§4232 Low-income Requirement and Income Targeting

Summary

Housing must meet two main rules to be called affordable. First, every housing unit must be reserved for low-income families when they first move in (for rentals) or when they buy the home (for homeownership). Second, each unit must stay affordable because of enforceable agreements the Secretary approves. That affordability must last either for the property's remaining useful life as the Secretary decides, or for whatever long period the Secretary finds practical and consistent with sound economics. If a lender forecloses or accepts a transfer instead of foreclosure, the affordability rules can end only if the action honors legal rights of a public agency, nonprofit, or other party to try to keep the housing affordable or take ownership, and the action was not done to avoid the affordability rules. Also, housing help provided under section 4228(a)(2)(B) is treated as affordable.