Mold at your site can cause you big problems. The problems can range from remediation costs to loss of rent, and, perhaps most critically, long-term health effects. Mold-related health effects cause households to sue owners and managers claiming that they were injured by the presence of mold in their units. Even residents who themselves may be responsible for the mold growth might still sue you if they’ve been injured by mold.
It’s not unusual for a household to request a transfer to a new unit at a tax credit site. The household may want to get away from noisy neighbors, want a bigger unit, or have a better view. Or there may be a change in household composition or a reasonable accommodation request for a unit that would meet the needs of a disabled household member better than the current one. Also, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) requires tax credit sites to have emergency transfer plans in place for victims of covered VAWA violence.
Sometimes a household will disappear for weeks at a time. No one answers the phone, their mail piles up, and their assigned parking space remains empty. When a unit is left unattended, health and safety hazards such as rotting food or frozen pipes can result.
One of the most important jobs for the manager of a tax credit site is keeping the owner informed of how well you’re managing the site. The owner wants to know on a monthly or quarterly basis how well the site is doing financially and to be assured that there are no compliance problems threatening the tax credits. To convey this information most effectively, you should prepare a written management report giving the owner the kind of information it needs to make informed decisions about the site.
Tax credit site managers often find themselves spending much time and expense processing applications for ineligible households. Hearing about a good deal, casual visitors may submit applications not realizing that they’ll be considered over-income or student households. One way to increase the chances that those filling out applications at your site qualify for the tax credit program is to educate visitors and anyone expressing interest in housing at your site what it takes to be eligible for a LIHTC unit before they apply.
If a staff member or resident reports that a door or lock at a building or unit entrance is broken, you may think you can wait until morning or even a few days to repair this condition. But that would be a mistake. Any delay leaves residents at risk and increases the likelihood of your being held liable if a crime occurs. If an intruder breaks into a building or unit at your site and attacks a resident, the resident could blame you.
In dealing with the constraints imposed by the pandemic, many state housing agencies have successfully transitioned to virtual household file reviews. The IRS’ recent notice reflects this reality in splitting compliance-monitoring requirements for household file reviews from the requirements for physical inspection. Household file reviews must still be completed this year. But the required 15-day notice in advance of household file audits have been loosened to 30 days until the end of this calendar year.
The alarming rise of the Omicron variant may have postponed your site’s return to normal operations regarding welcoming and informing new households of site rules and certain obligations imposed by the tax credit program. In pre-pandemic times, sites may have held new household orientation meetings. These individual or group sessions would’ve allowed staff to communicate clearly what’s expected of residents.
When certifying and recertifying low-income households at your tax credit site, you may encounter situations that require you to use special forms to get more information about household income. Sometimes, you’ll need to get household members to complete and sign these forms. These forms can be the right documentation to prove to your state housing agency and the IRS that a household meets the tax credit program’s income-eligibility requirements.
Your site employees are in a perfect position to keep you up-to-date on what’s going on at your site. And the information they give you about residents can be critical in helping you run your site. They can alert you to lease violations and unauthorized residents, and they can help you build cases against troublesome residents.
