USDA/RD Income Limits are (Finally) Out

Issued through a procedural notice, these limits are not yet showing in MINC.

The effective date is 7/22/2019, and you can find/download/print them here. 

For those of you using OneSite, you will need to enter them into the software, as follows:

1.  After logging into your property, click the little wheel in the top right corner of your screen
2.  Under the “General property” heading on the left-hand sidebar, click “Affordable”
3. Click “Income Limits” (third item down) in the central “General-Property” menu
4. In the window that opens, click “Edit” next to the RHS income limits
5. In the top right of the window, enter the effective date (7/22/2019)
6. Just above the first blue bar, you will see a box with the instructions “Enter the 50% very low income limits amount for the area.  To enter all income limit amounts, click here to make the table fully editable.  Check the box.
7.  Enter the Very Low, Low, Moderate, and 100% Median income limits
8.  Save and exit.

Once these are entered, please review any applications that were rejected as over-income between 7/22/2019 and now.  If they qualify under the new income limits, please contact the applicants, and advise that the new income limits were just issued and they qualify.  If they wish to be on the wait list, please put them on the wait list as of their application date.  Any applications received prior to 7/22/2019 that were rejected for income do not need to be adjusted.  

Any questions, please let me know.

Theyyyyyyyyre Heeeeeerrrrrre...

Hot off the presses, the HUD income limits are out today.  USDA has not yet updated them in MINC.

HUD’s are here:

https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/il/il2019/select_Geography.odn

To update the income limits in OneSite:

1.    Go to the top left of your screen and click on the three horizontal lines there.

2.    Click on Administration

3.    Click on “Settings” under “Affordable”

4.    Click on “Income Limits” to the right of that menu

5.    A window will pop up displaying the current listing of income limits for your property.  

6.    Click on “Edit”

7.    Enter the effective date (4/24/2019)

8.    Just above the top blue bar, you will see a box to check to make the table fully editable.         YOU MUST CHECK THIS BOX.

9.    Enter income limits all the way across for the categories you need (ex. 80%, 50%,      

       30%.  You can make the unneeded ones zero. 

10.  Click “Save” in the bottom right corner of the window. 

That’s it – you’re done.  These should be completed no later than close of business Friday so that you minimize the amount of corrections you’ll have to make.

NOTE:  You will need to correct any recertifications 5/01 or later, as they will have incorrect income limits on them. 

Any questions, please let me know!

Updates

I've updated a couple of things that you need to be aware of.

First, I've updated the Emergency Management procedure to include information on what to do when someone asks for a "Wellness check" of a resident.

Per our DRS, Christine McPherson, a "Wellness Check" is not a term that is used in our industry, as it implies a level of health assessment that our staff doesn't do.  If someone is asking you to assess the health or safety status of a resident, this is something that should be directed toward Emergency Services.  If they just want to confirm that someone is home, that's a different matter.  Please be sure to thoroughly read the procedure, and contact your Regional Manager, the DRS, or me for any questions.

I've also updated the Verification of Assets form for all regulatory bodies.  Often, we send a verification form to a bank thinking we're getting information on checking and savings accounts, etc., only to have them put in an IRA.  When they do that, we're not getting the information on RMDs that we need.  

If you have a resident with a known IRA, use the "IRA verification form" for that.  However, in the event that they have an IRA that will end up verified as part of their assets at a bank, the form now includes a space for IRAs / Annuities.  

REMEMBER, you should first be asking for documents to be submitted by the tenant / applicant.  Only if those are insufficient will you be sending out a third-party verification.