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On May 20, the Federal Register published an updated list of income exclusions specifically mandated by federal laws. There are three new exclusions and changes to two of the existing exclusions, and due to the addition of Exclusion (16), the exclusions following it have been renumbered.
HUD requires most assisted housing sites to maintain a reserve for replacements account so funds are readily available to pay for repair and replacements of major systems and capital items. These are items that usually last more than one year, such as elevator systems or major appliances in units.
Over 20,000 multifamily housing program participants are required to submit annual electronic financial statement data to HUD for assessing the financial condition of multifamily housing sites. On Feb. 14, 2014, the Real Estate Assessment Center updated its Financial Assessment Sub-System to allow profit-motivated and limited distribution owners receiving less than $500,000 in federal financial assistance to submit owner-certified financial statements instead of audited financial statements. This change was made in accordance with Housing Notice H2013-23.
On Dec. 10, a revised transmittal for the 4350.3 REV-1, CHG-4 Handbook appeared online. It was signed by Carol Galante, Assistant Secretary for Housing, and its issue date was Nov. 27, 2013. Here are the changes based on the transmittal:
Clarification of Verification Techniques
The transmittal made the following clarifications to verification techniques. In paragraph 9-10(A), the transmittal adds that owners and agents must not use tenant-provided documentation even when generated by a third-party source in these particular situations:
Chances are, your site contains “mixed” households—that is, households that, in addition to U.S. citizens and/or eligible noncitizens, include ineligible noncitizens. Special rules apply to the assistance these mixed households can get. For example, you’ll need to prorate the assistance payments Section 8 households get by multiplying the assistance amount by a fraction based on the number of eligible members.
Despite some delays in implementation, a major piece of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act still requires all applicable employers, regardless of whether they offer health care coverage, to provide their current employees with a health insurance exchange notice no later than Oct. 1, 2013, when a health insurance exchange is to be operational in each state.
On Aug. 6, HUD issued a notice intended to provide an overview of the recently enacted Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013). The 2013 law expands the number of HUD programs subject to the law’s protections beyond HUD’s public housing and Section 8 tenant-based and project-based programs. The notice also highlights the key changes made by the law, lists the HUD programs now covered by it, provides an overview of key provisions applicable to HUD programs, and advises of HUD’s plans to issue rules or guidance on the new law.
HUD generally requires you to get Social Security numbers (SSNs) for all members of an applicant household who are at least 6 years old. And HUD requires you to get proof of those numbers and specifies which documents you can accept as proof. But what if a household member was never issued an SSN? Or what if a household member can’t give you one of the specified documents?
Initially passed in 1994, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) created the first U.S. federal legislation acknowledging domestic violence and sexual assault as crimes, and provided federal resources to encourage community-coordinated responses to combating violence. VAWA was reauthorized by Congress in 2000, and again in December 2005. The latest 2012 renewal met with resistance, but 500 days after VAWA had expired, the House voted to reauthorize the bill and President Obama signed it into law on March 7, 2013.
As a manager, you have a fiduciary—that is, legal—responsibility to the property owner to ensure that tenant rent is accurately calculated and that residents are given appropriate notice of an increase in their portion of the rent, while simultaneously complying with the HUD regulations. Failure to provide proper notice of a rent increase in certain cases is a violation of the HUD requirements and can have a detrimental financial impact on the property.
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