Owner Update "Question Of The Month"

Q: Do I have to use any special procedures to screen TMHA- assisted tenants?

As a landlord, you can select among tenants approved for TMHA assistance in the same way you screen unassisted tenants. The rule of thumb is that your screening procedures must be consistent for all potential tenants, and meet nondiscriminatory fair housing guidelines. Following are some permissible selection criteria which are valid reasons for refusing to rent to someone:

won't provide you with proper identification won't furnish you with references from previous landlord(s) fails to complete and sign application and/or lease falsifies information on application or lease has many unpaid bills, bad credit, or history of late rent payments has pets and your written policy prohibits them (except seeing eye dogs)
has a verifiable history of evictions, unit damage or disturbing neighbors is a minor with no responsible adult to co-sign a family member has recent history of serious criminal activity cannot pay a required security deposit

We can be of some help to owners selecting tenants. We will give you the applicant's current address and current landlord, if we know it. According to TMHA policy, we will also disclose other information we may have in the family's file about tenancy history matters, such as evictions, history of unit damage or payment of rent. For new applicants coming on to the program for the first time, we probably wont have much tenancy information, but we probably will have information on those tenants who have been on the program, and are moving with our assistance. We will give program owners the above information in a factual manner upon request.

The bottom line is that we want our program owners to screen tenants. You have a right to select the kind of tenants you want to have so long as you observe fair housing guidelines. We approve tenant families for income eligibility, but not for tenancy. We do check to see if family members have a felony record. We can, and sometimes do, deny assistance to applicants who have had drug-related and/or violent criminal felony
convictions.

For information or questions about fair housing practices call Cheryl Staron at Fair Housing Consortia at 1-800-581-3247


HUD Funding Update

As reported several times in the past months, funding for the Section 8 Housing Voucher program has been hotly debated this year. The current administration at HUD says the program is "broken" and needs to be fixed. On the flip side is a coalition of housing advocates including landlord associations, who have cited the program's bipartisan history and the 2002 Congressional Millennial Housing Commission that called the Voucher program "flexible, cost-effective, and successful in its mission." This coalition has strongly lobbied legislators to continue adequate funding. In July, the House Appropriations Committee approved a version of the funding bill that comes close to fully funding the Voucher program, though other housing programs were cut to make up that funding. However, the future of the Voucher program is really dependent on the outcome of the presidential election. No definitive action will be taken until the nation makes that leadership decision.

At TMHA, families are being served, but funding is very tight. Prior to 2004, we have been able to pull new families off our waiting list on a monthly basis. This year, however, we have not pulled names for the past five months. The waiting list has grown to over 600 families, over twice as long as our usual number. This is definitely a "wait and see" time, with HUD being very parsimonious in its distribution of funds. Reliable
information on the state of funding is difficult to get, and seems to change frequently. TMHA, however, remains committed to honoring current active leases and contracts, and serving new families if and when funding becomes available.

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