The Trainer — May 2013
GETTING KEY INFORMATION FROM APPLICANTS; HANDLING ALIMONY AND CHILD SUPPORT
In this month’s feature, we discussed what information to ask for in your applications. If you don’t get the proper information, you could end up admitting an ineligible or inappropriate household. Or you could improperly reject an eligible household—and risk discrimination claims and more trouble with HUD.
In our article on handling alimony and child support payments, we discussed how, when certifying or recertifying households, you may encounter household members who get alimony or child support from ex-spouses or their children’s parents, or who pay alimony or child support to someone else. We explained how to handle these payments correctly to calculate a household’s income. Miscalculating household income could lead you to charge the household too much rent or HUD too much assistance.
QUIZ
QUESTION #1
An applicant who gets alimony or child support will always get a check directly from the ex-spouse or parent. True or false?
a. True.
b. False.
QUESTION #2
If an applicant says she isn’t getting the payments she’s due pursuant to a divorce settlement, separation agreement, or other order, you can exclude the unpaid alimony or child support from her income. True or false?
a. True.
b. False.
QUESTION #3
Jason Jones earns $1,200 a month at his job. He has $200 a month deducted from his wages by court order and paid to his child’s mother as child support, leaving a remaining $1,000 a month in wages. You must count the entire $1,200—not $1,000—when calculating Jason Jones’ household income. True or false?
a. True.
b. False.
QUESTION #4
Sam Smith pays child support to his ex-wife, who lives with the child in another state. Sam asks you to include these payments in his household’s child care allowance and deduct them from household income. Should you do so?
a. Yes.
b. No.
QUESTION #5
As part of your application, you should, but aren’t required to, ask applicants how they heard about your site. True or false?
a. True.
b. False.
QUESTION #6
You may not ask applicants about their citizenship or immigration status without violating fair housing rules.
a. True.
b. False.
QUESTION #7
If you reject a household’s application, you must promptly notify the householdin writing andspecify the reasons you denied the application. True or false?
a. True.
b. False.
ANSWERS & EXPLANATIONS
QUESTION #1
Correct answer: b
False. In some cases, the applicant may get alimony or child support payments from the ex-spouse’s or parent’s employer, and sometimes even through their state’s child support enforcement agency as part of welfare or grant payments.
QUESTION #2
Correct answer: b
False. To get unpaid alimony or child support payments excluded from household income, a household member must first state in writing that she has made “reasonable efforts” to collect the amounts she’s supposed to be getting. HUD says this means she must have filed papers with a court or enforcement agency. It’s not enough that she, for example, wrote her ex-husband a letter threatening to go to court if he didn’t pay up.
QUESTION #3
Correct answer: a
True. The applicant may claim that you shouldn’t include these payments in his income from wages because the amount he actually gets paid is less than his stated salary. But in these cases, HUD says you must include these amounts in the household member’s income from wages [HUD Handbook 4350.3, par. 5-10(F)].
QUESTION #4
Correct answer: b
No. HUD makes clear that child support payments for children who don’t live in the unit must not be included in a household’s child care allowance [HUD Handbook 4350.3, par. 5-10(F)].
QUESTION #5
Correct answer: b
False. HUD requires you to ask each applicant household how it heard about the site so you can assess the effectiveness of your marketing efforts [HUD Handbook 4350.3, par. 4-14(B)(6)].
QUESTION #6
Correct answer: b
False. HUD’s “noncitizen rule” requires you to ask applicant households for citizenship and immigration status information. However, you don’t have to comply with this rule if you own or manage a Section 221(d)(3) BMIR (without Section 8 or any other assistance), Section 202 (without Section 8), Section 202 PAC, Section 202 PRAC, or Section 811 PRAC site that has no other subsidy.
QUESTION #7
Correct answer: a
True. Your letter must also tell the household that it has a right to respond to the owner in writing or request a meeting within 14 days to dispute the rejection [HUD Handbook 4350.3, par. 4-9(C)(2)]. Keep a copy of this letter with the application to prove that you provided this notice.