(a) In the operation or management of housing projects, an authority shall at all times observe the following duties with respect to rentals and tenant selection:

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 13-20-113

  • housing authority: means a public body and a body corporate and politic organized in accordance with this chapter for the purposes, with the powers, and subject to the restrictions, hereinafter set forth. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
  • Housing project: includes all real and personal property, buildings and improvements, stores, offices, lands for farming and gardening, and community facilities acquired or constructed or to be acquired or constructed pursuant to a single plan or undertaking, to:
    (i) Demolish, clear, remove, alter or repair unsanitary or unsafe housing. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Minor: means any person who has not attained eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • obligee: includes any bondholder, trustee or trustees for any bondholders, any lessor demising property to the authority used in connection with a housing project or any assignee or assignees of the lessor's interest or any part thereof, and the United States, when it is a party to any contract with the authority. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Persons of low income: means persons or families who lack the amount of income which is necessary, as determined by the authority undertaking the housing project, to enable them, without financial assistance, to live in decent, safe, and sanitary dwellings, without overcrowding. See Tennessee Code 13-20-102
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) It may rent or lease the dwelling accommodations therein only to persons of low income;
(2) It may rent or lease the dwelling accommodations therein only at rentals within the financial reach of such persons of low income;
(3) It may rent or lease to a tenant dwelling accommodations consisting of the number of rooms, but no greater number, which it deems necessary to provide safe and sanitary accommodations to the proposed occupants thereof, without overcrowding; and
(4) It shall not accept any person as a tenant in any housing project if the person or persons who would occupy the dwelling accommodations have an annual net income in excess of five (5) times the annual rental of the quarters to be furnished such person or persons, except that in the case of families with three (3) or more minor dependents, such ratio shall not exceed six (6) to one (1). In computing the rental for this purpose of selecting tenants, there shall be included in the rental the average annual cost, as determined by the authority, to the occupants, of heat, water, electricity, gas, cooking range and other necessary services or facilities, whether or not the charge for such services and facilities is in fact included in the rental.
(b) Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed as limiting the power of an authority to:

(1) Vest in an obligee the right, in the event of a default by the authority, to take possession of a housing project or cause the appointment of a receiver thereof, free from all the restrictions imposed by the law, with respect to rentals, tenant selection, manner of operation, or otherwise; or
(2) Pursuant to § 13-20-604, vest in obligees the right, in the event of a default by the authority, to acquire title to a housing project or the property mortgaged by the housing authority, free from all the restrictions imposed by this chapter, except those imposed by §§ 13-20-604 and 13-20-609.
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