(a) As used in these rules and regulations:

1. (1) Area shall mean any section of a municipality wherein the commissioner, an authority or a municipality finds that insanitary or substandard conditions exist, and may include buildings and improvements not in themselves insanitary or substandard.
2. (2) Authority shall mean a municipal housing authority constituting a public benefit corporation organized pursuant to law to accomplish any or all of the purposes specified in article 18 of the Constitution of the State of New York.
3. (3) Contract for State aid shall mean a contract entered into by and among one or more local agencies and the State embracing an undertaking of a local agency to effectuate the purposes of article 18 of the State Constitution and involving the advance of funds by the State in the form of a loan, a subsidy, or a loan and subsidy.
4. (4) Commissioner shall mean the State Commissioner of Housing and Community Renewal.
5. (5) Constitution shall mean the Constitution of the State of New York.
6. (6) Date of physical completion shall mean the date, as certified by the local agency and concurred in by the commissioner, when every phase of the development of the project has been fully and satisfactorily completed so that the total development cost of the project may be determined. The commissioner within his discretion may, however, determine that a project has been physically completed at any time.
7. (7) Date of substantial completion shall mean the first day of the month following that in which 95 per cent of the total dwelling units in the project proper become available for occupancy. The commissioner, within his discretion may, however, advance or defer the date of substantial completion, or in the case of a multiple-development project or a single-development project being built in sections, set a date of substantial completion for each part or section. The date of substantial completion is the cut-off point for the charging of direct costs, carrying charges, and initial operating period expenses to development costs; it also determines when the recording of vacancies for the project proper shall commence and, in connection with the bond issue date, when the provision for amortization and the accrual of subsidies shall commence, etc.
8. (8) Development costs shall mean the capital costs, less the related credits, of such undertakings as are necessary to carry out the terms of a contract for State aid to effectuate the purposes of article 18 of the State Constitution in accordance with the provisions of the applicable statutes, the contract for State aid, and the regulations of the division. Development costs is a generic term embracing the related programs as well as the project proper, and shall include direct costs during the development period, planning costs, financing costs, carrying charges during the development period, architectural and engineering costs, the costs of land acquisition, site development, demolition, and construction, the cost of relocating tenants, the costs of repairing, remodeling, rehabilitating, reconstructing or relocating existing buildings, tenant selection costs, preliminary expenses, and expenses during the initial operating period, but not beyond the date of physical completion.
9. (9) Development period shall mean the period beginning with the date of the contract for State aid and ending with the date of substantial completion. The bulk of the development work in connection with the project proper will have been completed during the development period, but such development work and work in connection with related programs may continue beyond the development period, the costs continuing to be capitalized as development costs.
10. (10) Division shall mean the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal.
11. (11) Local agency shall mean a local municipal housing authority or a municipality.

12. (12) Municipal corporation and municipality shall mean a city, town or village.

    1. (i) Initial operating period shall mean the period beginning with the first day of the month in which income is first derived from rentals from the project proper and ending with the date of substantial completion. The initial operating period is a part of the development period and the net income or expense for the period is capitalized.
    2. (ii) Operating period shall mean the period beginning with the date of substantial completion. The date of substantial completion shall be considered as the first day of the operating period.

    (13)

13. (14) Plan shall mean a plan or undertaking for the clearance, replanning and reconstruction of a substandard and insanitary area or areas for recreational or other facilities incidental or appurtenant thereto.

14. (15) Preliminary expenses shall mean those expenses, exclusive of tenant selection costs, attributable to the initial operation of the project proper, and incurred prior to the beginning of the initial operating period. Preliminary expenses are capitalized as development costs.

    1. (i) Project shall mean a specific work or improvement to effectuate all or any part of a plan, as embraced in a specific contract for State aid. Ordinarily, each project will be the subject of a single contract and will be identified by a project number assigned by the Division of Housing and Community Renewal.
    2. (ii) Project proper shall mean that portion of a local agency's project which is intended to provide homes for persons of low income, as by acquiring one or more sites, clearing the site(s), constructing dwelling units thereon, operating or managing the buildings, and providing the appurtenances incidental thereto.
    3. (iii) Multiple-development project shall mean a project in which the project proper involves the development of two or more sites.
    4. (iv) Single-development project shall mean a project in which the project proper involves the development of only one site.

    (16)

15. (17) Related programs shall mean those portions of a local agency's project to effectuate the purposes of article 18 of the State constitution, other than the provision of homes for persons of low income. Such programs may include the clearance of areas other than the site (offsite clearance), the replanning, reconstruction, or rehabilitation of substandard and insanitary areas, the provision of incidental and appurtenant facilities, etc.
16. (18) Site shall mean an area of the municipality specifically designated for the development of a project.
17. (19) A senior citizen shall mean any male or female person 62 years of age or older.
18. (20) State shall mean the State of New York.