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Publication Date: August 18th, 2026
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The Gap: Hudson's Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, and Common Council are appointed residents and part-time officials, not licensed professionals. One resignation can drop a board's expertise sharply, and no rule requires an incoming chair to know what a PILOT is.
The Glossary: This page defines every term a Hudson resident encounters in an agenda, a PILOT schedule, or a public hearing: federal programs (HUD, RAD, LIHTC), New York State programs (HCR, HTFC, SEQRA), private market finance (NOI, DSCR, waterfall), and the full chain of approvals at Hudson City Hall, in order.
The Standard: A Fact Sheet carries verified definitions only, no argument and no opinion. It is the one Hudson Common Sense format with no point of view.
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| Part 1 | Federal Programs And Terms |
|---|---|
| Part 2 | New York State Programs And Agencies |
| Part 3 | Private Market Terms |
| Part 4 | Approvals Inside The City Of Hudson |
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How to read this page. A Fact Sheet carries verified definitions and figures only. No argument, no opinion. It is 1 of the 5 formats Hudson Common Sense publishes, and the only one with no point of view. 4 parts: federal programs, New York State programs, the private market’s vocabulary, and the approvals every project must clear at Hudson City Hall. Sources sit at the foot of the page.
Why this page exists. In Hudson, the people who decide what gets built are not professionals in this field. The Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals are appointed residents, not professional planners. The Common Council is made up of part-time elected officials. The Historic Preservation Commission is required by the City Code to include 1 architect; the rest serve on interest and commitment. And the voters who judge all of them get no training at all.
Hudson is often lucky in this. Experienced residents step forward: the Historic Preservation Commission is chaired by Phil Forman, the Planning Board by Ron Bogle. But luck is not a system. One appointment or 1 resignation can drop a board’s expertise sharply, and no rule requires an incoming chair to arrive knowing what a PILOT is.
Meanwhile housing finance is as acronym-dense as aviation or medicine, and pilots and physicians are licensed professionals.
This page exists to close that gap: every term a Hudson resident meets in an agenda, a PILOT schedule, or a public hearing, defined in 1 sentence.
| # | Term | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | HUD | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the federal agency that sets the rules for public housing and rental vouchers. |
| 2 | PHA | Public Housing Authority, the local body that owns public housing units and holds the federal contract. Hudson’s PHA is the Hudson Housing Authority (HHA), 41 North Second Street. |
| 3 | ACC | Annual Contributions Contract, the standing agreement under which HUD funds a housing authority’s units. |
| 4 | Capital Fund and Operating Fund | The 2 federal formula grants that pay for repairs and day-to-day operations of public housing. |
| 5 | RAD | Rental Assistance Demonstration, the HUD program that converts public housing units to Section 8 contracts so a property can carry private debt and tax-credit equity. |
| 6 | Section 18 | The HUD authority to demolish or dispose of public housing units, which triggers replacement vouchers rather than converting the existing subsidy. |
| 7 | RAD/Section 18 Blend | A hybrid used in large redevelopments that combines converted RAD rents with higher Section 18 voucher rents in 1 contract. |
| 8 | TPV | Tenant Protection Voucher, the replacement voucher issued when units leave the public housing stock. Under HUD Notice PIH 2026-12, issued May 6th, 2026, the eligibility lookback for vacant units narrowed from 24 months to 12 for plans submitted on or after that date. |
| 9 | PBV | Project-Based Voucher, a Section 8 subsidy attached to the unit rather than the tenant. |
| 10 | PBRA | Project-Based Rental Assistance, the other Section 8 contract form available in a RAD conversion. |
| 11 | HAP contract | Housing Assistance Payment contract, the document obliging HUD to pay the rent subsidy for a set term. |
| 12 | CHAP | Commitment to enter into a Housing Assistance Payments contract, HUD’s early reservation letter in a RAD conversion. |
| 13 | HCV | Housing Choice Voucher, the portable Section 8 subsidy a tenant can use at any qualifying address. |
| 14 | FMR | Fair Market Rent, HUD’s published rent ceiling by county and bedroom count, which governs how much subsidy a unit can draw. |
| 15 | Faircloth limit | The statutory cap on the number of public housing units a housing authority may operate, fixed at its October 1st, 1999 count. It is why demolished public housing is replaced with vouchers rather than new public housing. |
| 16 | LIHTC | Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, the federal credit sold to corporate investors in exchange for the equity that funds construction. |
| 17 | 9% credit | The competitive LIHTC allocation, awarded through state funding rounds, covering roughly 70% of eligible costs. |
| 18 | 4% credit | The non-competitive LIHTC that accompanies tax-exempt bond financing, covering roughly 30% of eligible costs. |
| 19 | QCT and DDA | Qualified Census Tract and Difficult Development Area, HUD designations that permit a 30% increase to a project’s eligible basis. |
| 20 | Eligible basis and qualified basis | The construction cost the credit is calculated on, and the share of it attributable to affordable units. |
| 21 | Compliance period | The 15 years during which an investor’s credits can be recaptured for a rules violation. |
| 22 | Extended use agreement | The recorded restriction, 30 years or longer in New York, that keeps rents capped after the credit period ends. |
| 23 | Year 15 exit | The point at which the tax-credit investor leaves and the sponsor typically acquires the property. |
| 24 | NEPA / Part 58 | The federal environmental review required for HUD-assisted projects, separate from the state review. |
| 25 | URA | Uniform Relocation Act, the federal law governing relocation payments and rights for displaced residents. |
| 26 | Davis-Bacon | The federal prevailing-wage requirement attached to HUD-assisted construction. |
| 27 | Section 3 | The HUD requirement to direct hiring and contracting toward low-income residents. |
| 28 | AMI | Area Median Income, the county-level income figure that sets every affordable rent and eligibility band. For Hudson, the Columbia County AMI applies. |
| # | Term | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | HCR | New York State Homes and Community Renewal, the umbrella agency for state housing finance and credit allocation. |
| 2 | DHCR | Division of Housing and Community Renewal, the HCR agency administering programs and housing regulation. |
| 3 | HTFC | Housing Trust Fund Corporation, the HCR entity that holds and disburses most state capital subsidy. |
| 4 | HFA | Housing Finance Agency, the state bond issuer whose tax-exempt bonds carry the 4% credit. |
| 5 | SONYMA | State of New York Mortgage Agency, HCR’s mortgage insurance and homeownership finance arm. |
| 6 | AHC | Affordable Housing Corporation, HCR’s homeownership grant program. |
| 7 | SLIHC | State Low-Income Housing Credit, New York’s own credit, reaching households up to 90% of AMI against the federal program’s 60%. |
| 8 | HTF | Housing Trust Fund, the state’s core capital subsidy for low-income rental construction. |
| 9 | HOME | HOME Investment Partnerships, a federal block grant administered through the state. |
| 10 | CDBG | Community Development Block Grant, the federal community development grant administered by the state outside large cities. |
| 11 | CIF | Community Investment Fund, HCR gap funding for non-residential and mixed-use components of affordable projects. |
| 12 | MIHP | Middle Income Housing Program, gap financing for units serving households between 60% and 130% of AMI, available only alongside 9% credits. |
| 13 | ESSHI | Empire State Supportive Housing Initiative, the state’s services and operating award for supportive housing units. |
| 14 | SHOP | Supportive Housing Opportunity Program, the matching capital program, available only where an ESSHI or equivalent services award exists. |
| 15 | HHAP | Homeless Housing and Assistance Program, state capital funding for housing serving homeless households. |
| 16 | NYSERDA | New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, which funds efficiency and electrification measures in new construction. |
| 17 | Unified Funding and Open Window | HCR’s competitive 9% credit round and its rolling 4% bond application, the 2 routes into state financing. |
| 18 | QAP | Qualified Allocation Plan, the published scoring rules that decide which projects receive credits. |
| 19 | Pro-Housing Community | The HCR certification, created by Executive Order 30 in July 2023, that a municipality must hold to access several discretionary state funds. |
| 20 | DRI | Downtown Revitalization Initiative, a state grant program. Hudson received a DRI award in 2017. |
| 21 | SEQRA | State Environmental Quality Review Act, the state environmental review triggered by every discretionary approval. |
| 22 | SHPO | State Historic Preservation Office, which reviews impacts to historic and archaeological resources. |
| 23 | NYSDEC | New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which approves sewer extensions and stormwater permits. |
| 24 | SPDES | State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, the stormwater permitting system covering construction sites. |
| 25 | SWPPP | Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan, the engineering document required under a SPDES permit. |
| 26 | BCP | Brownfield Cleanup Program, the DEC remediation track, which carries its own tax credits. |
| 27 | RPTL 420-c | The Real Property Tax Law exemption for tax-credit properties owned by a qualifying entity. |
| 28 | PHFL 577 | The Private Housing Finance Law exemption available to redevelopment company projects. |
| 29 | Shelter rent PILOT | A payment in lieu of taxes calculated as a share of rent money left after running costs, which can be far below the standard tax bill. |
These are the terms a private builder and its lender use; they appear here so the 2 systems can be compared.
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