Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook - HUD.gov / …

1 Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Public and Indian Housing Office of Public Housing and Voucher Programs Public Housing Management and Occupancy Division June 2003. Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ..1. Part 1: Civil Rights ..2. Part 2: Part 3: Public Housing Income and Program Rents ..3. Part 4: Continued Part 5: The Public Housing Lease ..5. Part 6: Grievance Part 7: Domestic Violence ..6. Appendices ..7. PART 1: CIVIL RIGHTS AND NONDISCRIMINATION REQUIREMENTS. CHAPTER 1. CIVIL RIGHTS AND NONDISCRIMINATION REQUIREMENTS ..9. General Provisions ..9. Nondiscrimination Fair Housing Act - 42 3601 (also known as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act). (24 CFR Part 100 et seq).. 10. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (24 CFR Part 1).. 11. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (24 CFR Part 8) .. 12. Title II of the Americans with Disabilities 12.

2 Age Discrimination Act of 1975 (24 CFR Part 146) .. 13. Obligation to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing (24 CFR (b)) .. 13. Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP).. 13. Other Applicable Laws and Regulations .. 14. Effect of More than One Applicable Law or 14. Program Reporting and Record Keeping (24 CFR and 24 CFR (b)).. 14. Discrimination 15. Affirmative Disability-Related Civil Rights Requirements Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Fair Housing Act ..15. Who is a Person with a Disability under Federal Civil Rights Laws .. 15. Exclusion of Individuals Who Pose a Direct Threat to Health or Safety of 17. Accessibility in 17. Reasonable 17. Reasonable Accommodations in the Admissions/ Occupancy 18. Civil Rights Requirements Related to Verification/Inquiries About Disability (24 CFR ).. 19. Affirmative Marketing and Other Affirmative Obligations.

3 20. PART 2: ADMISSIONS TO Public Housing . CHAPTER 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR Annual Income (24 CFR ) ..23. Income for Eligibility .. 23. i Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook Defiinition of Annual Income .. 24. Eligible Family Status (24 CFR ) ..24. Definitions of Eligible Families .. 24. Citizenship and Eligible Immigrant Status (24 CFR ).. 27. Disclosure of Social Security Numbers (24 CFR ).. 28. Ineligibility Because of Criminal Activity (24 CFR ).. 28. CHAPTER 3. WAITING LIST ADMINISTRATION ..29. Entering New Applications on the Waiting List ..30. Opening and Closing the Waiting List or Sub-List ..31. Essential Application Information for Waiting List Community-Wide and Site-Based Waiting Lists ..32. Moving From Community-Wide to Site-Based Waiting List ..33. Preferences ..33. Considerations Before Applying Preferences .. 34. Local and Ranking 34. Change in Preference Status While on the Waiting List .. 37.

4 Meeting for Applicants Denied a Preference (24 CFR (g)) .. 37. Updating a Waiting List ..38. Preparing the Update Package .. 38. Disseminating the Update Package .. 38. Applicants Who Fail to Respond: Second Notice .. 39. Reasonable Accommodation of Applicants with Disabilities .. 39. Completing the Waiting List Update .. 40. Removing Applicants from the Waiting Withdrawing an Application From the Waiting 40. Rejecting an Application for Public Housing (24 CFR ).. 41. Removing or Dropping an Application for Refusal of a Unit 42. Designated Designated Housing Plan (PIH Notice 97-12) ..42. Implementing a Designated Housing Plan ..44. CHAPTER 4. QUALIFICATION FOR ADMISSION: APPLICANT SELECTION CRITERIA ..47. Selection Policy and Procedures ..47. Applicant Screening: The Policy Screening Procedures ..49. The Application Form and Explaining the Screening Techniques and Procedures Used to Check an Applicant's History.

5 50. Past Performance Meeting Financial Obligations, Especially Rent (24 CFR (c)(1)).. 50. Disturbance of Neighbors, Destruction of Property or Living or Housekeeping Habits at Prior Residences that May Adversely Affect the Health, Safety or Welfare of Other Tenants, or Cause Damage to the Unit or the Development (24 CFR (c)(2)).. 51. Involvement in Criminal Activity on the Part of Any Applicant Family Member that Would ii Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook Adversely Affect the Health, Safety or Right to Peaceful Enjoyment of the Premises by Other Tenants (24 CFR (c)(3) and ).. 53. Questions on History or Current Use of Illegal 54. A Record of Eviction from Housing or Termination from Residential 54. Ability to Comply with the Terms of the PHA 55. Misrepresentation of any Information Related to Eligibility, Preferences, Allowances, Family Composition or 55. Processing the Screening Verification Forms.

6 55. Preliminary Recommendation of Admission or Rejection ..56. Notice and Right to Dispute Applicants with Role of Residents in Applicant Selection (24 CFR ) ..61. CHAPTER 5. Occupancy GUIDELINES ..62. State and Local Sizes and Configuration of PHA Capacity of Sites, Systems and Infrastructure ..63. Individual Family Characteristics ..63. Making the Best Use of Available CHAPTER 6. PROCESSING APPLICATIONS ..67. Compliance with Law, Regulations and PHA Policies ..68. Accessibility and Plain Language (24 CFR and ) ..68. Accepting Applications for Initial Eligibility Determination (24 CFR )..70. Applying the Preference System (24 CFR )..71. Completing/Updating the Application ..72. Applying Applicant Selection Criteria (24 CFR 205)..73. Income Targeting, Income Mixing and Income Targeting (24 CFR ).. 74. Unit Assignment ..75. Applicant Selection Criteria Determination .. 76. Waiting List 76. Occupancy Standards.

7 76. Accessibility 77. Unit Offers to Applicants ..77. Leasing ..78. Pre- Occupancy Training or CHAPTER 7. VERIFICATION STANDARDS ..80. Overview ..80. What Must Be Verified ..82. Verifying Social Security Numbers ..83. Verifying Citizenship or Eligible Noncitizen Status ..84. iii Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook Evidence of Citizenship or Eligible Immigration Status .. 85. Verification of Eligible Immigrant Status Using the INS SAVE 86. Verifying Annual Income ..86. Dealing with Families that Report No 88. Up-Front Income Verification ..88. Limitations on Verifications Related to Disabilities and Medical Verifying Applicant Selection Criteria ..94. Verifying Past Performance Meeting Financial Obligations, Especially Rent and Utilities (24 CFR (c)(1)).. 94. Verifying Disturbance of Neighbors, Destruction of Property, or Living or Housekeeping Habits that Would Pose a Threat to Other Tenants (24 CFR (c)(2)).

8 95. Screening for a History of Criminal Activity on the Part of Any Applicant Family Member that Would Adversely Affect the Health, Safety or Welfare of Other Tenants (24 CFR (c)(3)).. 96. A Record of Eviction From Housing or Termination From Residential 97. Ability and Willingness to Comply With the Terms of the PHA 98. Misrepresentation of Any Information Related to Eligibility, Award of Preference for Admission, Allowances, Family Composition or Rent ..98. Acceptable Forms of Duration of Acceptable Verification ..99. File CHAPTER 8. TENANT SELECTION AND ASSIGNMENT PLAN ..101. Unit Offers to Plan A: One Unit Offer .. 102. Plan B: Two or Three Unit 102. Comparison of Plan A and Plan Community-Wide and Site-Based Waiting Lists ..103. Due Process Rights for Applicants ..104. Good Causes for Applicant Refusal of Unit Offer ..104. Determining Which Unit to Offer When More Than One Is Available ..105. Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS) Accessible or Adaptable Dwelling Units.

9 106. Leasing and Occupancy of Dwelling Units ..106. Transfers of Tenants ..106. CHAPTER 9. LEASING REQUIREMENTS ..108. General Leasing Policy ..108. Move-in Inspections ..108. Additions to the Household ..109. Family Sizes and the Transfer Requirement ..109. Visitors, Guests and Unauthorized Occupants ..109. PART 3: Public Housing INCOME AND PROGRAM RENTS. CHAPTER 10. INCOME AND PROGRAM RENTS ..112. iv Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook Overview ..112. Annual Income (24 CFR ) ..112. Amounts Included in Annual Income .. 113. Amounts Excluded from Annual Income (24 CFR (c)).. 116. Treatment of Assets and Determining Income from 121. Definition of Net Family Assets (24 CFR ) .. 121. Adjusted Income Statutory Deductions (24 CFR )..122. Dependent 123. Elderly and Disabled Family 123. Child Care 123. Disability Expense 124. Unreimbursed Medical Expense Costs .. 125. The 3 Percent Deductible for Disability and Medical Deductions.

10 126. The 3 Percent Deductible with Both Unreimbursed Medical and Disability Expense 127. Adjusted Income Permissive How Deductions Affect 129. Impact on PHA Operating 130. Income-Based Rent and Minimum Rent ..130. How Optional Changes to Income-Based Rents 131. Optional Changes in the Percentage of Rent 133. Other Reasonable Systems .. 134. Ceiling Flat Rents ..135. 135. Setting Flat Rents Properly (24 CFR (b)).. 135. Rent Choice (24 CFR ).. 136. Reexamination (24 CFR ).. 137. Switching from Flat Rent to Income-Based Rent Because of Hardship (24 CFR ) .. 137. Annual Review of Flat Rents (24 CFR ) .. 137. Relationship Between Rents and Utility Utility Reimbursement ..139. Earned Income 139. Terminology .. 139. Qualifying for a Disallowance .. 140. Disallowance Amounts (24 CFR (b)) .. 141. Disallowance Periods (24 CFR (b)) .. 142. Maximum Disallowance 143. Earned Income Disallowance Examples .. 144. Individual Savings Account (24 CFR (d)).