California Code of Regulations
Title 25 - Housing and Community Development
Division 1 - Housing and Community Development
Chapter 7 - Department of Housing and Community Development Programs
Subchapter 9 - Calhome Program Requirements
Article 1 - General
Section 7716 - Definitions

Universal Citation: 25 CA Code of Regs 7716

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024

In addition to the definitions found in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 50050) of Part 1 of Division 31 of the Health and Safety Code, the following definitions shall apply to this subchapter. References to code sections refer to the sections of these regulations unless otherwise noted.

(a) "Affordable" as it describes a specific financial obligation, means that obligation can be paid by the person or household, along with all of other financial responsibilities, without endangering the financial stability of the household.

(b) "After-rehabilitation value" means the appraised value of the property including completed rehabilitation work.

(c) "Applicant" is the locality or nonprofit corporation, which submits an application to the Department to operate a local program, develop a homeownership project, or provide self-help technical assistance to a homeownership project.

(d) "Assisted units" means units purchased or rehabilitated with a loan funded pursuant to this subchapter. Assisted units shall also include units occupied by a seeker successfully matched to a homeowner provider under a shared housing local program or a household provided with self-help technical assistance in a project funded pursuant to this subchapter.

(e) "Back-end ratio" means the ratio between monthly household income and monthly housing costs plus all payments on long-term installment debt.

(f) "Borrower" means a homebuyer(s) or existing homeowner(s) who has or will receive a CalHome Program loan made from a local program funded pursuant to this subchapter, signs the promissory note, and is or will be the homeowner of the property being financed.

(g) "Community revitalization" A program or project will be considered to contribute towards community revitalization if all units to be assisted with CalHome Program funds are, or will be, located within a federally defined Qualified Census Tract or a designated redevelopment area under the jurisdiction of a local redevelopment agency.

(h) "Construction skills training program" means an existing program that trains youth 16 to 24 years old in construction skills.

(i) "Department" means the Department of Housing and Community Development.

(j) "Developer" means a locality or nonprofit corporation that owns the project land, obtains the project financing and develops the homeownership project.

(k) "Developer borrower" means a developer who receives a Cal-Home loan pursuant to this subchapter for the development of a project involving multiple homeownership units.

(l) "Eligible household" means a low- or very low-income household that is: a first-time homebuyer; an existing owner-occupant of property in need of rehabilitation; a homeowner participant in a shared housing local program; or a first-time homebuyer participant in a self-help construction project. The eligible household shall occupy, or intend to occupy, the property as their principal residence and shall not lease or rent the property (except in the case of a homeowner provider assisted through a CalHome shared housing program in renting a room in their home to a seeker).

(m) "First-time homebuyer" means a borrower(s) who has not owned a home during the three-year period before the purchase of a home with CalHome assistance, except that the following individual or individuals may not be excluded from consideration as a first-time homebuyer under this definition:

(1) a displaced homemaker who, while a homemaker, owned a home with his or her spouse or resided in a home owned by the spouse. A displaced homemaker is an adult who has not, within the preceding two years, worked on a full-time basis as a member of the labor force for a consecutive twelve-month period and who has been unemployed or underemployed, experienced difficulty in obtaining or upgrading employment and worked primarily without remuneration to care for his or her home and family;

(2) a single parent who, while married, owned a home with his or her spouse or resided in a home owned by the spouse. A single parent is an individual who is unmarried or legally separated from a spouse and has one or more minor children for whom the individual has custody or joint custody or is pregnant; or

(3) an individual or individuals who owns or owned, as a principal residence during the three-year period before the purchase of a home with CalHome assistance, a dwelling unit whose structure is:
(A) not permanently affixed to a permanent foundation in accordance with local or state regulations; or

(B) not in compliance with state, local, or model building codes and cannot be brought into compliance with such codes for less than the cost of constructing a permanent structure.

(n) "Front-end ratio" means the ratio between monthly household income and monthly housing cost, including first mortgage principal, interest, taxes and insurance.

(o) "Grant" means an award of funds made from the Department to eligible localities or nonprofit corporations to operate local programs or to provide self-help technical assistance to a project pursuant to this subchapter. In the case of a development loan, the portion of that loan which is used to provide mortgage assistance to qualified first-time homebuyers is converted to a grant.

(p) "Gross income" means all income as defined in California Code of Regulations (CCR) Title 25, Section 6914.

(q) "Homebuyer education" means a specific course of instruction, designed pursuant to Section 7722, to educate first-time homebuyers regarding various aspects of purchasing and maintaining a home.

(r) "Homeowner provider" means a low-income person(s) currently residing in a home they own and occupy as a principal place of residence, who desires to find a tenant to share their residence.

(s) "Homeownership" means:

(1) for mortgage assistance: fee simple title on real property or a leasehold interest on real property that enables the lessee to make improvements on and encumber the property and has a term sufficient to secure the CalHome loan, ownership of a manufactured housing unit located on a rented space in a mobilehome park; or

(2) for owner-occupied rehabilitation: fee simple title; or a leasehold interest that enables the lessee to make improvements on and encumber the property and has a term sufficient to secure the CalHome loan; or ownership of a manufactured housing unit located on a rented space in a mobilehome park.

(3) a share interest in a limited equity housing cooperative; or

(4) an interest in a mutual housing project that meets the definition in Section 7716(gg).

(t) "Homeownership development project" means new construction on a site, including subdivisions, or scattered sites, that is under common ownership, development financing and construction.

(u) "Household" means one or more persons occupying the same housing unit.

(v) "Loan-to-value-ratio" means the ratio between the amount of all indebtedness liened, or to be liened, against a property and the appraised value of the property securing the liens.

(w) "Local public agency", or "locality" means a city, county, or city and county, or a local public entity within the state of California that has been delegated substantially all of the locality's housing functions (hereinafter collectively referred to as a "locality"). For the purpose of this definition, "housing functions" means engaging in or assisting in the development or operation of housing for persons of low or moderate income. Such delegation shall have been made prior to the issuance of the Notice of Funding Availability under which the local public entity is applying.

(x) "Local program" means a first-time homebuyer mortgage assistance loan program or an owner-occupant rehabilitation loan program to provide CalHome Program loans for the acquisition and/or rehabilitation of property; or a shared housing program operated by a locality or nonprofit corporation pursuant to the provisions of this subchapter.

(y) "Lower-or low-income household" means the same as defined in Section 50079.5 of the Health and Safety Code.

(z) "Manufactured housing" means a mobilehome as defined by Section 18007 of the Health and Safety Code. A manufactured home can be either in a rental mobile home park, on leased land, or on property owned by the occupant. It can either be on a permanent foundation or a foundation system. In these regulations, with respect to manufactured housing not installed on a permanent foundation, terms that typically apply to conventionally constructed housing or to loans secured by real property shall be given the appropriate analogous meaning used in the manufactured housing industry. For example, rather than holding fee title to the property, a manufactured home owner is listed as the registered owner on the certificate of title issued by the Department.

(aa) "Maximum Sales Price/Value Limit" is the maximum allowable sales price or the maximum after-rehab value of a home assisted with a CalHome Program loan. This shall be set at 100% of the current median sales price of a single family home in the county in which the CalHome Program or project is located.

(bb) "Monthly housing cost" means the average of the estimated costs for the next twelve months for a homebuyer or owner-occupant and shall include all of the following associated with that housing unit:

(1) principal and interest on a mortgage loan including any rehabilitation loans, and any mortgage insurance fees associated therewith;

(2) property taxes and assessments;

(3) fire and casualty insurance, including flood insurance when applicable, covering replacement value of property improvements;

(4) homeowner association fees or dues, if applicable;

(5) lease payments, if the housing unit is situated on leased land; and

(6) space rent, if a manufactured housing unit is situated in a mobilehome park.

(cc) "Mortgage" means a deed of trust which is used to secure a lien on real property or, in the case of manufactured housing, a security instrument sufficient to legally perfect a security interest in the home.

(dd) "Mortgage assistance" means permanent financing used toward homebuyer costs, up to a maximum limit as specified in the Department's NOFA. Another term for mortgage assistance is "downpayment assistance".

(ee) "Mortgage financing" means a long-term, permanent loan, provided by a mortgage lender, which is secured by a deed of trust, or, in the case of manufactured housing, a security instrument sufficient to perfect a security interest in the home.

(ff) "Mortgage lender" means a bank or trust company, mortgage banker, mortgage broker, federal or state chartered savings and loan association, State or Federal governmental agency or credit union whose principal business is to originate, process, close and service loans for the purchase or development (if appropriate) of property. "Mortgage lender" also includes nationwide institutions whose primary purpose is to develop housing and provide first mortgage financing to low-income purchasers of the developed housing.

(gg) "Mutual housing" means a multi-unit homeownership development that allows each resident a vested financial interest that has a determinable market value, is divisible and gives the owner an exclusive right to occupy a designated unit for an indefinite period.

(hh) "NOFA" is the acronym for Notice of Funding Availability. The NOFA is the document used by the department to announce that funds are available and applications may be submitted.

(ii) "Nonprofit corporation" means a corporation as defined in Section 50091 of the Health and Safety Code.

(jj) "Recipient" means a locality or nonprofit corporation that receives an award of funds from the CalHome Program.

(kk) "Refinance" means to pay off all or a portion of existing debt secured by the property from the proceeds of a CalHome Program loan or other financing also secured by the property.

(ll) "Rehabilitation" means, in addition to the definition in Health and Safety Code, Section 50096 and Section 50097, repairs and improvements to a manufactured home necessary to correct any condition causing the home to be substandard pursuant to CCR, Title 25, Section 1704.

Rehabilitation includes reconstruction. Rehabilitation also includes room additions to prevent overcrowding. Rehabilitation also means repairs and improvements which are necessary to meet any locally-adopted standards used in local rehabilitation programs. Rehabilitation does not include replacement of personal property.

(mm) "Reuse account" means an account established pursuant Section 7724.

(nn) "Rural area" means the same as defined in Health and Safety Code, Section 50101.

(oo) "Seeker" means a person who desires to be placed as a tenant in a home that is owner-occupied.

(pp) "Self-help construction" means owner-building as defined in Health and Safety Code, Section 50692 and may include mutual self-help housing as defined in Health and Safety Code, Section 50692(b).

(qq) "Self-help technical assistance" means conducting and administering a project of technical or supervisory assistance, which will aid eligible households in carrying out owner-builder housing efforts.

(rr) "Shared housing" means a local program designed to preserve homeownership by matching a homeowner provider with a seeker.

(ss) "Shared housing match" means a seeker who has been successfully placed as a tenant into the residence of a homeowner provider.

(tt) "Shared housing technical assistance" means the provision of services required to match a homeowner provider with a seeker.

(uu) "Site control" means control of a parcel of real property as described in Section 7744.

(vv) "Standard Agreement" means the contract entered into between the Department and a Recipient pursuant to Section 7752(a).

(ww) "Volunteer labor" means skilled or unskilled construction labor provided without remuneration.

1. New section filed 9-29-2003; operative 9-29-2003 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4 (Register 2003, No. 40).

Note: Authority cited: Sections 50406(n), 50650.2 and 50650.7, Health and Safety Code. Reference: Sections 50650.3, 50650.4, 50650.5 and 50650.7, Health and Safety Code.

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