Understanding the Process from start to finish in your local rehabilitation program |
Summary:
Many housing programs differ in some form or the other in term of process. However, the common parts are to qualify for the program, to understand your responsibilities as a participant in the program and to know all of the steps involved in your program
The primary criteria for qualifying is Owner Occupation of the property to be repaired. Some programs require that the Owners have occupied the property in question for a certain amount of time before qualifying. Most programs offer some form of assistance to one-to-four family units, but programs like to limit the units to one or two families because Owner Occupation is higher in these units.
The next criteria for qualification is the income of all adults in the household. Income limits are established by the local or regional offices of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to ensure that low and moderate income persons benefit from the funds that are used in housing programs.
Another common criteria to qualify is to live within a town, city or county that the program serves. Certain districts within a given jurisdiction may have some of their housing rehabilitation funds set aside to improve those districts, but most programs focus on the entire jurisdiction.
Other criteria that may factor in qualification are the worth of disposible assets that the Owner may possess and that the property taxes are current.
Cooperation with Program Procedures - To provide all documentation needed for approval (Deed, Income Stubs, Banking Statements), communication with all parties within the rehabilitation process through to finalization of the project.
Contractor Selection - Some programs have different methods for approving contractors for participation in their program, but the decision of who should work on their home should be made by the Homeowners. The criteria used to consider should be, but not limited to, effective communication with the Contractor, past performance of said Contractor in other projects similar to your own and the trust/comfort factor.
Approval of Scope of Work - Should be agreed upon before final approval of the physical portion of the project. Code related work should have priority over general request work. Understand the process of completing the contracted tasks, from material ordering to site preparation.
The general elements (or steps) to be understood after the agency approval are:
These are steps that must be concluded before any physical work can begin on your project.