In late March, the IRS released an updated version of its Guide for Completing Form 8823: Low-Income Housing Credit Agencies Report of Noncompliance or Building Disposition. State housing agencies use Form 8823 to notify the IRS of a site's noncompliance with tax credit requirements. Your...
Some people are uneasy when they're dealing with people with disabilities—mostly due to misinformation or a lack of knowledge about how to act. Fear of possible discrimination complaints often makes site staff nervous about words and phrases to use, what questions they can ask, and...
Charging residents fees for processing applications, running a credit check, transferring to another unit, or for the use of a parking space seems like a practical way to recoup operating costs. After all, these tasks and services require staff time, maintenance, and additional business expenses...
The tax credit program's requirements are complex, and understanding all of the rules and requirements can be challenging. Even experienced tax credit site staff can make errors from time to time. Mistakes can be costly, though, so we reached out to the compliance experts at several state...
A written resident selection plan ensures that your site's application policies and procedures will be uniformly administered and that all applicants are treated fairly. It outlines for both staff and prospects the tax credit requirements and the site's criteria for screening applicants...
Whether you advertise your site's low-income units online, in local newspapers or community newsletters, in phone recordings, or by putting up signs, your messages must abide by fair housing law. The Fair Housing Act (FHA) prohibits owners and managers of rental housing from discriminating...
There are some distinct differences between managing a mixed-income site versus a 100 percent tax credit site. The most obvious is that, with a 100 percent site, you know that all of your units are low income. But if your site is mixed income, and you rent to both low-income and market-rate...
It can be difficult to keep track of compliance requirements on a site with tax credit and market-rate units, especially during a lease-up phase. A development map gives site management a clear visual aid for meeting compliance criteria.
Mapping the development is generally a step that...
Do you have a simple system that allows your staff to quickly locate key compliance criteria in a user-friendly format? Whether your site is new or has been up and running for years, putting together a development binder that contains all of the governing documents for that site is crucial for...
Use of the Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system for public and multifamily housing providers receiving HUD rental assistance became mandatory on Jan. 31, 2010. Progress seemed bumpy earlier in the year, with lagging participation from some owners and agents, multiple system outages,...
From time to time, you may receive requests from households that want—or need—to move to a new unit. For instance, they may need a larger unit, or they may desire a unit on a higher floor, or they may need a ground-floor unit to accommodate a disability. The IRS has made it clear...
Security deposits can become a source of conflict between owners and residents. A good rule of thumb with security deposits is to remember that, unlike any other money that you receive from a household, the security deposit remains the resident's money, says Daniel Bancroft, a Boston-area...
