Hi MaryM - Thanks for your thoughts on what is included as "income" for the purpose of HDFC residency. I did a little research, and found an official NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development booklet from April, 2018, that provids a definition of "family" when calculating income limits.

On page 5-1, the definition of a family is, "A husband, wife, son, daughter, unborn child (pregnancy must be documented), stepson, stepdaughter, father, mother, stepfather, stepmother, brother, sister, nephew, niece, uncle, aunt, grandfather, grandmother, grandson, granddaughter, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or any other family member or person for whom the head of household can prove legal guardianship or a relationship based on dependency, blood, marriage or domestic partnership."

So the answer to the OP's original question is as MaryM stated. The OP might want to download the booklet because it contains a lot of information about HDFC rules and regulations.