The tough economy has many low-income housing tax credit sites operating with minimal staffing and restricted budgets. Some find that carefully managing operating costs can help to offset the lack of rent growth caused by declining median incomes in the past few years.
Most tax credit sites keep some type of prospect waiting list. If your site participates in HUD-subsidized programs, such as Section 8 or Section 236, a written resident selection plan is mandatory and must follow HUD guidelines [HUD Handbook 4350.3., Ch. 4, Sec. 1]. But even if not required by...
An all-too-common scenario in tax credit site management is the household that becomes uncommunicative at recertification time. You've probably encountered such households before: Multiple notices to make an appointment for a recertification interview are shrugged off and ignored.
Tax credit sites have been hit hard by the financial crisis. In the past few years, rents in many areas have been held down to levels that have made it difficult for owners and managers to adequately operate their sites, much less generate additional revenue.
Keeping household files well organized and up to date is a critical factor in demonstrating compliance with tax credit requirements. Lack of proper documentation, inadequate or missing clarification on verifications, asset or income errors, and typos are among the common mistakes that auditors...
According to the 2000 census, approximately 25 million adults living in the United States depend on friends and family members to translate everything from food labels to rental leases. Language issues have created considerable challenges for low-income housing site managers to ensure that...
When determining an applicant's eligibility, tax credit managers often can be thrown by HUD Section 8 regulations for income and asset identification that seem to conflict with certain provisions in the tax credit regulations. Jo Ikelheimer, research & development consultant and...
Qualifying households for tax credit housing is a complex, multilayered procedure. For site managers, the initial eligibility interview often proves to be the most challenging part of the process—and it causes a great deal of anxiety for applicants, as well. Being asked to provide a lot of...
Underdocumenting income is one of the most common errors site managers can make when certifying or recertifying households, according to Barbara Crook, compliance director for Affordable Housing Support Services, an affordable housing compliance consulting firm in Littleton, Colo.
Every time a resident bounces a check, it drives up your site's costs. The penalty fees charged for depositing bad checks averaged $28.95 last year—an all-time high, according to a survey published by http://Bankrate.com. Add to that...
Section 2002 of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008 requires the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to collect the following data for low-income housing tax credit tenants:
The low-income housing tax credit program has undergone a notable transformation over the past year. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA; P.L. 110-289), which was signed into law on July 30, 2008, contained significant changes that affect compliance for LIHTC sites.
