Tenn. Code Ann. § 13-20-102 (2026)

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

• (1) "Authority" or "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;

• (2) "Bonds" means any bonds, interim certificates, notes, debentures, or other obligations of the authority issued pursuant to this chapter;

• (3) "Business" means any lawful activity conducted primarily:
  • (A) For the purchase, sale, lease and rental of personal and real property, and for the manufacturing, processing, or marketing of products, commodities, or any other personal property;
  • (B) For the sale of services to the public; or
  • (C) By a nonprofit organization;

• (4) "City" means the city or town which is, or is about to be, included in the territorial boundaries of an authority when created hereunder;

• (5) "City clerk" and "mayor" means the clerk and mayor, respectively, of the city, or the officers thereof, charged with the duties customarily imposed on the clerk and mayor, respectively;

• (6) "Commissioner" means one (1) of the members of an authority appointed in accordance with this chapter;

• (7) "Community facilities" includes real and personal property, and buildings and equipment for recreation or social assemblies, for educational, health or welfare purposes and necessary utilities when designed primarily for the benefit and use of the housing authority and/or the occupants of the dwelling accommodations;

• (8) "Contract" means any agreement of an authority with or for the benefit of an obligee whether contained in a resolution, trust indenture, mortgage, lease, bond or other instrument;

• (9) "Council" means the legislative body, council, board of commissioners, board of trustees, or other body charged with governing the city;

• (10) "Dwelling unit" means a building or structure used as a place of residence;

• (11) "Farmers of low income" means persons or families who at the time of their admission to occupancy in a dwelling of the authority:
  • (A) Live under unsafe or unsanitary housing conditions;
  • (B) Derive their principal income from operating or working upon a farm; and
  • (C) Had an aggregate average annual net income for the three (3) years preceding their admission that was less than the amount determined by the authority to be necessary, within its area of operations, to enable them, without financial assistance, to obtain decent, safe, and sanitary housing, without overcrowding;

• (12) "Federal government" includes the United States, or any agency, instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States;

• (13) "Governing body" means the council of any city;

• (14) "Government" includes the state and federal governments and any subdivision, agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of either of them;

• (15)
  • (A) "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; and/or
    • (ii) Provide safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations for persons of low income;
  • (B) "Housing project" may also be applied to the planning of the buildings and improvements, the acquisition of property, the demolition of existing structures, the construction, reconstruction, alteration and repair of the improvements, and all other work in connection therewith. "Housing project" may also include such buildings and equipment for recreational or social assemblies for educational, health or welfare purposes, and such necessary utilities, as are designed primarily for the benefit and use of the housing authority and/or the occupants of such dwelling accommodations;

• (16) "Mixed-finance project" means a project that is financially assisted by private resources, which may include low-income housing tax credits, in addition to an amount provided under any state or federal program. "Mixed-finance project" includes a project that is developed by:
  • (A) An authority or by an entity affiliated with an authority;
  • (B) A partnership, a limited liability company, or other entity in which the authority, or an entity affiliated with an authority, is a general partner, managing member, or otherwise participates in the activities of the entity; or
  • (C) Any entity that grants to the authority the right of first refusal and first option to purchase, after the close of the compliance period, the qualified low-income building in which the public housing units exist in accordance with the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, § 42(i)(7) (26 U.S.C. § 42(i)(7));

• (17) "Mortgage" includes deeds of trust, mortgages, building and loan contracts or other instruments conveying real or personal property as security for bonds and conferring a right to foreclose and cause a sale thereof;

• (18) "Municipality" means any city, town, or village or other municipality in the state;

• (19) "Obligee of the authority" or "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;

• (20) "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;

• (21) "Real property" includes lands, lands under water, structures, and any and all easements, franchises and incorporeal hereditaments and every estate and right therein, legal and equitable, including terms for years and liens by way of judgment, mortgage or otherwise;

• (22) "Representative district" means any division or district of any city or municipality which is created for the purpose of electing a representative to the governing body of the city or municipality;

• (23) "State" means the state of Tennessee;

• (24) "Taxing agency" means any county, city, town or metropolitan government in the state; and

• (25) "Trust indenture" includes instruments pledging the revenues of real or personal properties but not conveying such properties or conferring a right to foreclose and cause a sale thereof.

Acts 1935 (Ex.Sess.), ch. 20, § 3; 1935 (Ex.Sess.), ch. 44, § 2; 1935 (Ex. Sess.), ch. 45, § 2; 1937, ch. 234, § 1; 1943, ch. 22, §§ 2-4; C. Supp. 1950, § 3647.2 (Williams, §§ 3647.3, 3647.31, 3647.38); Acts 1965, ch. 193, § 1; 1972, ch. 690, § 1; 1978, ch. 854, § 1; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 13-802; Acts 1999, ch. 243, § 2.