raft program for landlords

Homeowners in need of mortgage assistance or other housing assistance may apply for the new Homeowner Assistance Fund (MA HAF) Program. RAFT funds could go towards paying a security deposit, first/last months rent, even furniture, though there are caps on how much RAFT money can be used for those purchases. If your tenant created an application already, you should receive a landlord invitation email. In this article, well look at what RAFT is, who it is designed to benefit, how it affects landlords and the areas where it could be doing more for families in need. Households can still apply for rental assistance from the more targeted, state-funded Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) program. If none of these are available, the applicant can self-certify. A lock icon ( As a result, response times are delayed, rental assistance payments can take months, and it may be a difficult time to obtain information from administrators. If you need assistance, please contact the Housing and Community Development. The RAFT COVID programs stated optionality may leave landlords who opt out exposed to litigation. For greater efficiency, these documents should be submitted with the referral. Landlords can apply for RAFT! 1. You are entitled to a legal proceeding in which you can defend against an eviction. Use this button to show and access all levels. When you submit the application, you give consent to DHCD to search other state agency databases to see if your income has already been verified by another qualifying program. However, there is a $10,000 cap in funding, and any money that a family has received from RAFT counts towards that. A lock icon ( The CM will review all documents and will follow up with the service provider by email or phone if they are in need of additional documents. Landlords of tenants who receive RAFT COVID funds do not lose the right to evict due to lease violations, or in the event that agreements including use of RAFT funds are not complied with. RAFT became the primary housing safety net during COVID-19. An official website of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, This page, Frequently Asked Questions for Landlords about Accepting State Funded Rental Assistance, is, Frequently Asked Questions for Landlords about Accepting State Funded Rental Assistance. RAFT provides qualifying households with maximum benefit limit of $10,000 per household in a 12-month period. The earlier you contact a lawyer the better. Open to all. Be sure to provide contact information for your landlord/property owner in your RAFT application. Discrimination by a landlord is prohibited. You can find more information on RAFT and other housing resources by dialing 2-1-1, contacting your local Housing Consumer Education Center(HCEC), or at the following links: Emergency Housing Payment Assistance during COVID-19, Report fraud, waste, or abuse of the RAFT program, Please listen for phone menu options for DHCD divisions. Submitted lets the landlord or tenant know that the application has been submitted but is still waiting for the other party to match with the application using the specialized code. Before you begin your application, be sure you have the following documents ready to upload: ID for Head of Household (expired or international forms of ID are acceptable), Verification of current housing (example: your current lease or rental agreement), Verification of eligible housing crisis and arrears (examples: a Notice to Quit from your landlord; eviction notice; or documentation showing an inability to stay in your current home due to health, safety, or other reasons). Homeowners may be eligible for mortgage or other assistance under the states Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF). Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT). RAFT provides short-term financial assistance to low-income families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. Otherwise the CM will follow up with the property owner and possibly slow the approval process. The RAFT COVID program is an enhancement to the regular 15-year-old RAFT program, which provides up to $4,000 for eligible households to pay for rent, mortgage, utilities or moving expenses. :If your tenanthas notapplied, startan application by asking for yourtenant to sign the required consentform that is available through theregional agency. A lawyer can advise you about the law, refer you to resources, fill out and file court papers, and represent you. After coordinating with your tenant and determining that they are eligible and have not already applied, you can start the application process by through the Central Application. The RAFT program helps keep households in stable housing when facing eviction, loss of utilities, and other housing emergencies. Under review tells the landlord or tenant that the application portions have been matched up, and it is being reviewed for eligibility. The intake form does not need to be completed in person, however. This could be in the form of emergency rent assistance to avoid eviction (or help paying rent going forward, if the family applying is in search of housing or has already been evicted). Since RAFT monies can be used for more purposes than just late rentwhat may have happened in situations where the tenant got RAFT support but the landlord never saw any money was that the tenant directed the payment to an additional vendor as well as to a new landlord.. The time between submitting a RAFT application and receiving a RAFT award or denial varies. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the official website. If you have already submitted an application, you can use this portal to upload additional documents and see which RAA is processing your application: If you are unable to upload additional documents to the portal, you may also provide them in ONE of the following ways: Please include the applicants name and Application ID# on all documents. Tenant income eligibility limit forassistanceis 50%of the Area Median Income(AMI), or 60% of AMI for households who are at risk of domestic violence. Starting Nov. 14, landlords or tenants in these areas were able to file new RAFT applications through the portal. Please do not include personal or contact information. Also, in order to qualify for RAFT COVID funds, tenants household income must be at or below 50% of Area Median Income. Average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Boston is approximately $1,927 (taken from a combination of averages calculated by listing rental agencies Zumper and apartmentlist.com). The administration announced the RAFT COVID program in October as part of its $171 million Eviction Diversion Initiative. The RAFT Program is a homelessness prevention program funded by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The following documentation is required to apply: Please do not include personal or contact information. contact the Housing and Community Development. Applicants must bring photo identification and proof of current income for all adult members of the household. Youve been added to our list. Mass. Even if that tenant began paying full rent again in September, they would have tallied $11,562 in rent arrearages. A RAFT application was the primary way to access the safety net for the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts. RAFT provides qualifying households with maximum benefit limit of $10,000 per household in a 12-month period. LAS VEGAS (KSNV) The City of Las Vegas is taking applications once again for its newly re-funded Rental Assistance for Tenants (RAFT) program. Once someone receives initial approval, they can complete an application. The RAFT COVID program is presented as an option to landlords, who may, according to its language, decide whether or not to accept the funding in excess of $4,000. Residents can call 702-229-5935 if they are facing an eviction or need help applying for the RAFT program Monday-Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more guidance on how to apply and create a landlord profile, please utilize this reference guide: Housing Assistance Application Reference Guide (mass.gov), For a list of landlords/property owners Frequently Asked Questions, visit: Landlord FAQs download (mass.gov), For other resources, including recordings of webinars about Landlord/Property Owner RAFT Application Portal, visit: RAFT Public Resource and Training Portal | Mass.gov. Homeowners can continue to access the federal Homeowner Assistance Fund(HAF). You must have your application number in order to submit documents or to determine which agency is processing your application. This could delay the approval process. Emergency Housing Payment Assistance (RAFT), Specialized Intensive Programs & Services (SIPS), Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8), Massachussets Rental Voucher Program (MRVP), Please complete and submit your application for financial assistance, Rental Relief, Utility Arrears & Eviction Prevention, At this time, the MA Emergency Housing payment Assistance Application is not accepting applications from homeowners. 4CN|DtA$1 EG>JR ` 4pF :GI6*ozq}GGv|wK}xl7YR{S1!e/y''gOa[5eW?|ni_lwok_k/>_n~@>?n._*^m7wl?YxRSDxN.vsKWUI,VKz0?1S#j?^^7?Pi^SWBoRG\>Ai,EDHieYu-y/3o[K/dom~I_~ZsN}{L=MWi|92}e |Mg_:lW?b1ZK}AGJn]/9fT+E -gS&r%a9Yc9jd+Yl>{q\thE=oV~cWj)~X6O ~*%O9%# ? Please do not include personal or contact information. RAFT can cover utilities, moving costs, and overdue rent. by Nomer Caceres. How Landlords Can Apply for RAFT | Mass.gov Thursday 8 AM 4 PM Updated April 14th, 2023 ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the official website. Subsidies resulting from RAFT applications during the COVID-19 pandemic were capped at 15 months total benefit. [email protected] To begin the landlord/property owner application process, you must first register an account as a new user if you have not already done so here: User Registration (mass.gov). Then, during the case, RAFT responds, offering an amount of rental assistance funds, eventually, that will cure nonpayment. 10 Church Street Click below for a step-by-step guide on how to apply for the RAFT program: For additional RAFT application resources for tenants and landlords, please read our blog post here. There are many cases in Massachusetts in which landlords are owed rent of well over $10,000, such that RAFT alone would not cure arrearages or cover foreseeable future shortfall. Renters or landlords can apply by submitting an online application. To view all of this presentation, you must be logged with webinar access. Examples include, but are not limited to, Notice to Quit, courtsummons, utility shutoff notice., Name, DOB, sex, race, ethnicity and SSN (when available) forall adultmembers of the household, Identification for the head of household (Examples: photo id, license, birth certificate,passport), Rental information: Lease/tenancy agreement, amount of rent,amount of arrears, whether they have a rental subsidy, Household income (see more details here on income verification), W-9 from payee (landlord/property owner). Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, Applying for Rental Assistance in Massachusetts to Avoid Eviction, contact the Housing and Community Development. RAFT: Residential Assistance for Families in Transition More information is available here, or you can go to https://hedfuel.azurewebsites.net/ to find a legal aid program near you. Landlords must obtain and submit a signed tenant consent form before applying for assistance. Some page levels are currently hidden. People applying for RAFT must do so in the region where they intend to use their RAFT benefits. Funded by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), RAFT is described as a homelessness prevention program[that] provides short-term financial assistance to low-income families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. In other words, it is flexible funding that can be used for a variety of housing-related expenses, depending on the needs of the individual family. ?kB9z For information on how to request assistance, please clickhere. Some page levels are currently hidden. If you would like to continue helping us improve Mass.gov, join our user panel to test new features for the site. A landlords refusal to accept emergency rental assistance, that covers the entire amount owed to the landlord, may, in some circumstances, constitute a violation of Chapter 151B. Step 2: Your LANDLORD/PROPERTY OWNER, must also submit a landlord application. You cannot save and return to an application, so you must complete your application in one sitting. The following documentation is required to apply: If your tenant is behind on the rent - or . You can find information of HAFhereorcall 2-1-1 for more information. If additional income documentation is needed, the organization processing your RAFT application will reach out to you to request it. Home - NeighborWorks Housing Solutions Homeowners in need of mortgage assistance or other housing assistance may apply for the new Homeowner Assistance Fund (MA HAF) Program. Those administering the screening have some discretion in determining eligibility based on the tool. Top-requested sites to log in to services provided by the state. RAFT can cover utilities, moving costs, and overdue rent costs, as well as future rent in limited situations. Alandlord's refusal to accept emergency rental assistance,thatcoversthe entire amount owed to the landlord,may,in some circumstances,constitute a violation of Chapter 151B. endstream endobj 2600 0 obj <>stream Households applying after Aug. 1, 2022, must have been served a notice to quit or eviction notice, or have a court summons for owed rent in order to be eligible. 172. States that did not use all of the federal money they were allocated were at risk of having that money "clawed back" by the U.S. Treasury. We will use this information to improve this page. }. For households applying to RAFT for assistance with rent arrears, a notice to quit or eviction notice/court summons is now required. Applicants should complete all of the fields in the preferred-language application and with all of the required documents, they may mail them to Metro Housing|Boston, 1411 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02120. Top-requested sites to log in to services provided by the state, Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) Program. The requirement of only one set of signatures; Reduced documentation requirements for household identification new income verification processes will allow for automatic data matching with DTA, MassHealth, or DOR (UIOnline and WageMatch). Other landlords, especially mom and pops who rely on rental income for their livelihood, are simply not in the position of Winton Corp to wait several months to find out if assistance from RAFT will cover back rent owed. Households can apply by submitting an online application. This could include families who are facing eviction. RAFT provides qualifying households with up to $10,000 per household in a 12-month period to preserve current housing or move to new housing. *2 RAFT sends payments to your landlord or mortgage company. This would seem to suggest that RAFT cannot be refused even when it would not fully cover arrears. You skipped the table of contents section. If a tenant does not have an email address or access to a computer, they can still go to their regional administering agency (RAA). RAFT can cover utilities, moving costs, and overdue rent costs, as well as future rent in limited situations. Of the approximately $400 million allocated to Massachusetts in the December 2020 Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CAA 2021), 65% had to be spent by Sept. 30, 2021, to avoid clawback. Please limit your input to 500 characters. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. In these cases, a landlord accepting the terms of the increased RAFT COVID limit would be extending a tenancy deep in arrears while forfeiting the ability to recoup any losses for at least six more months. MassLandlords has sought clarification on the likelihood of litigation of the RAFT COVID provisions optionality, in correspondence with the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD), and the state Attorney Generals office. The two programs also serve different purposes. Furniture. Find your regional agency and income eligibility data, Find Spanish language resources for landlords, FAQs for landlords about accepting state funded rental assistance. Household must provide documentation/proof that they are currently experiencing a housing crisis: Utility arrearages (with utility shut off/termination notice). After the end of the RAFT benefit period, the tenant does not payrentor otherwise violates the lease. If all the required documents are uploaded, the CM will not need to contact the applicant and will instead contact the referring agency. Click below for a step-by-step guide on how to apply for the RAFT program: Application processing can take several weeks and funds are not guaranteed. The program started Nov. 14 in two regions, with statewide rollout expected sometime in mid-December. Slides are available only for members in good standing who are logged in. To view all of this presentation, you must be logged-in and a member in good standing. A .mass.gov website belongs to an official government organization in Massachusetts. 2. Landlords and tenants can see their application status change as it moves through the system. Visitors to these websites are encouraged to contact agency representatives, listed on the websites, to help with navigation, clarifying information and applying . Of the approximately $400 million allocated to Massachusetts in the March 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), 50% had to be spent by March 2022 to avoid clawback. If you need assistance, please contact the Housing and Community Development. Additional documentation that backs up the applicants claim for needing funding may also be required. The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) announced the pilot program for its new application portal for the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT). If a family had used RAFT funds to stave off becoming homeless, but in the end were not able to remain in housing, they could see less HomeBASE funding later on. Landlords can begin the application process . Landlords and property owners can (a) begin the RAFT application process for their tenants who may need to request financial assistance for overdue rent OR (b) complete the application once the tenant has submitted their application. The RAFT COVID program is very new and RAFT administrators are flooded with applications as households struggle with job and income losses. Tenants can also apply directly. The RAFT program helps keep households in stable housing when facing eviction, loss of utilities, and other housing emergencies RAFT helps all kinds of households by providing up to $10,000 per household, within a 12-month period, to help preserve current housing or move to new housing. Landlords can apply directly for rental assistance on behalf of eligible residents. Not submitted means an application has been started, but not completed and turned in. Residential Assistance for Families in Transition could pay for moving costs, paying owed rent or utilities, security deposits or first/last months rent, among other uses. RAFT, which has been around since 2005, has helped many families with things like security deposits, rent and furniture since its inception. Se enfrenta al desalojo? Prior to COVID-19, families could obtain no more than $4,000 from RAFT within a 12-month period. RAFT can cover utilities, moving costs, and overdue rent, as well as forward rent in limited situations. The onus is on the landlord to report a move-out to the Regional Administering Agency. As discussed earlier, families who receive RAFT funding can use that money for a variety of purposes to avoid becoming homeless or to find housing if they are currently homeless. This language leaves open the possibility that it may be interpreted as discriminatory to evict a renter who has received public rental assistance. If you do not think your tenant has access to email, DHCD recommends you have your tenant initiate the application with their local RAA. Landlords and property managers will be able to create a profile on the portal with their W-9 and payment information. It will take between four and seven weeks to process all applications. RAFT can assist families with emergency rental situations, but it lacks the long-term stability of permanent rental subsidies. RAFT can cover utilities, moving costs, and overdue rent. endstream endobj 2599 0 obj <>stream Paper applications will still be available at RAAs if tenants need them. Open to all. As of Aug. 1 2022, households can obtain up to 12 months of assistance, capped at $10,000. Join us! For more information about how to apply, please visit our landlord page. Proceed with caution: opting out of RAFT COVID funding could render landlords vulnerable to discrimination litigation. It can provide funds for the same housing-related expenses that RAFT covers. A households income must be at or below 50 percent. Please let us know how we can improve this page. General Law 151B, the states discrimination law, bars discriminating against anyone receiving public assistance, including rental assistance. But considering the language in discrimination law 151B, theres too much risk and vulnerability for discrimination liability to take that step hastily. They were eligible to reapply after that time, but had to wait 12 months from their first received payment. If you have questions regarding how to complete the application, please contact Metro Housings Housing Hub at 617-425-6700 or via e-mail at [email protected].

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