Certification

HUD Releases Updated List of Federally Mandated Income Exclusions

February 13, 2024    

Four new types of income will no longer impact eligibility calculations.

 

 

Specific sources of income are excluded by federal statute from consideration as income for purposes of determining eligibility for or benefits in a HUD program. On Jan. 31, HUD...

5 Dos & Don’ts for Treating Household Lump-Sum Payments Correctly

September 23, 2022    

When a household gets a one-time payment such as an inheritance or a settlement award, you must follow special HUD rules for such payments when certifying and recertifying household income. In general, you must treat these payments, known as “lump-sum payments” or “lump-sum...

4 Tips for Complying with HUD's Asset Disposition Rule

April 14, 2022    

When interviewing households at certifications, you must find out whether they have disposed of or sold, given away, or put in trust assets for less than fair market value within the last two years. If they have, you generally must factor such assets into your calculations for the household even...

Avoid Unnecessary Delays with Document Checklist for Certification Interviews

September 12, 2018    

HUD requires managers to cover a long list of topics during the certification meetings. At these times, it’s important that households bring certain key documents with them to the certification interview. These are documents containing the information you need to process the initial...

How to Verify Status of Absent Member Confined to Hospital or Nursing Home

February 15, 2018    

Last month, in Set House Rules on Extended Absences and Abandonment, we discussed what may happen if an entire household leaves your site for an...

How to Handle Income of Full-Time Students

August 12, 2013    

It’s likely that a number of the households you certify each year include full-time students who are 18 or older. Certifying these households isn’t complicated. But if you don’t know the specific rules on how to handle full-time students’ income, it’s easy to make...

Five Dos & Don'ts for Handling Alimony and Child Support

April 12, 2013    

When certifying or recertifying households, you may encounter household members who get alimony or child support from ex-spouses or their children’s parents, or household members who pay alimony or child support to someone else. You need to know how to handle these payments correctly to...

How to Respond to Recertification Requests from Newly Elderly Households

January 15, 2013    

Sometimes a household will alert your management office that it now qualifies as elderly. For example, the head of the household may have reached age 62 and the household now wants the additional allowances that elderly households are entitled to. Such requests may take some managers by surprise...

How to Count Absent Members When Calculating Household Size and Income

May 28, 2012    

A household may report to you that one of its members will be absent from the unit. For instance, an applicant may report that she has a daughter who's away at school. Or an existing resident may report that his wife had a stroke and will be confined to a nursing home. When certifying or...

Follow Three Rules When Offering Resident Service Stipends

February 2, 2012    

Like many owners and managers, you may pay a resident a small amount for part-time work he performs, such as raking leaves, cleaning common areas, or distributing flyers periodically at the site. HUD calls this payment a “resident service stipend” and defines it as a “modest...

How to Certify Households with Pregnant Members

September 27, 2010    

Households at your site with pregnant members, and families with pregnant members who apply to live at your site, are subject to specific HUD rules when it comes to eligibility, income, and unit size. But you have to be careful about how you use what you learn with regard to pregnant residents...