Occasionally, you may need to perform an interim recertification for a household. This means that you must recalculate the household’s income and assistance before the household’s scheduled recertification date based on a change in the household’s situation. For example, when a household tells you that its income has increased you may need to initiate an interim recertification. But not every change warrants an interim recertification. HUD requires you to perform them only after you’re notified of five types of household changes [HUD Handbook 4350.3, par.
Do you have households at your site that were eligible for housing assistance when they moved in but aren’t anymore? These are households whose income has increased enough that they’re no longer eligible for assistance because they can now afford to pay the gross rent. The HUD Handbook dictates specific steps you must take in this situation. By taking these simple steps, you can avoid doing any further recertifications for over-income households.
If you’re having problems with criminal activity or other undesirable conduct at or near your assisted site, you may want to house a police or security officer in one of your site’s units. The presence of a police or security officer may help deter crime at your site and help create a more pleasant and secure environment for your residents as a result. HUD lets you rent units to police or security officers even if they don’t meet the site’s income limits.
When applicants approach the top of the waiting list, you must meet with them to certify their eligibility for housing assistance. HUD requires managers to cover a long list of topics during the initial certification meeting. But site staff may be poorly prepared or may not cover all the required information. Also, site staff may not inform applicants about their responsibilities in the right way. As a result, you won’t get all the information you need to properly and accurately certify applicants, and applicants may not understand their duties.
HUD recently updated the OMB expiration date on the forms in the Section 8 Renewal Guide. In addition, HUD has issued three new forms: Amend Rents Auto OCAF Part A, Amend Rents Auto OCAF Part B, and Rider to Original Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments Contract. The new/updated forms listed in this chart should be used for all renewals submitted after May 7, 2014.
Over 20,000 multifamily housing program participants are required to submit annual electronic financial statement data to HUD for assessing the financial condition of multifamily housing sites. On Feb. 14, 2014, the Real Estate Assessment Center updated its Financial Assessment Sub-System to allow profit-motivated and limited distribution owners receiving less than $500,000 in federal financial assistance to submit owner-certified financial statements instead of audited financial statements. This change was made in accordance with Housing Notice H2013-23.
Many management companies charge employees’ travel expenses to site operating accounts. Travel expenses to visit sites, meet with owners, and attend training are allowed because charges involve work-related travel by employees who perform such frontline tasks as certification, accounting, or maintenance [HUD Handbook 4381.5, fig. 6-2]. But problems can occur if companies don’t keep track of who’s doing the traveling and for what purpose, or whether the travel expenses are reasonable or necessary.
Once a household has moved out of an assisted site and the unit is ready for reoccupancy, owners and managers can ask HUD to pay part of the contract rent for the vacant unit until a new eligible household moves in. HUD recognizes that owners have a potential financial risk due to limitations on security deposits and the need to adhere to waiting list requirements. As such, HUD has a special claims process to reimburse owners for their financial loss.
As an assisted site owner or manager, you must collect security deposits from all households when they move in. The security deposit is a dollar amount that’s intended to protect you by covering damage to the premises beyond normal wear and tear, and by cushioning the financial blow if a resident skips out early on the lease without paying.
