HOPE VI Relocation

BHA successfully relocated all 44 families residing at Magnolia Gardens by June 2007. Those families are eligible to return to Regent I or Pointe North, provided they have complied with reoccupancy requirements.

Families who wish to relocate to Regent I or Pointe North must first fill out an application at the property manager's office located at the development. This includes original residents of Magnolia Gardens. If the applicant qualifies, the property manager will place the applicant on the site-based waiting list. As units become available, the property manager will draw applicants from the site-based waiting list according to the applicants' priority status (described below). The following sections explain the requirements for eligibility and continued occupancy of these homes.

Order of priority for reoccupancy
The first priority for choosing residents from the site-based waiting list is for original Magnolia Gardens residents. Everyone on the waiting list, including original residents, must meet the eligibility criteria to live and remain in one of the homes. The eligibility criteria are set out in a section below. Regardless of priority, anyone interested in living in a public housing rental home at Regent I or Pointe North must fill out an application at the property manager's offices in order to get on the site-based waiting list. The property manager's offices are located at the respective developments.

  1. First priority
    Original residents who were living at Magnolia Gardens as of October 4, 2006 when BHA received notice that it won the HOPE VI grant. BHA will pay for the moving expenses of original residents who qualify to move back into a new HOPE VI home.

    Since the rental units are being built over time, some original residents may have to wait longer than others to move into their new HOPE VI home. The date and time a household submits its application at the property manager's office will determine ranking among original residents. Where the date and time are the same, original residents who lived longer at Magnolia will have higher priority over other original residents for the first available eligible public housing rental unit.
  2. Second priority
    Income-eligible households who do not live in public housing or have a Section 8 voucher at the time of their application to Regent I or Pointe North. This could include households who are on the BHA waiting list.
  3. Third priority
    Other BHA residents who live in public housing or have a Section 8 voucher at the time of their application to Regent I or Pointe North.

Reoccupancy application criteria
Regardless of whether the applicant is an original resident or not, the applicant must also meet all of the following criteria.

  1. The household is in good standing, which means that the household meets all the criteria listed below.
    1. Rent payment history: The tenant must not have paid rent late more than 3 times in a year, provided that such late rent was not during a proven hardship. Additionally, the tenant must not have an unpaid balance for rent owed, damages, or other charges unless previous arrangements for repayment have been made and at least 9 months of regular payments are verified as current. Late rent payments are defined as rent that is paid late per the terms the lease agreement with tenant.
    2. Utility bills: The tenant must not have outstanding or current delinquent debts owed to a utility provider. An allowance will be made for applicants who provide proof of being on a payment plan, in good standing and for those who the utility company is willing to establish an account in the applicant's name.
    3. Criminal/drug activity: The tenant, any household member, and any caretaker shall not have a prior felony conviction(s) or have been evicted (or currently undergoing eviction) from any Federally-assisted housing programs or any other housing for drug-related activities under the "One Strike" rule in the past three years. The tenant, any household member, and any caretaker must not currently be, or become engaged in illegal drug use. Exceptions may be made for residents enrolled in a recognized rehabilitation program. The tenant, any household member, and any caretaker must not currently be or become engaged in criminal activity. The tenant, any household member, and any caretaker must not be a sex offender or sexually violent predator or be registered on the Texas sex offender registry.
    4. Income and family composition: The tenant must have no previous misrepresentation of income or family composition as documented in the tenant file. Such misrepresentation includes refusal to cooperate fully in all aspects of the annual/interim review process, failure to provide previously requested documentation to complete the annual/interim review, and supplying fraudulent information relative to total family income and total family composition.
    5. Destruction of property: The tenant, tenant's household members, and tenant's guests must never have destroyed BHA property either intentionally or through gross negligence (including failure to act) as documented in tenant's file.
    6. Delinquent payments: At the time of application to the property, the tenant and tenant's household members may not be delinquent on payments for any form of federally funded or federally subsidized loan.
  2. If an existing BHA resident, household participates in the required community supportive services program or is exempt.

Continued occupancy of a HOPE VI public housing rental home
Unless the adults age 19 or over in a household are exempt (see the definition in the next sentence), all adult members in the household must meet the following criteria to remain in the HOPE VI public housing rental homes.

An adult member of the household is exempt from the following criteria if:

  • The adult is 62 years of age or older, or
  • The adult is blind or disabled (as defined under section 216(I)(I) or 1614 of the Social Security Act) and is are unable to comply with this section, or
  • The adult is the primary caretaker of a disabled individual, or
  • The adult is the primary caretaker of a co-resident child who is less than 1 year of age.
  1. Employment, full-time school, or compliance with case management plan.
    Prior to signing the lease, all adult members of household must provide proof that they are either (a) employed for 30 or more hours per week, (b) enrolled full-time in an accredited school (as determined by the school), or (c) enrolled in the HOPE VI-sponsored case management program. Each adult member that does not satisfy at least one of these three criteria must fill out a form at the time of signing the lease to enroll in HOPE VI case management. This form will be provided by the property manager and will be submitted directly to the case manager. The case manager will directly contact the household within five business days, and the adult household member(s) is responsible to meet with the case manager within five business days of being contacted. Failure to do so will trigger the 60-day clock described below. The case management plan will stipulate the educational or work-related activities each adult member of the household must be engaged in. Those who are enrolled full-time in school must provide proof of enrollment to the property manager within the first week of each semester as well as a transcript showing completion of the courses at the end of each semester. Those who are employed must provide proof of employment (e.g. paycheck stub) on a monthly basis to the property manager.
  2. Non-compliance
    Each non-exempt adult in the household may only be out of compliance with the work requirement, educational requirement, or the case management plan requirement for up to 60 cumulative days per year per person. Upon loss of job or reduction of hours to below 30 hours per week or failure to attend courses, the non-exempt adult agrees to enroll or re-enroll in case management services within 10 days. The non-exempt adult must also notify the case manager and property manager of loss or reduction of employment within 10 days. When the case manager receives the notification, the 60-day clock begins and the case manager will send notification to the leaseholder of the employment, education, and case management requirements that apply to all non-exempt adults in the household. Likewise, the case manager will determine when the adult is out of compliance with the case management plan and start the 60-day clock. Every other week the case manager will provide the property manager a list of households in case management and a status report of the households' compliance. The case managers will notify tenants of non-compliance, the consequences, and specific steps for the tenant to become compliant. The case manager will maintain the annual 60-day clock, and the property manager will proceed with the consequences for non-compliance.
  3. Consequences for non-compliance
    If any non-exempt adult within the household is out of compliance for more than 60 cumulative days in any one-year period, the property manager will file to transfer the household to a different, non-HOPE VI BHA project. If the household refuses the offered transfer unit, the property manager will then initiate the eviction process.

    If the leaseholder can demonstrate to BHA that there are extenuating circumstances preventing the non-exempt household member from continuing to work less than 30 hours per week beyond 60 days, or for non-compliance with the case management plan, then the BHA and the property manager may elect to grant up to 60 additional days (for a maximum of 120 days) to meet the employment or case management requirements.
     

Beaumont Housing Authority
1890 Laurel
Beaumont, TX 77701
phone: 409.951.7200
fax: 409.951.7276