Section 8 Change of Residence/Unit Transfer A change of residence can be done from Encompass / Tenants, Tenant/Applicant Mgt / FAM / Tenants / Change of Residence, or Tenant/Applicant Mgt / HAP / Tenants / Change of Residence. The examples below start from the Encompass menu. DID YOU KNOW? If you haven t already verified that the Tenant s rent plus utilities is less than 40% of their Adjusted Monthly Income in the new unit, use the S8 Rent Estimator button on the rent calc page; this action should be taken prior to the Change of Residence. Instructions are in the last section of this document, HAB Hints, starting on page 10. From the main Encompass menu: Go to Tenants to look up the Tenant that is moving: Find and highlight the Tenant, and choose Change of Res from Sec 8 Tenant Actions ribbon : Page 1 of 17
No matter where the Change of Residence option is started from, the rest of the steps are the same. The main difference is that the user will need to search for the Tenant after choosing the Change of Residence option from FAM or HAP rather than Encompass. Enter the Move Out date as the day before the Tenant took possession of the new unit or the actual date that they moved out of the unit. The Move OUT date and the Move IN date cannot be the same date. Entering a Move Out date will calculate the Move In date for the unit that the Tenant transferred to as the next day; this date can be changed if necessary (notice below how the Move In and Rent Start dates are already filled in; these dates auto-filled based on the user entering the Move Out date). Note: the Rent End and Rent Start dates are accounting periods and will auto-fill with the first of the current or following month. For instance, if the Tenant moves out on 08/31/2011, the Rent End will be 09/01/2011 even though only the month/year displays; therefore, all automatic recurring amounts (HAP, UAP, and/or Portability transactions will stop). If the Tenant moves in on 09/01/2011, the Rent Start will also be 09/01/2011 but display as 09/2011. Page 2 of 17
Next, click on the Landlord button to choose (or add) a Landlord, and then choose or add the Unit. 1. Landlord exists example: choose from the list or use the soundex search box (circled) to narrow down the list by entering a few letters of the Landlord s Lookup Name, Full Name, or Address, or numbers for the Fed Id or Party ID (no need to press enter or tab as this search box works immediately to narrow down the choices as values are entered). Highlight the Landlord and click on Fetch Landlord or simply double-click. 2. New Landlord example: when the Landlord is new to the program, click on the Add button: Page 3 of 17
Once the new Landlord is saved, the Landlord list will rebuild. Follow the steps in 4.a. (page 3) to find and choose this Landlord. Next, click on the Unit button to add or choose an existing unit. Page 4 of 17
ADD a Unit Often, even if there are available units for that Landlord, the unit needed is a new address. NOTE: if the Landlord was just added, there won t be any available units yet. a. MUST FILL FIELDS during add before saving (Circled in Red, or top circle) Unit Size (not Voucher size) and Address (street number, street name, city, state, and zip). It s important to fill in these fields as they will populate not only the unit information but also the correspondence and utility address fields (in most instances: if the tenant s corr address was different in the previous unit, the tenant will retain the corr address, such as a PO Box). b. OPTIONAL DURING ADD (Circled in Blue, or bottom circle) County, Census, Contract Rent, Structure Type, check Use Base Rent and choose table, Utility Allowance, Unit Type and Utility Location (if using calculated method), etc., and Tax Credit Unit checkbox (upper right-hand corner). c. NOT ALLOWED DURING ADD The Inspection button and the Details button of the calculated Utility Allowance method cannot be chosen at this time. The unit must exist (has been created and saved) before these buttons are active. Page 5 of 17
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Example of new unit added, before saving: Here, much of the data that is required for a rent calculation has been entered rather than waiting until later. If the unit already exists most of the information will carry forward from the previous tenant. In that instance, some of the information such as the Base Rent table and Utilities may need to be updated. ANY of this information may be corrected at any time. Page 7 of 17
Once the new unit has been saved, the new unit will populate the available unit list. Choose the unit from the list (highlight and click on Fetch Unit or double-click), and click Transfer. The Transfer action will display several prompts; some prompts may depend on security settings: Page 8 of 17
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Once the Transfer is completed, refresh the Encompass screen to display the Tenant in the new unit. In this example, both records are displayed the old unit (grayed out) and the new. The display depends on the filter used as well as the move out date. When the move out of the old unit is in the future, the Tenant will display twice as in the example below (however, accessing the record for recertification will only pull in the most current information, in this case, the new unit and corresponding information). To complete the process of a Section 8 Unit Transfer (Change of Residence), use the recertification screens to update information and calculate the new rent, and finalize a record to create a 50058 (if Federal S8) and insert a new recurring HAP/UAP amount for WinHAP. During this process, depending on the type of Section 8 program (Federal vs. State, HCV vs. Mod Rehab, etc.), review the items marked on the unit page and correct if necessary (examples: Payment Standard table, Utility amount(s), Contract Rent, which is also on the Basic tab); check to make sure the Initial Pass inspection exists or enter now, and if the calculated Utility Allowance is used, that the Details screen is filled out. The Basic tab (and the Rent Calc tab) of the Recertification process will display the changes in Effective Date and Effective Reason: the Transfer action will automatically fill the Effective Date with the Move In date to the new unit and change the Effective Reason to Other Change of Unit. The software will NOT auto change the Next Annual Recert date as not all agencies do this. Page 10 of 17
There are different methods of finalizing Change or Residence 50058 records according to your agency s preference as well as changes in the HMS software as of release 2011.100 (this pertains to Federal programs; State or non- 50058 programs can simply finalize as Other Change of Unit). The FIRST 50058 finalized in the new unit, when the action type is Other Change of Unit, Annual, or Interim, will automatically record the indicators for Moving to this Unit (Yes) and Hard to House (Yes, if applicable). Subsequent 50058s will recognize that there already is a 50058 containing the Moving and Hard to House indicators and will change these to No as they re no longer necessary. You do NOT need to go to the Form Related tab and mark the S8 Moving to this Unit Override - THIS IS A CHANGE AS OF RELEASE 2011.100. How to Finalize following a Change of Residence for Section 8 If you do NOT change the Next Annual recertification date to correspond with the new unit s move in date Finalize as Other Change of Unit OR Interim Either action automatically marks the 50058 field 12b {Is family now moving to this unit?} with a Y (11b if Enhanced Voucher), as well as field 12c {Does the family qualify as Hard to House family?} with the appropriate response according to the regulations. NOTE: The auto-marking for an Interim is new with release 2011.100. If you DO change the Next Annual recertification date to correspond with the new unit s move in date, you have the option of finalizing as Other Change of Unit, Annual, or Interim. Finalize Other Change of Unit only, and change the next Annual Date Finalize both Other Change of Unit and Annual Reexam (resulting in two 50058s to send to PIC). Do this if you want a record of both actions, and if you ve had problems with SEMAP not recognizing the Annual Re-exam date change when only the Other Change of Unit record was submitted to PIC. In this scenario, the first action (Other Change of Unit 50058) will have the Moving and Hard to House indicators while the follow-up Annual will not. Finalize Annual Reexam only (the software will automatically mark the 50058 with Y for moving to this unit and will mark the Hard to House according to the regulations) NOTE: for users who choose to use the S8 Moving to this Unit Override option, the software will prompt you to remove this indicator (this will be your choice to set the moving indicator back to N when appropriate). Page 11 of 17
HAB Hints Section 8 RENT ESTIMATOR This option allows the user to estimate the HAP and Tenant (UAP) portion for a Tenant who is requesting to move to another unit, while using their current income and family information (and in their current unit). This S8 Rent Estimator button uses the Tenant s income information and allows the user to enter the new Contract Rent, Utilities, and Payment Standard if different than the current unit. Page 12 of 17
When the user clicks on the S8 Rent Estimator button, the screen will display the current unit s information (which may result in the 40% warning; disregard this warning until the new figures are entered). Page 13 of 17
In the first example, the Contract Rent, Utility Allowance and Payment Standard for the new unit are permissible (i.e. Tenant Rent + Utilities does not exceed 40% of their Income). In the second example where the Payment Standard is lower, the Estimator alerts the user with a message indicating that the Tenant s Rent + Utilities is greater than 40% of their adjusted monthly income. Page 14 of 17
In either situation, you can print an estimate for the Tenant: Example #1 is the standard Rent Calculation page. Example #2 shows the extra message for the 40% warning, which appears at the bottom of the page, if applicable. Example #1 Example #2 (Tenant Rent plus Utilities > 40% AMI) Page 15 of 17
Move Voucher With Tenant To New Unit? In most cases the answer to this question is Yes, but when the move results in a change of Voucher type, answer No to release (unissued) the current and reissue a new Voucher during the transfer process. Examples are an Enhanced Voucher moving to a regular HCV Voucher because they re giving up their unit, or a Portable In Tenant moving to another unit and the move coincides with the agency absorbing this voucher (in the latter example, where Port In Vouchers is a separate project from HCV Vouchers, it may be as simple as moving the tenant to another increment or project). When the response is No : (page 7 of this Quick Doc covers a Yes response) Change the Program if necessary, and narrow down even further by choosing a specific project by unchecking All and choosing a specific project from the dropdown list (not pictured here). Highlight a voucher and click on Issue which will follow with a screen (next page) allowing you to enter the Voucher Issued Date. Page 16 of 17
All of the date fields will be blank. Enter the Date Issued (circled), which will auto-fill the Original Expiration 60 days out, which can be modified for your preference. If it s not necessary to create a Issued Voucher Looking 50058 (Action 10) for this Voucher type, uncheck the Create Issuance of Voucher 58 box before Saving. Page 17 of 17