Glossary of HUD Terms

AAF: See ANNUAL ADJUSTMENT FACTOR.

ACC: See ANNUAL CONTRIBUTION CONTRACT.

ACCESSORY USE: The use of a building, structure, or land that is subordinate to, customarily incidental to, and ordinarily found in association with, the principal use it serves.

ACRE : 43,560 square feet (about the size of a football field).

ACS: See AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY.

ACTIVE PARTNERS PERFORMANCE SYSTEM (APPS): Software program that allows HUD's business partners to submit their Previous Participation Certification (form 2530) request to HUD for processing via the Internet.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING: In general, housing for which the occupant(s) is/are paying no more than 30 percent of his or her income for gross housing costs, including utilities. Please note that some jurisdictions may define affordable housing based on other, locally determined criteria, and that this definition is intended solely as an approximate guideline or general rule of thumb.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROGRAM (AHP): A competitive program of the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLBanks) system that provides grants twice a year through financial institutions for investment in low- or moderate-income housing initiatives. The program is flexible, so that AHP funds can be used in combination with other programs and funding sources, thus promoting a project's feasibility.

AHP: See AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROGRAM.

AHS: See AMERICAN HOUSING SURVEY.

AI: See ANALYSIS OF IMPEDIMENTS.

AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY (ACS): A nationwide survey designed to provide communities with a fresh look at how they are changing. It is a critical element in the Census Bureau's reengineered 2010 census plan. The ACS collects information such as age, race, income, commute time to work, home value, veteran status, and other important data from U.S. households.

AMERICAN HOUSING SURVEY (AHS): Contains data on apartments, single-family homes, mobile homes, vacant homes, family composition, income, housing and neighborhood quality, housing costs, equipment, fuels, size of housing units, and recent movers. National data are collected every other year, from a fixed sample of about 50,000 homes, plus new construction each year. The survey started in 1973 and has relied on the same sample since 1985, allowing users to view statistical changes in homes and households over the years. In some metropolitan areas, additional samples (every four to six years) measure local conditions.

ANNUAL ADJUSTMENT FACTOR (AAF): Section 8 of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937 provides for annual rent adjustments for housing units assisted under this section. HUD develops the rent adjustment factors, called AAFs, on the basis of Consumer Price Index (CPI) data on changes in residential rent and utility costs. HUD publishes the AAFs annually in the Federal Register.

ANNUAL CONTRIBUTION CONTRACT (ACC): Annual contracts with Public Housing Authorities for payments toward rent, financing debt service, and financing for modernization.

ANNUAL INCOME: The HOME Program allows the use of three income definitions for the purpose of determining applicant eligibility:

• Annual income as defined in the Code of Federal Regulations (24 CFR 5.609);

• Annual income as reported under the Census Long Form for the most recent decennial census; or

• Adjusted gross income as defined for purposes of reporting under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1040 series for individual federal annual income tax purposes.

The definitions are collectively referred to as "annual income" and are also used in the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program.

APPS: See ACTIVE PARTNERS PERFORMANCE SYSTEM.

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