Not only is it a smart management practice to keep your household files up-to-date and complete, but it's also something that HUD expects you to do. And not just in time for an occupancy review or audit, but all of the time.

Sloppy files will certainly raise a red flag during a formal review, signaling that you may not know what is needed to be in compliance. On top of that, messy or incomplete files can create headaches for you and your staff in the day-to-da...

Suppose you or someone on your staff notices the young son of a resident riding his bike around your parking lot with no adult in sight. Should you scold him and send him home? Ignore him? Find his parent or guardian and lecture them?

Dealing with unsupervised children poses a real challenge. In the scenario above, suppose the little boy is seriously hurt and you are accused of negligence. Or he injures another resident and you are held liable. There are legal as ...

HUD's model lease clears the way for site owners and managers to access residents' units “for the purpose of making reasonable repairs and periodic inspections.” Doing so can help uncover unsafe or unsanitary conditions and unreported maintenance problems. Dealt with early, these conditions can help prevent more serious problems later, such as insect or rodent infestations, flooding, and major repairs.

Requesting photo identification from prospects before taking them to tour a vacant unit is a sound practice for safeguarding your staff, say security consultants. At the same time, fair housing experts caution that, unless you request photo identification from every prospect—not just those who look suspicious or dangerous—you could be guilty of discrimination.

As you work with families and individuals who apply to live at your site, you may give preference to certain categories of applicants. HUD says that it's okay to establish preferences, as long as you follow certain rules. HUD views the process of assigning preferences to applicants who meet certain criteria as a means of providing housing opportunities based on household circumstances. For example, you may give an admissions preference to “working households&r...

It's natural for your residents to have guests for short visits. Even guests who come and stay for an extended period of time are not uncommon. But if your residents think their guests are not really your concern, or if you think it's no big deal if a guest comes now and then, you need to think again.

If you ever need a rent comparability study (RCS)—for a Section 8 contract renewal, for example, or to help substantiate an annual rent increase request—you don't want to simply take what the appraiser gives you and hand it off to your contract administrator or local HUD office.

You should first review it carefully, even though it will be reviewed again at the regional and national levels. You'll want to examine it because your sign-off indicat...

With a majority of the original 20-year Section 8 contracts maturing, many site owners are facing the future with a different rental income situation than they've been accustomed to. For years, Section 8 owners received automatic annual rent increases. These increases, in many cases, put rents at levels that were not on par with market rents.

The ripple effects from an unsteady economy and uneven housing market continue to be felt in the assisted housing industry. Depending upon your geographic location and the type of housing your site includes, you're probably encountering vexing issues, such as ever-growing waiting lists for Section 8 units, market rents that have the potential to wreak havoc on your budget, and operating expenses that continue to climb. And still you must contend with HUD's expec...

When it comes to marketing your site, HUD has one key expectation: that you will do what you said you were going to do when you completed your Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan (AFHMP), Form HUD-935.2A. HUD calls the AFHMP “the owner's blueprint for marketing activity.”