“Annual income” means gross annual income adjusted for household size and calculated based on verifiable income documentation provided by the housing applicant/tenant.

“Director” means the director of the city’s economic prosperity and housing department or authorized designee.

“Growth Management Act” means Chapter 36.70A RCW.

“Household” means a single person, family or unrelated persons living together.

“Income-based housing” means residential housing that is rented by a person or household whose monthly housing costs, including utilities other than telephone and any mandatory recurring fees required as a condition of tenancy for the unit, do not exceed 30 percent of the household’s monthly income. For the purposes of homeownership, the income limits are listed in VMC 3.22.040(D)(9), Options Under the Program.

“Market-rate exemption option” means an eight-year property tax exemption with no income or rent requirements.

“Median family income” means the median income calculated annually by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro metropolitan statistical area. Median family income is adjusted based on household size.

“Multifamily housing” means building(s) having four or more dwelling units designed for permanent residential occupancy resulting from new construction or rehabilitation or conversion of vacant, underutilized, or substandard buildings.

“Owner” means the property owner of record.

“Permanent residential occupancy” means multifamily housing that provides either rental or owner occupancy for a period of at least one month. This excludes hotels and motels that predominately offer rental accommodation on a daily or weekly basis.

“Primary residence” means a residence occupied for more than six months each calendar year.

“Rehabilitation improvements” means modifications to existing structures that are vacant for 12 months or longer, or modification to existing occupied structures which convert nonresidential space to residential space and/or increase the number of multifamily housing units.

“Residential target area” means an area within an urban center that has been designated by the city council as lacking sufficient, available, desirable, and convenient residential housing to meet the needs of the public.

“Urban center” means a compact, identifiable district containing several business establishments, adequate public facilities, and a mixture of uses and activities, where residents may obtain a variety of products and services. (Ord. M-4420 § 2, 2023; Ord. M-4416 § 4, 2023; Ord. M-4332 § 2, 2021; Ord. M-4186 § 1, 2016; Ord. M-3987 § 1, 2011; Ord. M-3314, 1997)