Warren Avenue - Weston Lottery Information Packet

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1 PROJECT DESCRIPTION Warren Avenue - Weston Lottery Information Packet The Warren Avenue Project consists of 7 units of rental housing the rehabilitation of an existing duplex house, the conversion of an existing single-family home into two apartments and the conversion of a former Water Department building into 3 apartments. The Weston Affordable Housing Trust (WAHT) owns the apartments and the project was made possible through the generous support of the citizens of Weston through the Community Preservation Act. The management team for the Brook School Apartments will manage the Warren Avenue apartments. Metro West CD is serving as the Lottery Agent for the initial leasing of the units. The project features three 3-bedroom apartments and four 2-bedroom units. Four of the units will be made available to households earning 80% of area median income (AMI) (three 2-bedroom units and one 3-bedroom unit) and three units that will be made available to households earning between 80+% - 100% AMI (one 2-bedroom unit and two 3-bedroom units). One of the units is currently occupied and will not be included in the lottery. The 80% AMI units are referred to as 80% AMI LIP unit and the 100% AMI units are referred to as 80+% -100% AMI CPA units. Basic specifications for the units in the project are included in the table below. Unit Types and Sizes Unit Type Bedrooms Baths Area Parking Spaces Accessible? 80% AMI Unit No 80% AMI Unit No 80% AMI Unit No 80% AMI Unit ,109 2 Adaptable 80+% - 100% AMI Unit ,449 2 No 80+% - 100% AMI Unit 3 2 1,421 2 No APPLICATION AND LEASING PROCESS The apartments at Warren Avenue will be leased through a lottery. All interested households must submit a complete application to Metro West CD by the application deadline (March 22, 2016 at 5:00 P.M.) to be included in the lottery. All applicants who submit a complete application will be added to Metro West CD s Ready er Program. INCOME ELIGIBILITY Income eligibility is determined based on the rules established by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ( HUD ) in Handbook : Occupancy Requirements for Subsidized Multifamily Housing Programs. Income limits published 1

2 annually by HUD will be used to determine the income limits for the 80% AMI LIP units; income limits published annually by the Community Preservation Coalition will be used to determine the income limits for the 80+% - 100% AMI CPA units. The income limits for the LIP units and the CPA units are included below, with adjustments for household size. Households will be eligible for the LIP units or the CPA units Income Limits Household size 1 person 2 persons 3 persons 4 persons 5 persons 6 persons 80% AMI Unit $48,800 $55,800 $62,750 $69,700 $75,300 $80, % - 100% AMI Unit $48,801 - $68,950 $55,801 $78,800 $62,751 - $88,650 $69,701 - $98,500 $75,301 - $106,380 $80,901- $114,260 Annual income is equal to the annual gross income of all adult household members. Income includes wages, salaries, and tips from employment, self-employment income, social security income, disability income, child support, alimony, investment income, and all other sources of income. Applicants must provide the required documentation of all income sources with their application in order to be eligible for the lottery. Continued occupancy for tenants will be based on income eligibility that will be reviewed annually in advance of lease renewal. Households that exceed 140% of the program income limit will no longer be eligible for the affordable housing at Warren Avenue. MAXIMUM RENTS The s for each unit at initial lease-up are included below. The s include the contract rent paid directly to the landlord plus an allowance for utilities that are paid directly by the tenant to the utility provider. The s are subject to change each year based on changes to program income limits. Initial s Household size 2-Bedroom 3-Bedroom 80% AMI Unit $1,568 $2, % - 100% AMI Unit $1,742 $2,462 The contact rent for the units will reflect the household income of the tenant and the size and type of unit. The goal is for the household to pay 30% of their gross monthly income toward rent. The maximum and minimum gross rents and adjusted rents are detailed in the tables on the following page. 2

3 Duplex Units - 80% AMI Unit Two-Bedroom $1,568 $1,414 $1,373 $1,219 Converted Municipal Building Units - 80% AMI Unit Gross # Two-Bedroom $1,568 $1,421 $1,373 $1,226 Three Bedroom $1,742 $1,560 $1,525 $1,343 Duplex Units - 80+% - 100% AMI Three Bedroom $2,463 $2,272 $1,743 $1,552 Water Department Units 80+% - 100% AMI Two-Bedroom $2,216 $2,069 $1,569 $1,422 Three Bedroom $2,463 $2,281 $1,743 $1,561 PRIMARY RESIDENCE Applicants must agree to occupy the units as their primary residence. If any household member owns a residential property, the property must be sold before the household enters into a lease. OTHER ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA Individuals who have a financial or familial relationship to WAHT or who have a financial interest in the Project and their families are not eligible to participate in the lottery. HOUSEHOLD SIZE PREFERENCE The objective of the affordable housing program at Warren Avenue is to provide housing to appropriate sized households; to this end, priority will be given to households that need all of the bedrooms in a unit. A household is defined as two or more persons who will regularly live in the unit as their primary residence and who are related by 3

4 blood, marriage, law or who have otherwise evidenced a stable inter-dependent relationship, or an individual. Within an applicant pool, first preference shall be given to households requiring the total number of bedrooms in the unit based on the following criteria: There is at least one occupant and no more than two occupants per bedroom. A husband and wife, or those in a similar living arrangement, shall be required to share a bedroom. Other household members may share but shall not be required to share a bedroom. LOCAL PREFERENCE Two of the four 80% AMI LIP units and one of the two 80+% -100% AMI CPA units will be Local Preference units. Households must meet at least one of the Local Preference criteria to qualify for Local Preference. Local Preference for this project is as defined as follows: An individual or household legally residing in the Town of Weston A household with at least one person employed by the Town of Weston or a company or organization located in the Town of Weston A household that does not reside in Weston, but has a child enrolled in the Weston Public Schools MINORITY APPLICANTS If there are fewer than 27% minority applicants who meet Local Preference criteria then a lottery will be conducted of the non-local minority applicants to establish a ranking order. Non-local minority applicants will be added to the local preference pool in the order that they were chosen in the non-local minority lottery until the local pool contains a minimum of 27% minority applicants. LOTTERY PROCEDURES The units will be awarded through a lottery. The application period for the lottery will begin on January 22, 2016 and will end on March 22, 2016 at 5:00 P.M. All households who submit a complete application by the application deadline and are determined to be program eligible will be included in the lottery. Applications can be downloaded on the Metro West CD website at: or by contacting Robyn at: ext. 5 or robyn@metrowestcd.org. Applications will be available on-line and sent to any requesting party. Once applications are submitted to Metro West CD, they will be reviewed for completeness and then will undergo an eligibility review. Eligible households will receive a letter and notifying them of their eligibility and information about the lottery. Ineligible households will receive and letter detailing why they are not eligible. Households who 4

5 submit an incomplete application will be notified in writing that their application is incomplete and will have until the application deadline to submit the required documents. The lottery includes processes to ensure that only qualified eligible applicants will enter the lottery. All applicants in the lottery pool will be assigned a Lottery Number. The numbers are randomly drawn for each of the pools and placed in the order drawn. Units are awarded to households based on bedroom sizes, by proceeding down the list of lottery winners to the first household on the list which is of appropriate household size. All applicants will be notified of their standing and of the drawing results. The lottery will be held at Weston Town Hall on March 28, 2016 at 7:00 P.M. LEASING THE UNIT After the lottery, the Lottery Agent will provide the Management Agent with the names, addresses and contact information of lottery winners to complete the leasing process. The lottery applicants must meet or exceed the Management Agent s leasing standards with regard to credit verification and background check. The standard Brook School Apartments 1-year lease (modified as necessary to conform to the Warren Avenue Project) will be utilized. After the initial units have been leased, the Lottery Drawing List will be converted to a Wait List, which will include all those eligible applicants who were not able to lease an apartment through the lottery. Vacancies will be filled from this Wait List for a period of up to 24 months. Application Timeline Applications Available Beginning on January 22, 2016 Applications Accepted on an ongoing basis Information session Application deadline Lottery Lottery participants notified of place on Wait List via and letter January 22, 2016 March 22, 2016 at 5:00 P.M. February 25, 2016, 7:00 P.M., Weston Public Library, Community Room March 22, 2016, 5:00 P.M. March 28, 2016, 7:00 P.M., Weston Town Hall March 29-30, 2016 Unit assignment begins April 2016 Move-ins April May 2016 Applications are available at: or by contacting Robyn at ext. 5 or robyn@metrowestcd.org. 5