“Affordable housing,” for purposes of this chapter, means residential housing that is rented by a person or household whose monthly housing costs, including utilities other than telephone, do not exceed 30 percent of the household’s monthly income. For the purposes of housing intended for owner occupancy, “affordable housing” means residential housing that is within the means of low or moderate-income households.

“Director” means the director of the city’s planning and community development department or authorized designee.

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

“Local housing standards” means the International Property Maintenance Code as adopted by the city of Bellingham.

“Low-income household,” for purposes of this chapter, means a single person, family, or unrelated persons living together whose adjusted income is at or below 80 percent of the median family income adjusted for family size, for Whatcom County, as reported by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“Moderate-income household,” for purposes of this chapter, means a single person, family, or unrelated persons living together whose adjusted income is more than 80 percent but is at or below 115 percent of the median family income adjusted for family size, for Whatcom County, as reported by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. See BMC 17.82.030(D)(9) for limitations regarding affordable housing requirements for rental projects.

“Multifamily housing” means buildings having four or more dwelling units designated 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 as filed with the Whatcom County assessor’s office.

“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.

“Rehabilitation improvements” means modifications to existing structures which are and have been 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.

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

“Urban center” means a center designated as such in the land use element of the city’s comprehensive plan. An urban center is an identifiable district containing business establishments, adequate public facilities, and a mixture of uses and activities, where residents may obtain a variety of products and services. Urban centers include core, district, neighborhood, and pocket urban centers as identified in the Bellingham comprehensive plan. [Ord. 2010-12-078; Ord. 1999-09-054].