HUD Issues Guide to Interviewing Applicants

HUD has issued a new tool for site and leasing management to use in training staff who conduct tenant interviews. A Guide to Interviewing for Owners of HUD-Subsidized Multifamily Projects offers useful tips for the interview process, such as using the C.A.V.E. methodology to remember the important purposes of an interview:

• Collection of information;

• Analysis of the information to determine verification requirements and to resolve discrepancies;

• Verification of information; and

• Education of applicants and tenants of what is required and how the program works.

The guide also offers techniques for conducting the interview, guidance on how to ask the right questions, the types of questions to use, requirements when interviewing persons with disabilities, initial application/recertification questions, guidelines for interviewing zero-income families, and more. The guide can be downloaded at the Multifamily Rental Housing Integrity Improvement Project (RHIIP) section of the HUD Web site: http://www.hud.gov.