Vouchers

Initial Baseline Period

For the first three months after your contract has been assigned to the Southern California Performance Based Contract Administrator, L.A. LOMOD, your contract will be in the baseline period. This baseline period provides a timeframe for the PBCA to build your project and resident databases for the purpose of reviewing and approving your monthly HAP requests. Detailed, date-specific instructions will be provided, but below is a summary of the steps you will take during this process: 1.Submission of documents to L.A. LOMOD which will include the following items: •Complete Property Profile Form with owner’s signature (this will be mailed to you via the USPS).

• Executed Rent Schedules – current and previous
• Unit listing including bedroom sizes
• Income limits indicating the appropriate county or city
• 1199 Direct Deposit Forms
• W-9 Form

2. Baseline preparation/submission instructions for tenant TRACS data. This step is critical to ensure a timely transition of the voucher payment process from HUD to the PBCA. It involves: •Preparing a baseline of tenant data in the prescribed MAT file format,

• Submission (via iMAX) of the baseline file(s) to L.A. LOMOD’s TRACS mailbox, and
• Submission (via email/fax) of prior vouchers to L.A. LOMOD for startup reconciliation purposes.

During this process, your voucher specialist will communicate directly with your staff with any questions they have. Once the baseline process has been completed, the normal monthly processing cycle begins. All TRACS transmissions (vouchers and tenant data) are sent to LOMOD via iMAX.

Regular Processing Period

(All Voucher information, including tenant data, is due by the 1st of the month, but should be absolutely submitted by the 10th of the month.) Owner/Agents will receive instructions for the normal monthly processing cycle including:

• Submission deadlines – All voucher and tenant information is due by the 1st of the month, but should be absolutely submitted by the 10th of the month
• Emailing/faxing instructions of signed Owner/Agent-prepared vouchers.
• If monthly voucher is not received by the 10^th of the month a late notification will be issued to the property via email.
• DUNS Number Required on all Voucher Submissions – Per HUD memo dated June 2, 2017 “HUD will not pay a voucher that does not include an active DUNS number”.
• Entities must register/re-activate annually in SAM to maintain an active status to be eligible to receive financial assistance.

Discrepancy notice – If there is a difference between the amount requested and the amount approved the processor will issue a discrepancy notice explaining the reasoning for the difference.  The owner agent should refer to the information contained within the discrepancy to adjust their records accordingly and refer to the pending item(s) listed under Regular Payments to mitigate the discrepancy(ies) prior to the next voucher submission. Failure to correct the pending item(s) will cause the discrepancy(ies) to continually appear on each month’s voucher, which may result in an MOR finding. Unresolved Voucher Notice : To notify the project owner that LOMOD is unable to process the current voucher submission due to open voucher(s) from previous month(s). Banking / Management /ownership changes – Notify Contract Administrator of any changes.

• L.A. LOMOD as the Contract Administrator will notify the owner/Agent via email of the requirements to set up new banking, management, or ownership changes. To ensure correct distribution of funds and avoid any possible delays in receiving HAP subsidy.
• Blank forms for 1199 (ACH deposit change) and a Questionnaire (contact information update) will be included in an email. Forms should be emailed to Patricia.Loera@hacla.org.

Implement Gross Rents onto a voucher – Once rent scheduled is executed by HUD, the owner agent needs to process the contract rent changes. In the event that you have received the final executed rent schedule with two different effective dates (rent effective date and UA effective date), please submit one Gross Rent per voucher month to allow the Gross Rent certifications to post successfully in TRACS. Corrective Action Letter – If a default occurs, the contract administrator must notify the project owner of the nature of the default, the corrective actions needed to cure the default, including the timeframe in which the owner must complete the corrective actions. If the owner does not implement the required corrective actions within the prescribed timeframe, the contract administrator may exercise any of its rights or remedies under the Section 8 HAP contract, including offsetting housing assistance payments, or other corrective action. EIV Penalty – Owner Agent will be penalized 5 percent decrease in voucher payment for the next scheduled voucher following the date the violation was found until EIV finding(s) are cured. Payment of HAP Voucher Survey – This survey will be sent from LOMOD to the Owner/Agent to obtain feedback about the experience with the voucher processor.   50059 – Full cert – MI, AR, IR, IC, IR/UT, AR/UT 50059A – Partial cert – MO, TM, GR, UT

HUD recognizes that owners of affordable housing have a potential financial risk because of the limitation on security deposits they are permitted to require and the need to adhere to waiting list requirements when vacancies occur. Therefore, owners may be reimbursed for some of their financial loss through the special claims process. Special Claims for Vacancy Losses After Rent-Up and Special Claims for Unpaid Rent and Tenant Damages are processed by LOMOD.

• Vacancy Losses After Rent-Up is compensation to the property owner for the loss of rental income of a unit that was previously occupied by an assisted tenant and where the unit has been vacant for circumstances beyond the owner’s control.
• A Special Claim for Unpaid Rent and Tenant Damages is reimbursement to a property owner for a former tenant’s failure to pay the monthly rent or other charges or for damages caused by the negligence or abuse of the former tenant.

Special Claims Reminders

1. Make sure that all HUD claim forms (HUD 52670-A, part 2, HUD 52671-A, and HUD 52671-C) are signed and dated.  Verify all calculations on HUD forms for accuracy.
2. Per the Special Claims Guidebook

• Section 3-4.A and 5-4.A, the claim must be submitted within 180 days from the date the vacated unit was first available for occupancy.
• Section 3-3.C.2, a copy of the HUD 50059 completed at move-in for the former tenant is required.
• Section 3-3.C.5, provide documentation that verifies the date the unit was available for occupancy.
• Section 5-2.E.2, for tenant damages, only extraordinary repairs and/or replacements should be claimed.
• Section 1-5.H.1, an appeal to a special claim determination must be submitted within 30 days from the date on the letter denying or adjusting a claim.

3. Waiting lists submitted with special claim requests must show evidence that they are “working” waiting lists.  A mere list of applicants is NOT evidence of a working waiting list.  The report should be in applicant date order, and include annotations which indicate updated contact results and status of each applicant.
4. Per the Special Claims Guidebook, “the owner must verify all tenant transmissions to TRACS (move-in, move-out, etc.) prior to submitting the special claim for approval”.  To satisfy this requirement, you must have access to HUD’s Secure Systems.  You will need to log into the TRACS Certification Query to confirm that the move out record (and move in record, if applicable) is in TRACS.  Please print the screen which shows the appropriate record and include with your special claim submission documents as evidence that you have verified TRACS.
5. Be sure to enter your “approved” special claims on a voucher within 90 days from the approval letter.  Per the FAQ’s issued by HUD, “if an owner fails to submit an approved claim through the voucher system after the 90-calendar day claim period then payment of the special claim will be denied.”

Please submit your Special Claims to: specialclaims@hacla.org