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HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.5.7 Poor Credit History

PHAs and owners often review an applicant’s credit history because they believe that it indicates the applicant’s ability to pay rent.662 However, credit history should not be controlling if the rent history is good.663 A good rent-paying history should mitigate a poor credit history because it demonstrates that whatever financial difficulties might arise, the applicant pays the rent.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.5.8 Prior Debt Owing to PHA and Prior Termination

Prior Debt. PHAs often will reject an applicant because of a prior debt owing to the PHA. The Voucher regulations provide that a PHA may deny admission to its Voucher program for a debt currently owed to it or to any other PHA.670 Most prior debt allegations for Voucher applicants are related to a PHA’s claim that the family failed to pay rent, repairs, or other charges when the applicant resided in public housing.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.5.9 Screening Additions to the Household

PHAs and project owners should have a policy for accepting or rejecting additions to the household. Not all elements of the standard admission criteria should apply. Any criteria developed by the PHA or owner may consider the health and safety of other tenants and management staff and the safety and habitability of the development. As with all applicants, the project owner should be concerned with whether past behavior of the new family member is a reasonable indicator of how the individual will perform in the future.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.6.1 Introduction

HUD provides some guidance to PHAs and owners regarding the number of individuals who should be permitted to occupy a unit. These guidelines are directed at avoiding overcrowding, underutilization, over-subsidization and complying with civil rights laws.687 The rules include a determination of the number of family members, who may share a bedroom, who may not be required to share a bedroom and how a bedroom/living area is counted. The determination of family size is similar for all the programs.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.6.3 Occupancy Standards

For public housing and HUD-assisted and subsidized units, PHAs and owners must develop written occupancy standards. These standards must take into account unit size, bedroom size, number of bedrooms, household size, ages of household members, and other issues, and must comply with civil rights requirements.694 In general the HUD standard is that no more than two persons may be required to occupy a bedroom.695

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.6.4 Unit Size and Voucher Program

For the Voucher program, the PHA establishes a local policy regarding the relationship between family size and unit size.711 In establishing policies for unit size, PHAs must balance limiting the expenditure of subsidies needed to house a family while avoiding overcrowding.712 Further, policies should not prevent families of a particular size or configuration from finding units and landlords willing to rent at amounts generally within the payment standard.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.7.1 Introduction

The Voucher program presents unique issues because both PHAs and landlords play a role in the admission process. PHAs determine income and immigration status eligibility, while both PHAs and landlords may screen for tenant suitability. In addition, units must pass inspection, and the PHA must determine whether the rent for the unit is reasonable. Certain units are excluded from the Voucher program because of unit type or ownership.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.7.2 Screening

For the Voucher program, PHAs may, but are not required to, conduct screening of applicants for family behavior or suitability.742 As with screening for all the programs, a distinction is made between a PHA’s mandatory and discretionary grounds for denial of assistance. PHAs have a duty to prohibit admission of families with members who have engaged in certain criminal behavior.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.7.6 Voucher Success Rates

The Voucher “success rate” measures how well a PHA’s program is actually working for families seeking housing with their Vouchers.771 The Voucher success rate is determined by comparing the number of families that actually lease a unit (the same numerator as the Voucher utilization rate) with the number of Vouchers issued by the PHA over the relevant time period. In other words, if 100 Vouchers are issued and 60 families find a unit, the success rate is 60 percent.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.8.1 Overview

PHAs and owners must follow certain procedures when establishing an admission policy and selecting applicants. Failure to establish and follow accessible and clear procedures increases the likelihood of favoritism, partiality, secretiveness and arbitrariness that deprive applicants of a fair opportunity to gain admission to HUD-assisted housing. For example, PHAs that switch to online-only registration and admission processes would restrict access for individuals with disabilities, a large percentage of which lack internet access, and likely violate civil rights laws.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.8.4 Notice of Acceptance

Applicants for any HUD-assisted housing are entitled to a notice of acceptance or rejection. If the applicant is accepted and a unit of appropriate size is available,817 the applicant should be offered the unit. If there is no available unit, the applicant is placed on a waiting list, sometimes after an initial eligibility determination but before final screening.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.8.5 Opportunity to Provide Additional Contact Information

PHAs and owners are required to give applicants the option to provide information on an individual or organization that may be contacted to assist in providing services or special care to applicants who become tenants and to assist in resolving tenancy issues.823 HUD fForm 92006 allows applicants to submit contact information for one or more persons or organizations, as well as the reason each person or organization may be contacted.824 Housing providers cannot require tenants who have not provi

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.8.6.1 Overview

PHAs and owners are required to maintain waiting lists, because the demand for affordable housing far exceeds the supply.825 Managing the waiting list can be complex because there are many factors to consider. For the applicant, the waiting list can be a source of frustration because of its length and because an applicant’s progress is hard to monitor.826

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.8.6.3 Opening the Waiting List for Selected Purposes

HUD allows PHAs to open the waiting list or to continue to receive applications for certain categories of applicants.864 Such a policy may be necessary to achieve the federally required purposes of the programs, such as to achieve the income targeting requirements or to meet local preferences, such as a preference for homeless applicants or families subject to code enforcement action.