The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "Affordable housing" means:

(a) Homeownership housing intended for owner occupancy to low-income households whose monthly housing costs, including utilities other than telephone, do not exceed 30 percent of the household's monthly income;

(b) "Rental housing" for low-income households whose monthly housing costs, including utilities other than telephone, do not exceed 30 percent of the household's monthly income.

(2) "Applicant" means an owner of commercial property.

(3) "City" means any city or town, including a code city.

(4) "Conditional recipient" means an owner of commercial property granted a conditional certificate of program approval under this chapter, which includes any successor owner of the property.

(5) "Eligible investment project" means an investment project that is located in a city and receiving a conditional certificate of program approval.

(6) "Governing authority" means the local legislative authority of a city having jurisdiction over the property for which a deferral may be granted under this chapter.

(7) "Household" means a single person, family, or unrelated persons living together.

(8)(a) "Initiation of construction" means the date that a building permit is issued under the building code adopted under RCW 19.27.031 for construction of the qualified building, if the underlying ownership of the building vests exclusively with the person receiving the economic benefit of the deferral.

(b) "Initiation of construction" does not include soil testing, site clearing and grading, site preparation, or any other related activities that are initiated before the issuance of a building permit for the construction of the foundation of the building.

(c) If the investment project is a phased project, "initiation of construction" applies separately to each phase.

(9) "Investment project" means an investment in multifamily housing, including labor, services, and materials incorporated in the planning, installation, and construction of the project. "Investment project" includes investment in related facilities such as playgrounds and sidewalks as well as facilities used for business use for mixed-use development.

(10) "Low-income household" 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 the county, city, or metropolitan statistical area, where the project is located, as reported by the United States department of housing and urban development.

(11) "Multifamily housing" means a building or a group of buildings having four or more dwelling units not designed or used as transient accommodations and not including hotels and motels. Multifamily units may result from rehabilitation or conversion of vacant, underutilized, or substandard buildings to multifamily housing.

(12) "Owner" means the property owner of record.

(13) "Underutilized commercial property" means an entire property, or portion thereof, currently used or intended to be used by a business for retailing or office-related or administrative activities. If the property is used partly for a qualifying use and partly for other purposes, the applicable tax deferral must be determined by apportionment of the costs of construction under rules adopted by the department. For the purposes of this subsection, "qualifying use" means used or intended to be used by a business for retailing or office-related or administrative activities.