Feature
March 28, 2013
While the IRS is generally responsible for the low-income housing tax credit program, in 2000 it entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to enforce fair housing laws. HUD is generally charged with...
Maintenance
March 28, 2013
With the beginning of spring, now is the optimal time to think about lease-ups and how you may turn over recently vacated units faster. That’s because spring and summer are the times when most sites experience their busiest leasing months. When a resident moves out, you shouldn’t let...
Q & A
March 28, 2013
Q: One of our tax credit units became vacant early last year. We advertised regularly in the newspaper and on the Internet and posted flyers at local shopping centers. But all the prospective households were ineligible. We’ve finally succeeded in renting the unit to a qualified low-...
Dos & Don'ts
March 28, 2013
The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) eliminated the annual income recertification requirement for 100 percent buildings. Each state agency, however, may opt to tighten the rule and impose its own recertification requirements. In addition, some owners may still complete annual...
Dos & Don'ts
March 28, 2013
The paperwork associated with tax credit sites is formidable. Owners and managers must not only deal with paperwork generated from the application process, but also annual owner certifications and submissions of various compliance forms on an annual basis.
In the News
March 28, 2013
HUD recently issued a final rule to formalize the national standard for determining whether a housing practice violates federal fair housing law as the result of discriminatory effect.
Feature
February 27, 2013
If you manage several tax credit sites or one very large one, you may find it hard to get an accurate day-by-day picture of how things are going at each of them. That’s because information tends to get altered in the course of reaching you. For example, maintenance staffers and leasing agents...
Dealing with Households
February 27, 2013
At some point, you’re going to have to notify households that you’re raising their rent. Reasons for raising the rent on a low-income unit can include a utility allowance decrease, an over-income household, a change in your area’s median gross income, or, if the rent is below the...
Compliance
February 27, 2013
As a tax credit manager, you probably know that you can violate the “transient unit rule” if you rent units to low-income households on a transient basis. The IRS presumes that you’re complying with the rule if your initial leases with households are for a term of at least six...
Q & A
February 27, 2013
Q One of our low-income applicants is a divorced mother who has joint custody of her two children. The applicant says that, under the joint custody agreement, her children would live with her in the unit most of the time. If we accept this applicant at our site, should we count her children as...
