residence including without limitation mobile

homes and shelters, which are designed and financed pursuant to the provisions

of this chapter for the primary purpose of providing sanitary, decent, and safe

dwelling accommodations for persons and families of low or moderate income in

need of housing; this undertaking may include any buildings, land, equipment,

facilities, or other real or personal properties which are necessary,

convenient, or desirable in connection therewith, including, but not limited

to, streets, sewers, utilities, parks, site preparation, landscaping, and those

stores, offices, and other non-housing facilities such as administrative,

community, health, recreational, educational, commercial, and welfare

facilities that the corporation determines to be necessary, convenient, or

desirable;



   (10) "Housing development costs" means the sum total of all

costs incurred in the development of a housing development or housing project,

which are approved by the corporation as reasonable and necessary, which costs

shall include, but are not necessarily limited to:



   (i) Cost of land acquisition and any buildings thereon,

including payments for options, deposits, or contracts to purchase properties

on the proposed housing project or housing development site or payments for the

purchase of the properties;



   (ii) Cost of site preparation, demolition, and clearing;



   (iii) Architectural, engineering, legal, accounting,

corporation, and other fees paid or payable in connection with the planning,

execution, and financing of the housing development and for finding an eligible

mortgagee or mortgagees for the housing development;



   (iv) Cost of necessary studies, surveys, plans, and permits;



   (v) Insurance, interest, financing, tax and assessment costs,

and other operating and carrying costs during construction;



   (vi) Cost of construction, rehabilitation, reconstruction,

fixtures, furnishings, equipment, machinery, apparatus, and similar facilities

related to the real property;



   (vii) Cost of land improvements, including without

limitation, landscaping and off-site improvements, whether or not these costs

have been paid for in cash or in a form other than cash;



   (viii) Necessary expenses in connection with initial

occupancy of the housing development or housing project;



   (ix) A reasonable profit and risk fee in addition to job

overhead to the general contractor and, if applicable, a limited profit housing

sponsor;



   (x) An allowance established by the corporation for working

capital and contingency reserves, and reserves for any anticipated operating

deficits during construction and for the first two (2) years of occupancy; and



   (xi) The cost of any other items, including tenant

relocation, that the corporation shall determine to be reasonable and necessary

for the development of the housing development, less any and all net rents and

other net revenues received from the operation of the real and personal

property on the development site during construction;



   (11) "Housing sponsor," "health care sponsor" or "sponsor"

means individuals, joint ventures, partnerships, limited partnerships, trusts,

firms, associations, or other legal entities or any combination thereof,

corporations, cooperatives, and condominiums, approved by the corporation as

qualified either to own, construct, acquire, rehabilitate, operate, manage, or

maintain a housing development, housing project or residential housing or

health care facilities whether for profit, nonprofit, or organized for limited

profit subject to the regulatory powers of the corporation and other terms and

conditions set forth in this chapter;



   (12) "Land development" means the process of acquiring land

primarily for residential housing construction for persons and families of low

and moderate income, or for construction of health care facilities, and making,

installing, or constructing nonresidential housing or health care facility

improvements, including water, sewer, and other utilities, roads, streets,

curbs, gutters, sidewalks, storm drainage facilities, and other installations

or works, whether on or off the site, which the corporation deems necessary or

desirable to prepare the land primarily for residential housing or health care

facility construction within the state;



   (13) "Mortgage" means a mortgage deed, deed of trust,

security agreement or other instrument which shall constitute a lien on real

property in fee simple or on a leasehold under a lease having a remaining term,

at the time the mortgage is acquired, which does not expire for at least that

number of years beyond the maturity date of the obligation secured by the

mortgage as is equal to the number of years remaining until the maturity date

of the obligation and on related personal property constituting the housing

development, housing project, or residential housing;



   (14) "Mortgage lender" means any bank or trust company,

federal national mortgage association approved mortgage banker, savings bank,

savings and loan association, industrial bank, credit union, national banking

association, federal savings and loan association, or federal credit union, or

other financial institutions or governmental agencies which are eligible to

provide service or otherwise aid in the financing of mortgages on single family

residential housing or multifamily residential housing or health care

facilities located in the state;



   (15) "Mortgage loan" means an interest bearing obligation

secured by a mortgage on land and improvements in the state constituting a

housing development or housing project or health care facility or residential

housing;



   (16) "Multi-family residential housing" means residential

housing consisting of five (5) or more family units;



   (17) "Municipality" means any city, town, or other political

subdivision of the state;



   (18) "Persons and families of low and moderate income" means

persons and families irrespective of race, creed, national origin, or sex

deemed by the corporation to require any assistance made available by this

chapter on account of insufficient personal or family income, taking into

consideration, without limitation, such factors as:



   (i) The amount of the total income of those persons and

families available for housing needs;



   (ii) The size of the family;



   (iii) The cost and condition of housing facilities available;



   (iv) The eligibility of those persons and families for

federal housing assistance of any type predicated upon a low income basis or

upon the basis of the age of the persons;



   (v) The ability of those persons and families to compete

successfully in the normal housing market and to pay the amounts at which

private enterprise is providing decent, safe, and sanitary housing, and deemed

by the corporation to be eligible to occupy residential housing constructed and

financed, wholly or in part, with insured construction loans or insured

mortgages, or with other public or private assistance;



   (19) "Real property" means all lands including improvements

and fixtures thereon, and property of any nature appurtenant thereto, or used

in connection therewith, and every estate, interest, and right, legal or

equitable, therein, including terms of years and liens by way of judgment,

mortgage, or otherwise and the indebtedness secured by those liens;



   (20) "Residential housing" means:



   (i) A specific work or improvement within this state whether

in single family or multi-family units undertaken primarily to provide dwelling

accommodations for persons and families of low and moderate income and for the

elderly, including the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of land,

buildings, and improvements thereto, and other non-housing facilities

incidental or appurtenant thereto; and



   (ii) Existing housing owned and occupied by, and shelters

for, persons or families of low or moderate income or the elderly;



   (21) "Shelter" means an entity or organization located in the

state which provides on-site temporary residential shelter to homeless, abused,

battered, or neglected individuals and/or families, and which receives a

portion of its operating funds from the state;



   (22) "Single family residential housing" means residential

housing consisting of four (4) or fewer family units; and



   (23) "State" means the state of Rhode Island and Providence

Plantations.



History of Section.

(P.L. 1973, ch. 262, § 1; P.L. 1975, ch. 128, § 1; P.L. 1977, ch.

195, § 1; P.L. 1980, ch. 167, § 1; P.L. 1982, ch. 295, § 2; P.L.

1986, ch. 198, § 36; P.L. 1987, ch. 287, § 1; P.L. 1988, ch. 617,

§ 2.)