A site’s community room is an ideal place for residents to throw parties or hold resident meetings. But your site may have closed its community room during the pandemic to limit social interactions and abide by local health guidelines. In fact, these type of safety precautions were common. During the course of the pandemic, the IRS issued notices stating that closing an amenity or common area during the period of April 2020 through September 2021 in response to COVID-19 doesn’t result in a reduction of eligible basis.
Lawmakers recently reintroduced the latest reiteration of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (AHCIA) in the House and Senate with bipartisan support. The Senate and House versions of the AHCIA are identical companion bills. The AHCIA was first introduced in 2016, and its most recent version has earned the bipartisan support of more than one-third of the 116th Congress. This latest step to bolster affordable housing is coming as legislators are beginning to shift their focus from immediate COVID relief to infrastructure and economic recovery legislation.
On March 11, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 into law. The $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, which passed in the U.S. Senate by a narrow 50-49 vote on March 6 and in the U.S. House of Representatives by a 220-211 vote on March 10, signifies the Biden administration's first legislative achievement with the Democratic majority in Congress to expand federal assistance to the American public.
With the aging of the U.S. population, you may find that the average age of your residents and applicants seeking units is older. Helping residents to age in place safely is a win-win for both owners and residents. Residents typically want to live independently for as long as possible, and stable occupancy reduces management costs.
We answer site owners’ most frequently asked questions about the moratorium. On Sept. 4, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) took unprecedented action when they officially published an order in the Federal Register to temporarily halt all residential evictions to prevent the further spread of COVID-19. This national eviction moratorium, which covers millions of renters at risk of eviction, became effective on publication and will last until Dec. 31, 2020, unless extended.
With the additional $600 in unemployment insurance payments provided by the CARES Act having expired on July 31, many renters across America are at a precipice. Millions of Americans are experiencing job loss, reduced hours, and reduced income due to the economic effects of COVID-19. Thus far, Senate Republicans have proposed a narrow pandemic relief bill that would issue extra unemployment benefits at half the original rate, but negotiations have stalled.
As U.S. unemployment reaches historic levels, you may see more applicants making ends meet with income from online “gig” platforms such as Instacart, Postmates, or Grubhub. These particular grocery and food delivery services have reported record demand during the pandemic and have announced increases in work opportunities through their platform. Applicants may be using freelance positions with these type of online services that match their freelance labor and local demand as a stopgap solution to paying bills during an economic downturn.
Residents or applicants may inform you that they need to have an aide live with them to help them with daily tasks. If a resident who is elderly or who has a disability asks you to allow her to have a live-in aide to accommodate her disability and to provide supportive services essential to her care and well-being, the Fair Housing Act (FHA) requires you to grant the request as a reasonable accommodation.But if you’re not careful, letting live-in aides reside in units at your site can lead to big problems.
Have you ever had a resident complain to you about another resident’s harassing or abusive behavior? Maybe the other resident is loudly insulting him or, worse, using racial epithets. You might be tempted to ignore the problem. But your decision could be costly. The resident who’s the target of the harassment might move out of your tax credit site and then sue you for violating your lease obligations or fair housing law.
