It can be difficult to keep track of compliance requirements on a site with tax credit and market-rate units, especially during a lease-up phase. A development map gives site management a clear visual aid for meeting compliance criteria.Mapping the development is generally a step that you take after putting together a development binder and creating a summary of the site's compliance criteria (see “Organize Your Site's Compliance Criteria into a Valuable Reference Tool” on p. 1). All it requires is a simple spreadsheet program.
Use of the Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system for public and multifamily housing providers receiving HUD rental assistance became mandatory on Jan. 31, 2010. Progress seemed bumpy earlier in the year, with lagging participation from some owners and agents, multiple system outages, functionality problems, and data anomalies, but HUD's EIV team has been working to troubleshoot and fix the issues.
From time to time, you may receive requests from households that want—or need—to move to a new unit. For instance, they may need a larger unit, or they may desire a unit on a higher floor, or they may need a ground-floor unit to accommodate a disability. The IRS has made it clear that you don't need a special reason to transfer a household to a different unit at your tax credit site.
Security deposits can become a source of conflict between owners and residents. A good rule of thumb with security deposits is to remember that, unlike any other money that you receive from a household, the security deposit remains the resident's money, says Daniel Bancroft, a Boston-area attorney who specializes in subsidized housing and property management.
Whether you're developing a new pet policy for your site or you have a strict no-pets rule, keep in mind that animals needed because of a disability are not pets.
No one wants to find out that his tax credit site has been cited for noncompliance, but if your state housing agency has issued the owner a Form 8823, your first reaction may be to panic. Don't.“It's not the end of the world,” says Barbara Crook, compliance director for Affordable Housing Support Services, an affordable housing compliance consulting firm in Littleton, Colo. “Most likely, these are errors that can be fixed. The state agency usually will give you between 30 and 60 days to correct it, depending on the type of noncompliance.”
Not meeting the minimum set-aside requirement is a common reason that tax credit sites get cited for noncompliance. It's a mistake that has severe consequences: If your building or site fails to meet the minimum set-aside requirement at the close of the first taxable year of the credit period, the noncompliance cannot be corrected, and the owner is prohibited from ever claiming credits for that project.
If you're fortunate, your site may never be damaged by a flood, tornado, or other natural disaster. But the odds are, at some point, you'll find yourself dealing with property loss caused by an everyday hazard, such as fire, burst pipes, wind, hail, or sprinkler leakage.
If you manage a tax credit site that has funds through the HOME Investments Partnership (HOME) Program, then you know that you must meet the compliance requirements for both programs. But what happens when the two programs' requirements differ? How do you know which rules to apply?We asked two leading tax credit compliance experts to review the top areas of conflict between tax credit and HOME requirements, and explain how to resolve them and stay in compliance.
Section 2002 of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008 requires the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to collect the following data for low-income housing tax credit tenants:RaceEthnicityFamily compositionAgeIncomeUse of Section 8 (or similar) rental assistanceDisability statusMonthly rental payment(For more information, see Staying on Top of HERA: A Review of Key Provisions Impacting Compliance, sidebar #5.)
