Over the past two years, balancing operating budgets has become more of a juggling act for site owners and managers at low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) sites. And the recent recession coupled with the loss of jobs among residents have not helped. As the cost of doing business increases, a majority of site owners and managers find themselves taking a slice out of one cost area to make up for the lack of funds in another or trying to come up with other ways to save money.
Two years ago, the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency notified some 90,000 families associated with its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program that their personal information might have been compromised when a laptop was stolen from an OHFA employee's home. The computer contained names, Social Security numbers, tax identification numbers, dates of birth, and home and business addresses of the clients who participate or have participated in the HCV program.
When new tax credit households move into your site, you can help them to start out on the right foot by ensuring that they have a clear understanding of their obligations for adhering to lease provisions and the house rules for your site. The orientation meeting sets the tone for the relationship that you will have with your residents.
The slow economic recovery and high unemployment rates have created a surge in full-time enrollment among vocational schools and community colleges across the United States, according to research from the American Association of Community Colleges and the National Center for Education Statistics.
Drug-related and criminal activity has long been associated with low-income housing in the public mind. While drug dealing also takes place in conventional housing sites, most drug dealers and gangs target low-income developments to push their drugs to an already fragile population, say crime prevention specialists Chuck Desrosiers and Moses Saygbe. They point out that there are several factors that make certain housing sites more attractive to criminals:
Every tax credit site has a host of criteria for leasing, compliance, and dealing with households. Without a formal plan that spells out how to apply the appropriate policies and procedures in a given situation, the staff often is left to their own devices. This can lead to uninformed and inconsistent decisions, and potential mistakes that can leave the site's owner exposed to lawsuits and loss of tax credits.
Residents of multiunit housing sites can find that loving thy neighbor isn't always that easy. Every site owner or manager has had to deal with residents’ complaints about their neighbors at some point. Loud music, unruly kids, noisy pets, cooking odors—no matter what the issue, friction between households can quickly escalate into disruptive behavior if it is not dealt with directly.
Tax credit owners are getting better at complying with the Fair Housing Act's accessibility guidelines in their newly constructed housing projects. However, many who receive federal funding still fail to ensure that they have the appropriate percentage of accessible units to meet the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS) required by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Many low-income housing projects have had to deal with community opposition to their site—also known as NIMBYism (“not in my backyard”). It has been a longtime battle for affordable housing proponents, but the current economic crisis may provide the needed leverage for tax credit sites to change lingering stereotypes about affordable housing. Why now? The length and severity of the recession has brought about a higher level of acceptance among local communities for low-income and affordable housing.
In warmer weather, many residents find it hard to resist the temptation to use their fire escapes for recreation, often filling them with grills, chairs, plants, and the like. But for most sites, dealing with clutter or debris that obscures common areas is an ongoing, rather than seasonal, problem. Residents' belongings frequently spill out into public hallways, stairwells, and breezeways, which can create a fire or safety hazard, downgrade the appearance of the property, and violate local health, safety, and building codes.
