Family Participation

(1) Initial Determination of Family Eligibility. (a) Tennessee Housing Development Agency will be responsible for determining Family eligibility for participation, in accordance with 24 CFR Part 889. The Agency is responsible for verifying the sources and amount of the Family’s Income and other information necessary for determining eligibility and the amount of the assistance payments. (b) Every applicant for participation must complete and sign the form of application prescribed by HUD. (c) The Agency must maintain a system to assure that it will be able to assist all Families selected to participate within its ACC authorization and that it will comply, to the maximum extent feasible, with the unit distribution in the ACC. (d) Tennessee Housing Development Agency records on applicants and Families selected to participate must be maintained so as to provide HUD with racial, gender, and ethnic data and must be retained for three years. (2) Selection of Families for Participation. (a) The Agency will select Families for participation in accordance with the provisions of the Program and in accordance with die Agency’s application, including any Agency requirements or preferences as approved by HUD. (The Agency will select Families eligible for housing assistance payments currently residing in units which are designated for rehabilitation under the Program without requiring that these Families be placed on the waiting list. If assistance under this Part is being concentrated in a neighborhood, the Agency may establish a preference for applicants currently residing in that neighborhood who are being directly displaced by HUD programs. DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATION CHAPTER 0770-3-2 (3) Briefing of Families. (a) When a Family is initially determined to be eligible for housing assistance payments or is selected for participation, the Agency must provide the Family with information as to the Gross Family Contribution and the Agency’s schedule of Allowances for Utilities and Other Services. Each Family must also, either in group or individual sessions, be provided with a full explanation of the following: 1. Family and Owner responsibilities under the Lease and Contract; 2. Significant aspects of the applicable State and Local laws; 3. Significant aspects of Federal, State and local fair housing laws; 4. The fact that the subsidy is tied to the unit and the Family must occupy a unit rehabilitated under the Program; 5. The Family’s options under the Program should the Family be required to move due to an increase or decrease in Family size; and 6. The Family’s options under the Program if it decides to move from its rehabilitated unit. (b) For all Families residing in units to be rehabilitated, whether or not they will be displaced, the briefing must include notices and discussions of relocation and displacement rights and policies. (4) Continued Participation When Assisted Family Wishes to Move. (a) If an assisted Family notifies the Agency that it wishes to find another dwelling unit within the area in which the Agency has determined that it is able to enter into Contracts or that it has found another unit to which it wishes to move, the Agency, unless it determines that the Owner is entitled to payments due to the Family’s vacating the unit in violation of the lease or on account of nonpayment of rent or other amount owed under the Lease and that the Family has failed to satisfy any such liability or unless it determines the Family to be ineligible, may: 1. Give the Family a preference as a currently assisted Family wishing to move and provide it with the next available Section 8 Existing Housing Certificate of Family Participation or refer the Family to the next available unit rehabilitated under the Program, or 2. Place the Family on its Section 8 Existing Housing Program waiting list as if they had just applied. (b) If the Agency determines the Family to be ineligible, provisions of subsection 7 of this section must be followed. (c) If an assisted Family wishes to move out of the area in which the Agency has determined that it is able to enter into Contracts and the Family qualifies for assistance, the Family may obtain housing assistance in the jurisdiction to which it is moving, under the procedures contained in 24 CFR 882. (5) Continued Participation When Assisted Family Forced to Move. (a) Should an assisted Family which qualifies for continued assistance be forced to move through no fault of its own, such as an increase or decrease in Family size, the Family may continue to receive housing assistance through one of the following means, in the order stated: DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATION CHAPTER 0770-3-2 1. The Agency will refer the Family to the Owner of any appropriate vacant unit which has been rehabilitated under the Program if such a vacancy exists. 2. The Agency will refer the Family to the Owner of the next vacant unit which will be rehabilitated under the Program provided that a vacancy will occur within a reasonable time after the Family is notified to vacate its present unit. 3. If the Agency has a Section 8 Existing Housing Program in the area and Certificates are available, the Agency will offer the Family a Certificate of Family Participation and assist the Family in finding a suitable replacement unit. 4. The Agency will offer the Family the next available, suitable unit in this area owned or managed by the Agency under another program. 5. The Agency will assist the Family in locating other assisted or unassisted available housing in the locality within the Family’s ability to pay. (b) In no case will a Family be forced to move nor will assistance be terminated unless the Family rejects without good reason the offer of a unit which the Agency judges to be acceptable. (6) Continued Participation of Family When Contract is Terminated. (a) Should an Owner evict an assisted Family in violation of the Contract or otherwise breach the contract and the contract for the unit is terminated, the assisted Family, if it is eligible for continued assistance, may continue to receive housing assistance through the conversion of the Moderate Rehabilitation unit allocation to an Existing Housing unit. The Family will then be treated as any certified Family and will be issued a Certificate of Family Participation and assisted by the Agency in finding a suitable replacement unit. The unit will then be considered an Existing Housing unit except that the term of any Existing Housing Contract may not extend beyond the term of the initial Moderate Rehabilitation Contract. If the family is determined ineligible for continued assistance, the Certificate may be offered to the next Family on tile Agency’s Existing Housing waiting list. The units will remain under the Moderate Rehabilitation ACC which provides for such a conversion of units; therefore, no amendment to the ACC will be necessary to convert to Existing Housing units. All of this only applies when the Agency operates an Existing Housing program in the same area. (7) Families Determined by the Agency to be Ineligible. (a) If a family is determined by the Agency to be ineligible, either at the application stage or after assistance has been provided on behalf of the family, the Agency will promptly notify the family by letter of the determination and the reasons for it and the letter must state that the family has the right within a reasonable time (specified in the letter) to request an informal hearing. If, after conducting such an informal hearing, the Agency determines that the family is ineligible, it must so notify the family in writing. The procedures of this paragraph do not preclude the family from exercising its other rights if it believes it is being discriminated against on the basis of race, color, creed, religion sex, handicap, or national origin. The Agency must retain for three years a copy of the application, the notification letters, the family’s response if any, the record of any informal hearings, and a statement of final disposition.