Housing verification (Examples: a lease, tenancy agreement, or tenancy at will agreement) Proof of Identity of the property owner. Better Communities. Landlords must obtain and submit a signed tenant consent form before applying for assistance. 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. RAFT does not serve homeowners. Also, the MassLandlords Helpline is a valuable resource for business advice and legal information. However, applications received after Aug. 1, 2022, will only be considered if the applicant has received a notice to quit, eviction notice or court summons related to rent arrears. Landlords will be able to log in and see all applications for their properties at once, as well as check application statuses in real time. Both programs can be used in coordination with short-term rental assistance such as RAFT or local sources of financial aid, but it is not necessary to apply for RAFT in order to participate. If your tenant is behind on the rent - or . Thank you for your website feedback! Owners, managers, and service providers sustain our nonprofit trade association with membership dues. But considering the language in discrimination law 151B, theres too much risk and vulnerability for discrimination liability to take that step hastily. RAFT, which has been around since 2005, has helped many families with things like security deposits, rent and furniture since its inception. *2 Proceed with caution if you are a landlord considering declining RAFT COVID funding, especially in cases in which the funds would fully cover rent arrears, could cure nonpayment, and/or stabilize the tenancy. contact the Housing and Community Development. The RAFT program helps families secure and maintain stable housing by providing them with a rent subsidy, case management services, and support services. The administration announced the RAFT COVID program in October as part of its $171 million Eviction Diversion Initiative. These deadlines were shared with MassLandlords and others by a state official over the March 25, 2021, stakeholder zoom. 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. If the landlord decides to go ahead with eviction, are they on shaky legal ground? If the tenant is the one applying, the application will ask them for their landlords contact information (email or phone number). The feedback will only be used for improving the website. Applicants must meet certain criteria to be eligible for RAFT: Risk of homelessness/housing instability (example: applicant has received a Notice to Quit), Currently renting or moving to a new rental, Income at or below 50% of Area Median Income (AMI), or 60% of AMI for households who are at risk of domestic violence (you can check AMI in your city/town using this online tool). Applications already in progress continued to be processed through the system already in place. If you need assistance submitting an application or required documents through this portal, please refer to the corresponding document that is linked below. Please limit your input to 500 characters. Our assessment is that claims are less likely where RAFT would not fully cover arrears and future shortfall, but more likely where RAFT would. Is RAFT COVID $10k Optional for Landlords? RAFT helps all kinds of households by providing up to $10,000, within a 12-month period, to help preserve current housing or move to new housing. This page is located more than 3 levels deep within a topic. Homeowners may be eligible for assistance through the Homeowners Assistance Fund. Please let us know how we can improve this page. Some page levels are currently hidden. However, if you are unable to complete the application online, please emailhc@cmhaonline.orgor call508-752-5519, ext. The state officially adopted the program in 2006, and since then, RAFT funding has continually gone up, with funding for the 2019 fiscal year hitting $20 million. 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. This could delay the approval process. The RAFT application system requires both a tenant application and a landlord application for tenants who are requesting rental assistance. In 2020, this limit was increased to $10,000, but was decreased to $7,000 within a rolling 12-month period on Jan. 1, 2022. Families who have received HomeBASE funding may also be eligible for RAFT. The tenant should contact the landlord and rental assistance agency. Applications received by April 15th, 2022 will be considered for ERAP until all funds have been allocated. Homeowners in need of mortgage assistance or other housing assistance may apply for the new Homeowner Assistance Fund (MA HAF) Program. Initially, families accessing RAFT funds received between $1,500 and $3,000 as a one-time payment, according to literature published by Metro Housing Boston. Both the RAFT and RAFT COVID programs are using a new application launched on October 19 (the first day of business after the states eviction moratorium expiration), which features: As part of the RAFT COVID application and in order to receive RAFT funding in excess of the traditional $4,000, up to $10,000 a landlord must agree not to evict, for nonpayment, a tenant who has received program funding for six months, or, in the case of a family with school-aged children, through June 2021, whichever date is later. The program allows renters whose income has been affected by COVID-19 and the economic response to receive up to $10,000 in public assistance to cover rent payments, past, present and/or future. Landlords and tenants can see their application status change as it moves through the system. A lock icon ( All funding sources are now merged behind one single RAFT application. Monthly updates, smart and relevant articles, and free premium content. Owners, managers, and service providers sustain our nonprofit trade association with membership dues. Additional documentation that backs up the applicants claim for needing funding may also be required. As a landlord, get answers to questions about accepting state funded rental assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Please remove any contact information or personal data from your feedback. Until Jan. 1, 2023, a Notice to Quit must be accompanied by information about tenants rights and rental assistance options. Therefore, landlords in these situations might opt not to accept the RAFT COVID extension beyond $4,000 for their tenants, in order to retain the right to evict and find new tenants. The RAFT program helps keep households in stable housing situations when facing eviction, loss of utilities, and other housing emergencies. As of Aug. 1 2022, households can obtain up to 12 months of assistance, capped at $10,000. No definition of the legality of opting out of RAFT COVID assistance emerged from these correspondences. Fair Housing Policies & Procedures | Privacy Policy, Lynn HOME-ARP Allocation Plan Community Forum Information. _U#!R!NZd& Landlords will see it was denied but will not be given tenants private information. In those cases, landlords may seek to evict before the RAFT process has begun. The process for referrals from partner agencies has several steps: For greatest efficiency and to ensure the swiftest process, please provide all required documents and explanation of the housing crisis. Households that already receive income-based rental subsides are ineligible for prospective payments, and payments may not exceed the maximum benefit limit. Landlords can begin the application process . 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. If a tenant does not have an email address or access to a computer, they can still go to their regional administering agency (RAA). Language Assistance Plan (LAP) | Reasonable Accomodations, function googleTranslateElementInit() { Even if that tenant began paying full rent again in September, they would have tallied $11,562 in rent arrearages. Please remove any contact information or personal data from your feedback. In that case, a landlord who has exercised the option to turn down RAFT COVID funding for a tenant, who then began or continued an eviction process for that tenant, may be vulnerable to a discrimination claim. When calling, please leave your name, call back number and application number. Applicants who have not already done so will be prompted to create a new profile and account. Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT). RAFT provides qualifying households with maximum benefit limit of $10,000 per household in a 12-month period. A Landlords Guide to Massachusetts Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) Program, Search Eviction Records by Address (Beta), Webinar: Rental Assistance Application Process RAFT ERMA. The Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT) program may provide income-eligible households with up to $10,000 to pay utilities or moving costs, overdue rent, or future rent in limited situations, and once approved, these payments are sent directly to landlords. Visit this page to understand what to expect when you or your tenant applies for emergency housing payment assistance. Step 2: Your LANDLORD/PROPERTY OWNER, must also submit a landlord application. Visitors to these websites are encouraged to contact agency representatives, listed on the websites, to help with navigation, clarifying information and applying . Find your regional agency and income eligibility data, Find Spanish language resources for landlords, FAQs for landlords about accepting state funded rental assistance. 1411 Tremont Street Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. As of April 16, 2022, the state also allowed for partial payments on behalf of the primary tenant to the landlord or utility company, for those entering co-housing situations. A .mass.gov website belongs to an official government organization in Massachusetts. RAFT does not serve homeowners. 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). Subsidies resulting from RAFT applications during the COVID-19 pandemic were capped at 15 months total benefit. This could include loss of income or increased expenses for those families in the higher income group (3080% AMI depending on funding source). LAS VEGAS (KSNV) The City of Las Vegas is taking applications once again for its newly re-funded Rental Assistance for Tenants (RAFT) program. Each assistance application will have two parts, one for landlords and one for tenants. 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. 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. 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. Please let us know how we can improve this page. 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). Either a landlord or a tenant may begin the RAFT application process by going to the existing landing page. 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. In case you cannot afford counsel, a provision of the governors Eviction Diversion Initiative set aside funds to help provide legal counsel to people who could not afford representation (a sizable percentage of mom-and-pop landlords). Once it launches statewide, the portal will be available in eight languages. The wait time in some cases has been months.. 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. Youve been added to our list. If you need assistance, please contact the Housing and Community Development. Renters or landlords can apply by submitting an online application. CC BY-SA 4.0 MassLandlords. The same might apply to a landlord who initiated or continued eviction while a RAFT application is pending.
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