Last year, HUD and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced an interagency task force to combat sexual harassment in housing. This joint outreach followed a DOJ pilot program started in October 2017. The initiative sought to increase the Department’s efforts to protect women from harassment by landlords, property managers, maintenance workers, security guards, and other employees and representatives of rental property owners.
Along with the colder weather comes the risk of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. CO is a colorless, odorless gas that’s the second most common cause of non-medicinal poisoning death. According to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), over 10,000 people are poisoned by CO and need medical treatment each year, and more than 438 people in the U.S. die annually from CO poisoning.
Explosive growth in ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft are attracting more and more drivers. These drivers earn extra income with the benefit of working flexible hours. According to recent research by JPMorgan Chase Institute, from late 2013 to this spring, the number of households earning income from transportation-related apps has grown 20 times. And a separate study Uber released in late 2016 showed that while the number of drivers on the app had grown, average hourly earnings remained fairly stable at about $20 an hour from mid-2014 to the end of 2015.
Keeping each building’s applicable fraction on target is an essential part of a tax credit manager’s job. The applicable fraction is the percentage of a building’s units rented to low-income households. It comes into play when you calculate the building’s qualified basis, which affects whether the owner can claim all its tax credits. The qualified basis is the eligible basis (which rarely changes but can’t go up) times the applicable fraction (which often goes up or down).
It’s smart management practice to keep your household files up-to-date and complete all the time. Because LIHTC projects will be reviewed for compliance by the state and may be audited by the IRS, complete, well-organized files are very important.
Sports courts, such as basketball, volleyball, and tennis courts, are a great amenity for your site. But sports courts can also lead to problems. For example, residents may argue with each other over how much time a resident should be allotted on a court, or residents can injure themselves if people leave debris, like bottles and cans, on the courts.
When someone agrees to rent or lease an apartment, he signs a lease or rental agreement outlining the terms of the agreement. It’s a legally binding contract between the tenant and the owner that details the rights and responsibilities of each party. Unlike a typical market-rate apartment, a tax credit site or unit participates in the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. This means the provisions of Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) are applicable to the lease.
A recent lawsuit filed on behalf of 400,000 residents against the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), the nation’s largest public housing authority, asked the judge to appoint an independent monitor to oversee operations because the agency failed to provide tenants with heat and hot water and keep residents safe from lead. This lawsuit was the most recent blow to the housing authority, which was already under pressure to improve living conditions for its residents.
If your site has an elevator, it’s important that your staff know the proper steps to take when a passenger-filled elevator breaks down. Elevators can and do malfunction, more often than most people may like to think, sometimes resulting in injuries. An owner is subject to premises liability law, meaning the owner can be held responsible for certain injuries suffered by persons on the premises, including injuries sustained while using an elevator. If your staff doesn’t take the proper steps and passengers get injured during an elevator breakdown, you are likely to get sued.
Although you may not be able to prevent many resident-caused fires, other types of apartment community fires are easily preventable. Owners or their maintenance staff should conduct monthly fire inspections of areas and items that are potential fire hazards. If your maintenance staff conducts such inspections, they will be able to detect and remedy any fire hazards before it’s too late.We’ll give you a checklist of potential fire hazards, which you can photocopy and distribute to your maintenance staff to help them conduct monthly fire inspections at your site.
