As a site owner or manager, you must be concerned about your liability for sexual harassment. Federal fair housing law protects residents from sexual harassment at your site. A resident can sue you if she thinks that you or any employee at your site sexually harassed her. Sexual harassment can...
Occasionally, a resident may ask you what steps need to be taken to allow a professional caregiver on site to assist him or her with activities of daily living. Typical duties of a caregiver might include taking care of someone who has a chronic illness or disease; managing medications or...
Every manager’s worst nightmare is a violent crime against a resident at his assisted housing site. And compounding the tragedy of the crime is the risk of liability. You could be held liable for the crime if you knew your residents were at risk of that type of crime. In legal terms, the...
HUD recently suspended the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule. This rule was a 2015 regulation that required any community receiving HUD development block-grant funding to routinely identify instances of racial segregation and provide solutions to counter them. It was intended to fulfill...
EIV, which stands for Enterprise Income Verification, is HUD’s web-based tool to help reduce erroneous and improper payments in the agency’s assisted housing programs. The ultimate goal, HUD says, is to ensure that the “right benefits go to the right person.” Using EIV...
Correctly determining the size of each household at your site is essential because the income limits you must use to check household eligibility are organized by household size. Although determining a household’s size sounds straightforward, it’s not as simple as counting the number...
In late 2016, HUD issued a final rule requiring public housing agencies (PHAs) to implement a smoke-free policy. The rule requires each public housing agency to implement a smoke-free policy banning the use of prohibited tobacco products in all restricted areas by Aug. 3, 2018. According to the...
Last year, the United States tallied a record high bill of $306 billion in weather-related disasters, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The total amount includes damage from three of the five most expensive hurricanes in U.S. history: Hurricane Harvey cost...
Sometimes a household will disappear for weeks at a time. Signs may indicate the household may not come back. No one answers the household’s phone, their mail piles up, and their assigned parking space remains empty. When a unit is left unattended, health and safety hazards such as rotting...
HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing recently issued Notice PIH 2017-23, clarifying HUD’s interpretation of the statutory amendment related to flat rents.
