TPP Arrearage Payment Pilot Program

• TPP-APP Application Form
• Attachment A: Rental Payment Request Form
• Attachment B: Household Attestation Form
• Attachment C: Income Certification Form
• Form W9
• ACH Form
• TPP Service Verification letter

Households

The benefit of the TPP Arrearage Payment Pilot program is exclusively for households receiving full TPP services, i.e., not consultation, with a housing stability plan to address ongoing rental payments and occupying a unit at a MassHousing-financed site. Property Managers must receive from the TPP provider a service verification letter on TPP provider agency letterhead with the TPP staff person’s name and contact information, the tenant’s initials, and tenant’s address.

All households must have total income of at or below 50% Area Median Income (AMI). Income eligibility may be verified using a variety of methods, outlined in the “Income Documentation” section.

The TPP Arrearage Payment Pilot program will use the HUD Income Definitions when calculating annual household income and Area Median Income (AMI).

Unit

To be eligible for the TPP Arrearage Payment Pilot, the following conditions must be met:

• The unit is in a MassHousing financed site; and
• There must be a current lease with a written notice of lease violation.

Uses

Rental Arrears

The TPP Arrearage Payment Pilot program limits assistance to only rental arrears and corresponding late fees and may not include other charges, e.g., security deposit, damages.

Limitations

The TPP Arrearage Payment Pilot program shall cover contract rent arrearages and corresponding late fees only. It shall not cover other landlord-imposed costs such as parking fees, pet fees, or damages. It does not cover other benefits, such as utilities or moving- related expenses.

The maximum amount of assistance is $10,000 per household for the duration of the pilot. If an arrearage under $10,000 is covered, the household may apply again in the future up to a maximum total of $10,000.

MassHousing’s expectation is this assistance will cure the nonpayment to prevent the eviction and preserve the tenancy.

If an Owner receives a duplicate payment from a state (e.g., RAFT, HomeBASE), federal, municipal, or philanthropically funded rental assistance program (i.e., same tenant, same address/unit, same rental arrearage amount covering the same period of time) as was granted under the TPP Arrearage Payment Pilot Program, the Owner of the development shall immediately notify the MassHousing and use best efforts to ensure that the funds are returned to the MassHousing or to the other funder.

To apply, the Owner should submit via secure email a Payment Request form and accompanying documents to David Eng, deng@masshousing.com. Forms must be completed in full. Each application request form received by MassHousing will be assigned a unique identifier for tracking, payment, and reporting purposes. Each application will be processed and, if approved, payment(s) will be made within a 30-day period.

Each Request Form must include the following:

1. Site Information, including: Name of Development, MassHousing Identification Number, Owner, Management Company, Address, and Contact Information;
2. Payment Request, including Monthly Rent and Total Payment Request;
3. Signature and Date attesting information is true and correct; and
4. Additional documents: W9, ACH Form, TPP Arrearage Payment Pilot Income Certification Form, Household Attestation Form, Copy of the development rent ledger.

Note: Required application data may be adjusted if funding requirements change.

MassHousing is responsible for final application review and for approving all Arrearage payments. MassHousing will conduct a range of system checks to verify the following:

1. Each household’s arrearage amount is equal to the total number of month’s rent obligation not paid to Owner, up to $10,000;
2. Assistance is only provided for units at qualifying and validated properties;
3. There are no duplicate or overlapping requests; and

Property Managers must obtain a Certification of 50% AMI status for tenant households for the TPP Arrearage Payment Pilot program. Property Managers are expected to obtain and maintain the required income documentation to comply with the requirements of state and federal housing programs. Property Managers do not need to submit the income documentation to MassHousing, unless requested by MassHousing’s reviewers or auditors.

In most cases, income documentation requirements will be met by income certifications to comply with the requirements of state and federal housing programs, such as LIHTC, HOME, and public housing. However, if a household’s income certification was not conducted, owners must maintain income documentation supporting that the household income is 50% of AMI or below, using one of the following documentation methods:

• Monthly income documents for two months prior to application (through recent pay stubs for each job, copies of unemployment benefit checks or bank statements, social security, or other benefit letters). In such cases, the owner must calculate the annual equivalent income (for example, by multiplying the two-month total income by six (6) to get an annual twelve (12) month equivalent);
• Third-party benefit letters dated within the prior two months to application confirming any of the following benefits: Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) benefits, MassHealth benefits, Veterans Chapter 115 benefits, or subsidized childcare benefits;
• If a tenant household has no income and has no documentation to establish the lack of income, the owner may document its efforts to obtain such information. If the Owner determines that a tenant household has no income, the Owner may rely on a signed tenant certification of zero income.

Owners must retain all program records for six fiscal years after benefits from the TPP Arrearage Payment Pilot have been received. The records may be retained electronically or physically, or a combination of the two. Retained records must include records of any communications with the tenant or other party involved in the application. The following documentation is required in the Owner’s files for all approved tenant households:

• Copy of identification for head of household;
• Verification of Lease;
• Documentation of qualified rent arrearages (e.g. account ledger, arrearage report);
• Income verification;
• W-9 of Owner; and
• Signed household attestation letter, which must include:
  • Attestation of no duplicative assistance;
  • Attestation of total rent arrearages;
  • Permission for the owner to apply for TPP Arrearage Payment Pilot funds on the tenant household’s behalf; and
  • Authorization for the Owner (or the owner’s agent) to share information necessary to process the application and for reporting.

MassHousing reserves the right to administer file spot checks based on the sampling model of LIHTC and other federal programs with well-established compliance regimes to which most of MassHousing borrowers and affordable housing properties are subject. Specifically:

• Property Managers must obtain and retain records of all tenants on whose behalf they apply
• Any application at any time may undergo a MassHousing quality assurance review, confirming that all necessary documents are in the file, and to verify that payment was issued in accordance with this policy. If notified, Owners must provide auditable documents upon request within 30 days.

Owners and their designated property managers must have established privacy protocols in place to protect any tenant household data collected and transmitted.

Property Managers will be contacted by MassHousing at 1 and 2-year intervals after the arrearage is paid for data collection and evaluation purposes. Property Managers are expected to share information about the household’s current occupancy status and rental payment history.