AHP: Affordable Housing Program. Administered by each of the 12 regional Federal Home Loan Banks on a competitive basis, the AHP provides below-market-rate loans for purchase, construction, and/or rehabilitation of rental or owner-occupied housing for lower income households. A developer cannot apply directly for AHP funds; the developer must work with a lending institution that is a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank System

AMERICORPS:   Federal program that provides funds to pay "volunteers" for community-based work.

CAA or CAC:   Community Action Agency or Community Action Committee or Community Action Council. A nonprofit comprehensive social service agency often serving a large area (several counties) and created as an anti-poverty organization under requirements of the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), which became the Community Services Administration (CSA), and is now part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). CAAs are also known as CAP (for Community Action Program) agencies, and operate an array of assistance programs, such as weatherization and emergency housing, shelters for the homeless, and employment training.

CDBG:  Community Development Block Grant. Created in 1974 to replace eight former categorical grant and loan programs with a system of unified block grants, the CDBG program funds a variety of community development projects benefitting low- and moderate-income people, from parks and economic development to housing. All central cities of metropolitan areas, all other cities of over 50,000 population, and urban counties are "entitled" to an annual CDBG grant. Communities under 50,000 are eligible to compete within their respective states for non-entitlement CDBG funds.

CETA: Comprehensive Employment and Training Act.

CHDO: Community Housing Development Organization. A community-based nonprofit organization certified by a participating jurisdiction (in rural areas, usually the state) as meeting requirements specified in the HOME regulations. CHDOs are eligible for some set-aside funding under the HOME program.

CONTINUUM OF CARE :   Provision of housing opportunities from emergency shelter, to transitional housing with services, to permanent housing.

CSBG:  Community Services Block Grant. Federal program administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, providing grants to states and federally recognized Indian tribes, most of which is passed through to local CAAs for a variety of social services and anti-poverty activities.

FAHE: Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises. Nonprofit technical assistance provider and lender working to provide affordable housing for low-income residents of central Appalachia, primarily through a network of more than 20 local member organizations.

FAMILY SELF-SUFFICIENCY :  A HUD program providing a financial incentive to tenants of public housing or recipients of Section 8 assistance to participate in supportive services that will aid upward mobility.

FANNIE MAE :  Formerly known as the Federal National Mortgage Association or FNMA, a government sponsored entity (i.e., a government-created, shareholder-owned, for- profit corporation) that purchases housing loans from private lenders in the "secondary market." ("Fannie Mae" was originally a nickname, but has now been adopted as the corporation's formal name.)

FmHA:  Farmers Home Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Rural housing programs formerly run by FmHA are now administered on the national level by the Rural Housing Service (RHS) and in state and local office by Rural Development staff.

GED: General Equivalency Degree that upon successful completion of a test substitutes for a high school diploma.

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY : International organization working through local affiliates, which use volunteer labor and donations to build or rehabilitate affordable homes. Habitat makes no-interest loans to purchasers.

HAC:  Housing Assistance Council. Founded in 1971, HAC is a nonprofit corporation that supports the development of rural low-income housing nationwide. HAC provides technical housing services, seed money loans from a revolving fund, housing program and policy assistance, research and information services, and training.

HHS:  Federal Department of Health and Human Services.

HOME:  HOME Investment Partnerships Program (the letters HOME are not an acronym). Created by the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 and administered by HUD. Provides relatively flexible funding for activities connected with low-income housing. Funds are distributed through participating jurisdictions — in rural areas, primarily states — and CHDOs.

HUD: Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

JTPA:  Jobs Training Partnership Act, administered by the federal Department of Labor to provide job training and related assistance to economically disadvantaged individuals and those facing significant employment barriers.

LIHTC:  Low Income Housing Tax Credit. The LIHTC is a reduction in the dollar amount of federal taxes owed by an individual or corporation, in exchange for their investment in low-income rental housing. The investor provides funds for the development of the housing, and in return obtains a dollar-for-dollar reduction in tax liability. The amount of credits available each year is limited, and credits are allocated by state agencies.

OCS:  Office of Community Service within HHS.

RHS:  Rural Housing Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Successor to FmHA at the national level.

RURAL LISC :  Offshoot of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, created in 1995 to help improve rural housing and community development by providing grants, loans, training, and technical assistance to a selected group of rural community development corporations.

SECTION 8 : HUD program providing payments to owners of rental housing generally equal to the difference between fair market rent (as determined by HUD) and 30 percent of family income. Includes new construction, substantial rehabilitation, certificates and vouchers.

SECTION 202 :  HUD program that provides funds for nonprofits and cooperatives to construct or substantially rehabilitate multifamily housing for low-income elderly households.

SECTION 501(c)(3 ): Section of the Internal Revenue Code designating a nonprofit corporation with tax-exempt status.

SECTION 502 : RHS program that provides mortgage loans to low-, very low-, and sometimes moderate-income households, usually to purchase homes. Section 502 direct loans are made by RHS; guaranteed loans are made by private lenders, with RHS guaranteeing repayment.

SECTION 504 :  RHS program that provides loans and grants to very low-income homeowners for home repair, primarily to remove health and safety hazards.

SECTION 515 : RHS program that provides low-interest loans to developers of multifamily rental or cooperative housing.

SECTION 523 :  RHS program that provides administrative funding to nonprofit organizations sponsoring self-help housing development. Also provides loans for the development of self-help housing sites.

SECTION 533 :  Also known as the Housing Preservation Grant (HPG) program. RHS program providing grants to organizations for rehabilitation of ownership or rental housing for low- and very low-income households.

SELF-HELP HOUSING :  Generally, a model of housing production in which purchasers reduce the cost of their homes by contributing "sweat equity" — their own labor in the construction of their own homes. In rural areas, much self-help housing is produced with technical assistance funded by the RHS Section 523 program, and many self-help purchasers receive mortgages from the RHS Section 502 program. RHS uses the "mutual self-help" method, in which participants build homes in groups of six to twelve, working on each others' homes until all are completed.

TITLE VI, LIHPHRA :  The Low Income Housing Preservation and Resident Homeownership Act, passed as Title VI of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 to supplement earlier legislation in dealing with the problem of prepayments of federally subsidized mortgages taking units out of the low-income housing stock. Imposes restrictions on prepayment by owners of properties subsidized by HUD or RHS, and provides financial incentives to those who retain their units for low-income residents.

TRANSITIONAL HOUSING : Generally, subsidized housing that incorporates social services to help residents make the transition to permanent housing.

UDAG: Urban Development Action Grant, a discontinued HUD program.

VISTA:  Volunteers in Service to America, a federal volunteer service that places people of all ages in community-based organizations.

WELFARE REFORM (federal) : The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, P.L. 104-193, replaces the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program with a block grant program called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). Every state receives a TANF allocation and has a great deal of discretion on how to use it. The Act requires states to impose work requirements on TANF recipients and made numerous other changes, including restricting federal aid to legal immigrants.

WoRC:  A work readiness component of "Families Achieving Independence in Montana," that state's welfare reform program.