As used in this chapter, the term:

(1) "Authority" means any public corporation created by this chapter.

(2) "Bonds" means any bonds, including refunding bonds, or any notes or other obligations authorized to be issued by an authority pursuant to this chapter.

(3) "Eligible household" means any household which does not have sufficient income to afford to pay the amounts at which private enterprise, without federally aided, state aided, or authority aided mortgages, is providing a substantial supply of decent, safe, and sanitary housing and which satisfies the income limitations set by each authority in administrative guidelines and procedures established pursuant to subsection (c) of Code Section 36-41-5.

(4) "Federally aided mortgage" means any mortgage insured or guaranteed by an agency of the United States government or any mortgage receiving special benefits, directly or indirectly, under any federal laws designated specifically to encourage the purchase of housing.

(5) "Governing body" means the elected or duly appointed officials constituting the governing body of a large municipality.

(6) "Household" shall have that meaning specified by the United States Bureau of the Census in its 1980 census.

(7) "Income" shall have that meaning specified by the United States Bureau of the Census in its 1980 census.

(8) "Lending institution" means any bank or trust company, savings and loan association, building and loan association, savings bank, insurance company, mortgage banker, mortgage broker, or other financial institution, any governmental agency, or any holding company for any of the foregoing. Such lending institution shall have a place of business in this state and shall be authorized to do business in this state.

(9) "Median household income" shall have that meaning used in the United States decennial census for the Metropolitan Statistical Area of the particular municipality activating the particular authority as adjusted from time to time by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

(10) "Mortgage" means a deed to secure debt, together with the promissory note, the repayment of which is secured by such deed to secure debt, which is held by either the authority or a lending institution, which deed to secure debt encumbers either a fee simple or leasehold estate located within the geographic boundaries of a large municipality activating the authority and improved by residential housing.

(11) "Municipality" means any municipal corporation of this state having a population of 350,000 or more according to the United States decennial census of 1980 or any future such census. (12) "Nonprofit housing corporation" means a nonprofit or charitable private corporation providing safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations to persons of low income in such manner as to be essentially similar in operation and function to any authority or housing authority essential under this chapter.

(13) "Qualified housing sponsor" means an entity, whether organized for profit or not, meeting criteria established by the authority, which has undertaken to provide housing which will be available for sale or rent to eligible persons and families upon such terms and in conformity with administrative guidelines established by the authority. With respect to residential housing to be occupied substantially by students, the term "qualified housing sponsor" shall mean a nonprofit educational institution which is not owned or controlled by the state or any political subdivision, agency, instrumentality, district, or municipality thereof, which provides a program of education beyond the high school level, and which:

(A) Admits as regular students only individuals having a certificate of graduation from a high school, or the recognized equivalent of such a certificate;

(B) Provides an educational program for which it awards a bachelor's degree or provides an educational program, admission into which is conditioned upon the prior attainment of a bachelor's degree or its equivalent, for which it awards a postgraduate degree, or provides not less than a two-year program which is acceptable for full credit toward such a degree; and

(C) Is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association or, if not so accredited, is an institution whose credits are accepted, on transfer, by the university system and its educational units for credit on the same basis as if transferred from an institution so accredited;

provided, however, that a nonprofit educational institution which is otherwise a qualified housing sponsor as defined in this paragraph shall be deemed to be a qualified housing sponsor notwithstanding such institution's maintenance of a special early admission policy for gifted high school students.

(14) "Real property" means all lands, franchises, and interests in land, including lands under water and riparian rights, space rights, and air rights, and any and all other things usually included within such term. The term "real property" shall include any and all interests in such property less than full title, such as easements, incorporeal hereditaments, and every estate or interest or right, legal or equitable, including terms for years.

(15) "Rehabilitation costs" means the total of all costs incurred by eligible households in the rehabilitation of residential housing which are approved by an authority as reasonable and necessary, which costs shall include, but shall not necessarily be limited to, the following: the cost of site preparation and development; fees for architectural, engineering, legal, accounting, and other services paid or payable in connection with the planning, reconstruction, and financing of residential housing; the cost of necessary surveys, plans, and permits; the cost of insurance, interest, financing, taxes, assessments, and other operating and carrying costs during rehabilitation; the cost of rehabilitation, reconstruction, fixturing, furnishing, and equipping residential housing; the cost of land improvements, including, but not limited to, landscaping and off-site improvements, whether or not any such cost has been paid in cash or in a form other than cash; and the cost of such other items as the authority shall determine to be reasonable and necessary for the rehabilitation of residential housing.

(16) "Residential housing" means any real property and improvement thereon, whether multifamily residential housing or single-family residential housing, within the geographic boundaries of a large municipality activating the authority, which is owned, in whole or in part, by an eligible household or which is providing or shall provide, in whole or in part, dwelling accommodations for eligible households; provided, however, that with respect to multifamily residential housing, such multifamily residential housing shall be deemed to be occupied by eligible households if at least 20 percent of the dwelling units of such multifamily residential housing are occupied by eligible households. The term "residential housing" shall include dormitories, apartment dwellings, or other housing facilities which shall be occupied primarily by students.

(17) "Security interest" means an interest in personal property installed or to be installed in residential housing, which interest secures, in whole or in part, the repayment of a promissory note, the holder of which interest and note is either an authority or a lending institution. The term "security interest" includes all documentation executed in connection with the creation of such interest and specifically includes both the aforesaid promissory note and a security agreement.

(18) "State" means the State of Georgia.

(19) "State aided mortgage" means a mortgage loan for housing for eligible households assisted under this chapter.

(20) "Student" means any individual who possesses a certificate of admission or enrollment at an institution for higher education that is a qualified housing sponsor.