As used in Section 50670:

(a) “Deferred-payment loan” means a loan for acquisition and rehabilitation of a rental housing development that (1) has a term of not more than 30 years, but that shall not in any event exceed the useful life of the rental housing development for which the loan is made, as determined by the department, whichever is less, and (2) is repaid in a single payment upon refinancing of the development at the end of the term of the loan. Those loans shall bear interest at the rate of 3 percent per annum on the unpaid principal balance, provided, however, that the department shall reduce or eliminate interest payments on a loan for any year or, alternatively, defer interest payments until the deferred-payment loan is repaid, if necessary to provide affordable rents to households of very low and low income. The ability to pay all or part of the 3-percent simple annual interest shall not be considered in determining the fiscal integrity of the rental housing development at the time of the rating and ranking of an application.

(b) “Rental housing development” means a residential structure or structures containing five or more rental dwelling units for the elderly or handicapped, provided that each unit is equipped with a kitchen and bathroom, or a structure or structures intended for use as a group home by five or more handicapped individuals or a residential hotel for any low or very low income household. “Residential hotel” shall have the same meaning as used in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 50519 but, for purposes of this subdivision, there shall be an additional requirement that a majority of the guestrooms in the hotel be residential hotel units. A “residential hotel unit” means a room used or intended to be used as a primary residential unit by a person or persons, that is subject to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1940) of Title 5 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code, but that does not have either a self-containing kitchen or bathroom, or both. A “residential hotel unit” also includes an efficiency unit as defined in Section 17958.1. “Rental housing development” also means a residential structure or structures in operation or previously operated as a motel and subject to subdivision (b) of Section 1940 of the Civil Code, which will contain five or more dwelling units for any low or very low income households. Eligible rehabilitation costs relative to motels may include costs associated with adding self-containing kitchens and bathrooms in each unit.

(c) “Sponsor” means any individual, joint venture, partnership, limited partnership, trust, corporation, cooperative, local public entity, duly constituted governing body of an Indian reservation or rancheria, or other legal entity, or any combination thereof, certified by the department as qualified to own, manage, and rehabilitate a rental housing development. A sponsor may be organized for profit or limited profit or be nonprofit.

(d) “Local public entity” includes, but is not limited to, a tribally designated housing entity as specified in Sections 50079 and 50104.6.5.

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 660, Sec. 10. (AB 1010) Effective January 1, 2020.)