Security deposits provide owners with some degree of financial protection when a resident moves out of a unit and fails to fulfill obligations under the lease. Security deposits can be used toward reimbursing unpaid rent or repairing any damage the outgoing resident may have left behind.
Like many owners and managers, you may pay a resident a small amount for part-time work he performs, such as raking leaves, cleaning common areas, or distributing flyers periodically at the site. HUD calls this payment a “resident service stipend” and defines it as a “modest...
As manager of an assisted site, one of your most important jobs is to keep the owner updated on 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 that there's no major occupancy or other problems...
If a crime victim sues your site for negligence, you'll probably be second-guessed for taking inadequate security precautions. If only you had managed things more carefully, the victim's lawyer and expert witnesses will argue, you could have prevented the crime. To justify your actions...
HUD's Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) conducts approximately 20,000 physical inspections of sites each year to ensure that residents are living in assisted housing units that are “decent, safe, sanitary, and in good repair.” During an investigation, REAC inspectors will look...
You may have some assisted residents who don't pay their utility bills for electricity, gas, or water. This can create a dangerous situation at your site. If the utility company shuts off service to the resident's unit, the resident may try to make do with candles, use the oven for heat...
Drug dealing at assisted sites isn't just a problem for law enforcement. It's also a severe threat to sites' profitability and livability. Drug dealers and their customers often vandalize site security features to ensure ready access to dealers' units or to nonpublic areas where...
The stock market has been incredibly volatile this past year. As a result, some of your residents may have experienced significant reductions in the value of their stock portfolio and may be asking for interim recertifications. Others may have had the benefit of a positive swing in their...
Long-term guests can be big-time headaches at assisted sites. Some residents abuse their housing assistance by letting guests stay over with them frequently or continuously. Residents may think that you won't care because they believe they're using resources at HUD's expense.
On Aug. 16, HUD issued Notice H2011-20 on the subject of bedbugs in project-based assisted housing programs. Bedbug infestations have become a serious problem in housing throughout the country, and the notice provides information and references to best practices regarding the prevention and...
You're probably familiar with HUD's requirement that you calculate elderly households' medical expense allowances at each recertification based on the households' medical expenses during the prior year. Generally, HUD says, the allowance covers households' “anticipated...
Suppose a household member is injured on the job and tells you that he'll be getting workers' compensation benefits for a number of weeks. Like many managers, you may have little experience with income from employee benefits. But with the increasing popularity of welfare-to-work programs...
