From: Rojas, Jessica <Jessica.Rojas@bostonhousing.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2022 3:03 PM
To: Leased Housing Department <leasedhousing@bostonhousing.org>
Subject: RE: important changes‐ Change of Utility Responsibility vs. Change of Utility Type HI all,
Me again with another reminder email.
If an owner is requesting a Change of Utility Responsibility and this was approved by the inspection department (ex: Natural Gas was paid by owner, but tenant will now pay) we now complete this as an “Annual Recertification”, collecting updated income and LHQ from family. In addition, we will also need to send the EHAP to owner, and request the signed private lease‐‐just like a relocate. Elite won’t generate the EHAP unless the Certification Type is listed as “Other Change of Unit”, make sure to select that certification type to generate EHAP and send off, then make sure to change the Type back to Annual when you are ready to approve the certification.
It would be nice to remind the family that they are signing a new lease that will lock the family into a new 12 month term. Any agreement they decide to make with the owner to possibly move sooner will be between owner and tenant.
Now, if there is a Change of Utility Type (ex: Heating was Oil, but is now Gas, Tenant paid prior to change and will continue paying) we DO NOT need to complete a new lease. We can simply change the utility type in Elite and complete this as an interim.
This came up earlier and required some clarification from Barbara, so I figured I would share that with you all. Feel free to reach out to me, or your manager if you have any questions about this.
Jess
From: Sheerin, Barbara <Barbara.Sheerin@bostonhousing.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2022 11:28 AM
To: Leased Housing Department <leasedhousing@bostonhousing.org>
Subject: important changes
Importance: High
Good morning,
Effective immediately Elite will not validate your New Admission or Relocation certification if the client’s Total Tenant Payment (TTP) exceeds 40% of their adjusted gross income. In other words, you will not be able to complete your cert if the new move results in a violation of the 40% rule. Everyone should be validating the
certification prior to generating the New Lease documentation to ensure “lease ups” aren’t occurring without checking the 40% rule.
Also effective immediately, when doing a new lease for a “Change in Utility Responsibility” the certification will now be an Annual (rather than an “other change of unit”) The certification reason will be “Change in Utility Responsibility”. Please be sure you are collecting all the documentation you need to complete an annual cert.
Reminder: There should never be an override of the payment standard for and Annual or Other Change of Unit with the rare exception of an approved RA for an exception payment standard. These should be rare as if there is an approval of an extra bedroom a voucher for the correct bedroom size should be issued rather than an override of the payment standard.
Managers, please be sure to review the above with your respective teams to ensure that everyone understands and is comfortable with the instructions.
Best, Barbara
Barbara Sheerin
Director of Special Programs and Policy 617-988-4567