Feature

Review Site’s Bedbug Rules, Lease Addenda to Ensure Compliance

October 29, 2019    

In the fall, as the heat of summer diminishes, site managers typically experience an increase in pest complaints from residents as outdoor pests move indoors seeking warmth. Site managers also find an increase in bedbug sightings, despite the fact that bedbugs are indoor pests that are rarely...

Answers to Common Questions About Handling Disability Insurance Payments

October 1, 2019    

When you certify or recertify households, some members may tell you that they’re getting disability payments through a short-term or long-term disability insurance plan. These payments replace part of the wages household members lose when they can’t work due to illness or injury. The...

Data Security: Take Steps to Protect Residents’ and Applicants’ Personal Information

September 10, 2019    

A consistent stream of hacks and large-scale corporate data breaches in the news have heightened the public’s awareness and sensitivity towards privacy issues. Most recently, a major bank broke news of a data breach that affected approximately 100 million customers in the U.S. and another...

HUD Issues Guidance on Site Owners’ Responsibilities to Residents

August 15, 2019    

HUD’s Office of Asset Management and Portfolio Oversight (OAMPO) recently issued a memo for multifamily regional directors, satellite office directors, performance-based contract administrators, and multifamily owners and management agents. The memo clarifies owners’ responsibilities...

Send Notice to Preserve Options at HAP Contract Expiration

July 17, 2019    

A housing assistance payments (HAP) contract is a contract between HUD and an owner to provide rental assistance for low-income residents. The rental assistance supplements what the resident pays for rent, which is usually 30 percent of the resident’s income.

Use Community Room Agreement to Make Residents Responsible for Damage and Injury

June 13, 2019    

A site’s community room is an ideal place for residents to throw parties or hold resident association meetings. But use of this amenity can cause problems. If residents or their guests act irresponsibly, they may damage the community room and its furnishings. And if someone’s injured...

Require Households to Inform You of Long Absences

May 9, 2019    

Lengthy unexplained household absences from your site can be frustrating and may even violate HUD lease provisions that require assisted households to use their units as their primary residences. You may have households that leave the site for months at a time during particular seasons. Or you...

Follow Three Dos & Don'ts When Rejecting Applicants

April 11, 2019    

HUD regulations have three key requirements when rejecting applicants. Owners must not discriminate against an applicant based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability. Also, for Section 8 program owners, HUD requires owners to comply with the Violence...

Beyond Lead-Free: How to Use Safe Painting Practices at Your Site

March 15, 2019    

By Carolyn Zezima, Esq.

Avoid Seven Mistakes When Verifying Disability

March 14, 2019    

April is National Fair Housing Month, which, according to HUD, is time for people to come together “as a community and a nation to celebrate the anniversary of the passing of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and recommit to that goal which inspired us in the aftermath of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther...

Follow Four Rules When Maintaining an Electronic Waiting List

February 15, 2019    

HUD defines a waiting list as a formal record of applicants for housing assistance or assisted housing units that identifies the applicant’s name, date and time of application, selection preferences claimed, income category, and the need for an accessible unit. The waiting list may be kept...

The Government Shutdown's Impact on HUD & Federal Housing Programs

January 15, 2019    

Since the latest continuing resolution, which funded HUD and several other federal agencies in the absence of enacted Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 appropriations bills, expired on Dec. 21, 2018, Congress and President Trump haven’t enacted a final FY 2019 HUD bill. As a result, funding for HUD...