October 2003 Owners Update

Owner Update "Question Of The Month"

My TMHA tenant is in arrears in paying the utilities at the unit he rents from me. Will this affect his assistance? Answer: Yes, it could - if the lease indicates that the tenant is responsible to pay the utility, and if the utilities are turned off for non-payment. As you know, sometimes the owner pays utilities and passes the cost on to the tenant through the rent amount. In the majority of rentals, though, the tenant is responsible to pay for one or more of the heating, electric, or water/sewer utilities (phone, cable are not considered essential utilities by TMHA).

Let?s say the tenant is responsible for paying for the gas utility, and fails to pay it, and the gas is eventually turned off. In that case, the unit will fail the Housing Quality Standards inspection because an essential utility is off, and the tenant is responsible for the failure. The responsibility of the housing authority is to require the tenant to get the gas turned back on or face termination from the program for non-compliance.

Therefore, it is imperative that the tenant keep those utilities up to date. At recertification time, we ask to see the bills for the utilities that the tenant is paying. We want to see if they are making payments, and remind them of their responsibility to maintain the utility. Estimates are that home heating costs - especially gas - could go up by as much as 50% particularly if we have a cold winter. With that in mind, it?s imperative that tenants get help with these costs if they need it. There are two programs available to help low income families.

1) The HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (HEAP) helps low income households reduce their heating expenses during the winter months.

2) EMERGENCY HEAP helps those household who have lost their home heat, or are threatened with the loss of heat. HEAP applications are now available and EMERGENCY HEAP assistance will be available from November 3, 2003 until March 31, 2004. Eligible households can apply for both, but only once every winter.

If you know of a tenant who is having trouble keeping their utilities up to date, advise them to call for help with the HEAP programs at the HARCATUS Tri-County CAO office at 330-364-7525 or 740-922-0933.