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.)