Houston housing assistance programs
From Wikinvestor
There are a number of housing assistance programs in Houston, available either from the Houston Housing Authority, or Harris County.
Contents |
Houston rental assistance programs
HUD on the DHAP
The following link from the HUD website explains about the Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP)
Details from HUD site on Section 8 Rental Voucher Program: HUD on rental voucher program.
Details from HUD site on Section 8 Rental Certificate Program: HUD on rental certificate program.
DHAP through Houston Housing Authority
The Houston Housing Authority is the local administrator of the federal Low-Rent Public Housing Program and the Housing Choice Voucher Program (formerly Section 8): Houston Housing Authority DHAP.
A Houston real estate investor in Feb, 2009, made the following insightful comments about this program:
- "I have rented to tenants who have qualified under all the programs listed above. Please note that DHAP also included the families displaced by Hurricane Ike even though the HUD website does not reflect that fact. The HUD site only discusses Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. The main take-aways that I have is that investors/homeowners who rent to subsidized tenants must be PATIENT and PERSISTENT with the Housing Authority. They are severely understaffed, overworked and weeks behind in processing the paperwork. I have found them to be responsive individuals when I have been able to sit down with them or catch them on the phone. They are simply overloaded (just like loss mitigators these days). Your rent checks may not begin to be disbursed for 2-3 months after the property passes the inspection if you "wait" for them to be processed. You must consistently contact the housing agency as well as visit the case workers at the housing office to ensure that your paperwork does not get lost in the shuffle. However, once the payments begin to flow, they don't stop." Chris Tubbs
Over the years, I have learned a little about the process that occurs to go from applicant to rental payment. The following description is for DHAP/Hurricane Vouchers, not Section8. The processes are very similar, however.
- Tenant(s) get a voucher for rental assistance that is managed by Houston Housing Authority.
- Tenant(s) identify a landlord willing to accept subsidized payments administered by Houston Housing Authority. Note, there is also a Harris County Housing Authority that administers it's own Section8 and other rental assistance programs.
- Landlord accepts voucher packet from tenant and gathers required information: SSN or EIN, copy of Warranty Deed, Management Agreement (if applicable), lease agreement, completes the DRSC and RTA packets and sets up a lease with Corporate Lodging (www.corplodging.com) if they are dealing with a FEMA sponsored program.
- The tenant should have all required paperwork complete when they provide you with the voucher and tenancy packet.
- Submit all original paperwork at one time (unless you like bureaucratic delays). You can give your paperwork to the prospective tenant or take the entire packet to the Housing office yourself. It depends on how you like to spend your time vs your comfort level of delegating responsibility.
- Typically, an inspection will be scheduled within 10-14 days. Someone at the Housing office will call you and tell you the day the inspector will be at the property. You are not presented with options for the inspection. You will not get a time window at this time, just a date.
- The morning of the inspection or the evening prior to the scheduled date, the inspector will call you and tell you when they will be at your house. Note that this is a very loose approximation of time. You can either be present or have the tenant present. Ensure that all utilities are working. I have had tenants wait for an inspector from 8AM to 7PM on the same day. The inspectors don't care about your time you have to wait for them. Again, chose how you want to spend your time. If you miss the inspector, you get to start the process over again (usually at least a 10 day wait).
- If you have not been through a Housing inspection in the past, either ask someone who has, or get the checklist from the Housing office. There are lots of little things that can cause the house to fail. Read: more delays.
- Once the property passes inspection, you get to wait again. It is at this point your rental clock starts ticking (normally). Meaning, rental payments are usually retroactive to the date the home passed inspection, if the tenants move in on that day. If you allow them to move in prior to the inspection, you are allowing them to stay rent-free, housing will not pay for those days.
- About a week after inspection, consider creating a follow-up plan with the Housing Authority. This is not the time to be passive and wait for things to happen. Find out who the case worker is and get their extension. If you call, you'll get voice mail 99% of the time. Sometimes you can cajole the operator into giving you an email address.
- The next potential bottle neck is the rent reasonableness analyst. All of the hurricane IKE DHAP vouchers are processed by one woman (Maria). As of mid-Feb 2009, she was still processing homes that had been inspected in December & early January. Huge delay here! Send a persistent person to the Housing office and find out if she has reviewed your tenant's voucher. If not, ask for it to be expedited.
- Once the market analysis is completed, it goes back to the office on Fountainview for "processing". Not sure why, but that's what I'm told. From Fountainview it goes to final review and then release for payment. Ensure that you've got everything set up on www.corplodging.com if you have a FEMA funded packet. Call them and ask.
- Between the time the property passes inspection and the paperwork gets processed (typically 2-3 months), The landlord will not receive rental payments from the Housing Authority. However, FEMA will pay the tenants bridge rental payment to cover that timeframe. Unfortunately, no one will disclose this to you, or the tenants. Be sure to check with your tenants about mysterious direct deposits into their accounts equal to the rental amount. FEMA doesn't automatically make the payments, the tenant may have to submit a request in writing.
- Once it is released for payment, you should get your first check (including the backdated time) in about 2 weeks. Then the checks arrive at the beginning of each month.
- 2640 Fountain View Dr, Suite 100, Houston, Texas 77057
- Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday & Friday 8:00AM-5:00PM, Tuesdays & Thursdays 8:00AM-12:00PM
- Leasing Packets (Voucher Information) and Contracts will only be accepted Monday-Friday 8:00 AM- 4:00PM
- Clients are seen by Appointment only at ALL times.
DHAP through Harris County
Outside Houston there is a Harris County DHAP program at: DHAP Harris County
- Address: 8933 Interchange Drive, Houston, TX, 77054
- Phone Number: 866-497-6036
- Hours: Mon - Wed and Fri: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Thu: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
- E-mail: info@dhapharriscounty.org
Section 8 from Houston
The Houston Section 8 program is administered by the Houston Housing Authority.
Houston down payment assistance programs
See also
Return to Portal:Houston.
