bonds and notes. To be eligible, developments
must set aside a portion of the units for limited-
income households.

Section 8 Housing Assistance: RHP administers
Section 8 contracts for 74 developments represent-
ing over 6,770 units of rental housing assisted
through Section 8 New Construction Programs.
Tenants living in these units pay 30 percent of
their monthly income in rent, with the difference
between the tenant's share and the fair-market
rent being subsidized by the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development. These develop-
ments were previously financed through Rental
Housing Programs.

Federal Subsidy Programs. The Community De-
velopment Administration administers federal
funds that subsidize rental housing under the Sec-
tion 8 Existing Program and the Moderate Reha-
bilitation Program. These funds are provided to
the State through the U.S. Department of Hous-
ing and Urban Development under the Federal
Housing Act of 1937 (42 USC 1437, as amended).

Under the Section 8 Existing Program, partici-
pating landlords make rental housing, which
meets occupancy standards, available to low-in-
come families. To qualify, total family income
must be 50 percent or less of the median income
for the area in which the housing is located. As an
administering local agency, the Community De-
velopment Administration accepts and reviews ap-
plications from prospective tenants for participa-
tion in the program. Families that qualify are
issued Certificates of Family Participation.

Owners who agree to rent to these families sign
a contract with the Community Development Ad-
ministration or the administering local agency
that guarantees payments to the owner as long as
the housing and lease adhere to federal standards.
Through the Community Development Adminis-
tration, the U.S. Department of Housing and Ur-
ban Development subsidizes that part of the rent
that exceeds 30 percent of the family's total in-
come. Individual applicants must find their own
housing. In this way, families may select neigh-
borhoods that best suit their needs.

Other than the elderly, disabled, or handi-
capped, the only single persons automatically eli-
gible for the Section 8 Existing Program are those
displaced from their previous housing by govern-
mental actions, or those who are the remaining
member of a tenant family.

The Regional Planning Council administers the
Section 8 Existing Program in Anne Arundel,
Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties,
and in Annapolis and Baltimore City.

The Moderate Rehabilitation Program is
designed to help improve existing multi-family
rental units that need repair or renovation. It is
part of the Section 8 Existing Program. Under the
Moderate Rehabilitation Program, the private
landlord rehabilitates the unit, often with Com-
munity Development Administration financing,
and then the Administration, on behalf of the te-
nants, commits rent subsidies to the unit for a pe-
riod of fifteen years. These rent subsidies are fund-
ed by the federal government.

The Rental Rehabilitation Program is directed
at rental housing in need of repair. The program
encourages owners of such housing to renovate
the structures. In addition, it provides owners
with funds to aid in the rehabilitation of rental
housing. This is accomplished by providing the
owner with half the cost of rehabilitating each
unit, or $5,000, whichever is less. The program al-
so provides federal housing subsidies to families
unable to pay market rate rents on renovated
housing or helps them find alternate housing.

ELDERLY RENTAL HOUSING
PROGRAM

Created by the legislature in 1984, the Elderly
Rental Housing Program provides below-market-
rate or deferred payment loans to developers who
agree to construct or rehabilitate rental housing
for occupancy by low-income elderly households.
Priority is given to developments that serve the
lowest income households.

DIVISION OF HOUSING INSURANCE

MARYLAND HOUSING FUND

Roger W. Windsor, Director

45 Calvert St.
Annapolis 21401 Telephone: 974-2875

The Maryland Housing Fund was established in
1971 (Chapter 669, Acts of 1971). Its primary
objectives are to assist. State citizens of all income
levels to become houseowners through a program
of mortgage insurance for the construction of
multiple units and single-family housing, and to
stimulate the flow of private investment capital in-
to the State for this purpose.