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:
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.
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.
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.
Becoming a pet-friendly site can be a great way to increase your pool of prospective residents and keep them longer once you find them. Responsible pet owners generally are also responsible tenants, and they appreciate sites that welcome Fido and Fluffy. In fact, research by FIREPAW, the Foundation for Interdisciplinary Research and Education Promoting Animal Welfare, found that pet owners in pet-friendly housing stay an average of 46 months, compared to 18 months for residents residing in rentals prohibiting 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.”
