Fact sheet
How your rent is determined
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
FACT SHEET PHAs’ Responsibilities:
• Obtain accurate income information
“How Your Rent Is • Verify residents’ income
Determined” • Ensure that residents receive the exclusions and
deductions to which they are entitled
• Accurately calculate family payment
For Public Housing • Recalculate family payment when changes in family
And composition and income are reported between
Housing Choice Voucher Programs
annual recertifications (in accordance with PHA
policy)
• In Public Housing, execute a le ase with the tenant
• In the Housing Choice Voucher program, provide a
Office of Public and Indian Housing copy of the required lease language
• Provide tenant a copy of PHA determination of
November, 2002 income and family payment
• Provide information on PHA policies upon request
• Notify residents of any changes in requirements or
This Fact Sheet is a general guide to inform practices for reporting income or determining
the Public Housing Agency (PHA) and HUD- family payment
assisted residents of the responsibilities and • Terminate tenancy for grounds allowed by federal
rights regarding income disclosure and law
verification. Since some of the requirements
vary by program, residents should consult their Residents’ Responsibilities:
• Provide accurate information on family composition
PHA to determine the specific policies that
• Report all income at admission and annually (or as
apply.
required by PHA policy)
• Keep copies of papers, forms, and receipts which
document income and expenses
• Report changes in family composition and income
Why Determining Income and Family between annual recertifications (in accordance with
Payment Correctly is Important Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher PHA
policy)
The Department of Housing and Urban • Sign consent for income verification and criminal
Development’s studies show that many resident history checks
families pay the incorrect amount of rent. The main
• Comply with lease and House Rules
causes of this problem are:
What is Total Income?
• under-reporting of income by resident families, and
A family’s income before any taxes or other exclusions
• PHAs not granting exclusions and deductions to
or deductions have been taken out of it.
which resident families are entitled.
PHAs and residents all have a responsibility in What is Annual Income?
ensuring that the correct family payment is paid. Total Income – Income Exclusions = Annual Income
Paying the correct amount eliminates fraud, waste,
and abuse. What is Adjusted Income?
Annual Income – Allowable Income Deductions =
Adjusted Income
Family Payment (Total Tenant Payment) reimbursement of cash or assets invested in the
The amount of rent a family will pay is the highest operation by the family;
of the following amounts:
• Interest, dividends, and other net income of any
kind from real or personal property.
• 30% of the family’s monthly adjusted income;
Expenditures for amortization of capital
• 10% of the family’s monthly income; indebtedness shall not be used as deductions in
• Welfare rent (in States where applicable); or determining net income. An allowance for
• Minimum Rent ($0 - $50 set by the PHA) depreciation is permitted only as authorized in
above section. Any withdrawal of cash or assets
Annualization of Income from an investment will be included in income,
If it is not feasible to anticipate a level of income except to the extent the withdrawal is
over a 12-month period (as in the case of seasonal reimbursement of cash or assets invested by the
or cyclic income), or the PHA believes that past family. Where the family has net family assets
income is the best available indicator of expected in excess of $5,000, annual income shall
future income, the PHA may annualize the income include the greater of the actual income derived
anticipated for a shorter period, subject to a re- from all net family assets or a percentage of the
determination at the end of the shorter period. value of such assets based on the current
passbook savings rate, as determined by HUD;
What Counts as Annual Income for
• The full amount of periodic amounts received
Calculation of Family Payment?
from Social Security, annuities, insurance
policies, retirement funds, pensions, disability
Annual income means all amounts, monetary or
or death benefits, and other similar types of
not, which:
periodic receipts, including a lump-sum amount
• Go to, or on behalf of, the family head of
or prospective monthly amounts for the delayed
household or spouse (even if temporarily
start of a periodic amount.
absent) or to any other family member; or
• Are anticipated to be received from a source • Payments in place of earnings, such as
outside the family during the 12-month period unemployment and disability compensation,
following admission or annual reexamination worker’s compensation and severance pay.
effective date; and
• Welfare assistance. If the welfare assistance
• Which are not specifically excluded.
payment includes an amount specifically
• Annual income also means amounts derived designated for shelter and utilities that is subject
(during the 12-month period) from assets to to adjustment by the welfare assistance agency
which any member of the family has access. in accordance with the actual cost of shelter and
utilities, the amount of welfare assistance
Annual income includes, but is not limited to: income to be included as income shall consist
• The full amount, before any payroll deductions of: (i) the amount of the allowance or grant
of wages and salaries, overtime pay, exclusive of the amount specifically designated
Commissions, fees, tips and bonuses, and other for shelter or utilities; plus (ii) the maximum
compensation for personal services; amount that the welfare assistance agency could
• The net income from the operation of a business in fact allow the family for shelter and utilities.
or profession. Expenditures for business • Periodic and determinable allowances, such as
expansion or amortization of capital Alimony and child support payments, and
indebtedness shall not be used as deductions in regular contributions or gifts received from
determining net income. An allowance for organizations or from persons not residing in
depreciation of assets used in a business or the dwelling;
profession may be deducted, based on straight
line depreciation, as provided in Internal • All regular pay, special pay and allowances of a
Revenue Service regulations. Any withdrawal member of the Armed Forces.
of cash or assets from the operation of a
business or profession will be included in
income, except to the extent the withdrawal is
Annual income does not include the following: programs (including training programs not
• Income from employment of children affiliated with a local government) and training
(including foster children) under the age of l8 of a family member as resident management
years; staff. Amounts excluded by this provision must
• Payments received for the care of foster be received under employment training
children or foster adults (usually persons with programs with clearly defined goals and
disabilities, unrelated to the tenant family, who objectives, and are excluded only for the period
are unable to live alone); during which the family member participates in
• Lump-sum additions to family assets, such as the employment training program;
inheritances, insurance payments (including • Temporary, nonrecurring or sporadic income
payments under health and accident insurance (including gifts);
and worker’s compensation), capital gains and • Reparation payments paid by a foreign
settlement for personal or property losses. government pursuant to claims filed under the
• Amounts received by the family that are laws of that government by persons who were
specifically for, or in reimbursement of, the cost persecuted during the Nazi era;
of medical expenses for any family member; • Earnings in excess of $480 for each full-time
• Income of a live-in aide, as defined in §5.403; student 18 years old or older (excluding the
• The full amount of student financial assistance head of household and spouse);
paid directly to the student or to the educational • Adoption assistance payments in excess of
institution; $480 per adopted child;
• The special pay to a family member serving in • Deferred periodic amounts from supplemental
the Armed Forces who is exposed to hostile security benefits that are received in a lump
fire; sum amount or in prospective monthly
• Amounts received under training programs amounts.
funded by HUD: • Amounts received by the family in the form of
• Amounts received by a person with a disability refund or rebates under State or local law for
that are disregarded for a limited time purposes property taxes paid on the dwelling unit;
of Supplemental Security Income eligibility and • Amounts paid by a State agency to a family
benefits because they are set aside for use under with a member who has a development
a Plan to Attain Self-Sufficiency (PASS); disability and is living at home to offset the cost
• Amounts received by a participant in other of services and equipment needed to keep the
publicly assisted programs which are developmentally disabled family member at
specifically for or in reimbursement of out-of- home; or
pocket expenses incurred (special equipment, • Amounts specifically excluded by any other
clothing, transportation, child care, etc.) and Federal statute from consideration as income
which are made solely to allow participation in for purposes of determining eligibility or
a specific program; benefits under a category of assistance
• Amounts received under a resident service programs that includes assistance under any
stipend. A resident service stipend is a modest program to which the exclusions are set forth.
amount (not to exceed $200 per month)
received by a resident for performing a service Other Income Exclusions
for the PHA or owner, on a part-time basis, that Federally Mandated Income Exclusions --
enhances the quality of life in the development. The following statutory exclusions apply to HUD-
Such services may include, but are not limited assisted and other government programs:
to, fire patrol, hall monitoring, lawn • The value of the allotment provided under the
maintenance, resident initiatives coordination, Food Stamp Act of 1977.
and serving as a member of the PHA’s • Payments to volunteers under the Domestic
governing board. No resident may receive more Volunteer Services Act of 1973
than one such stipend during the same period of • Payments received under the Alaska Native
time; Claims Settlement Act (cash including cash
• Incremental earnings and benefits resulting to dividends on stock received from a Native
any family member from participation in Corporation and on bonds received from a Native
quality State or local employment training
Corporation to the extent that it does not in the • Allowances, earnings and payments to individuals
aggregate exceed $2,000 per individual per year) participating in programs under the Workforce
• Income derived from certain submarginal land of Investment Act of 1998
the United States that is held in trust for certain
Indian tribes Earned Income Disallowance for certain
•
•
Income Home Energy Assistance Program
Payments received under programs funded under
Public Housing Residents and Housing
the Job Training Partnership Act (Workforce Choice Voucher Family members with
Investment Act of 1998) Disabilities
• Income derived from the disposition of funds to Certain amounts will not be counted in determining a
the Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians. The first qualifying family’s rent for a specific period of time. A
$2,000 of per capita shares received from qualifying family is one whose annual income increases
judgment funds awarded by the Indian Claims as a result of:
Commission or the U.S. Claims Court, the
interests of individual Indians in trust or restricted • Employment of a family member who was
lands, including the first $2,000 per year of unemployed for at least 12 months prior to
income received by individual Indians from funds employment;
derived from interests held in trust or restricted • New or increased earnings during participation
lands in an economic self-sufficiency or other job
• Amounts of scholarships funded under Title IV of training program;
the Higher Education Act of 1965 (including • New or increased earnings during or within 6
Federal Work Study program or Bureau of Indian months after receiving Temporary Assistance to
Affairs (BIA) Student Assistance programs Needy Families (TANF).
• Payments received from programs funded under
Title V of the Older Americans Act of 1985 During the first 12 months after a qualified family
• Payments received on or after January 1, 1989, member starts working, 100 percent of the incremental
from the Agent Orange Settlement Fund or any increase of that family member’s income is disallowed.
other fund established pursuant to the settlement The incremental increase is the amount of earned
in Re Agent-product liability income that exceeds that family member’s income prior
• Payments received under the Maine Indian to starting work.
Claims Settlement Act of 1980
• The value of any child care provided or arranged In the second cumulative 12-month period after the date
under the Child Care and Development Block of first employment, 50 percent of the incremental
Grant Act of 1990 increase in income is disallowed.
• Earned income tax credit (EITC) refund payments Total time of benefit is limited to a lifetime 48-month
received on or after January 1, 1991 period.
• Payments by the Indian Claims Commission to
the Confederated Tribes and Bands of Yakima NOTE: For Public Housing Only, PHAs may offer to
Indian Nation or the Apache Tribe of Mescalero establish Individual Saving Accounts (ISA) for eligible
Reservation families in place of the earned income disallowance. If
• Allowances, earnings and payments to offered, the family makes the choice whether or not to
AmeriCorps participants under the National and participate.
Community Service Act of 1990
• Any allowance paid to a child suffering from What are deductions from Income?
spina bifida who is the child of a Vietnam veteran Deductions are amounts that are subtracted from a
• Any amount of crime victim compensation under family’s Annual Income to produce Adjusted Income.
the Victims of Crime Act There are two types of deductions: mandatory and
permissive.
Mandatory Deductions: PHA shall make the determination within a
• $480 for each member of the family reasonable time after the family request.
(excluding head of household or spouse) • The PHA’s policies for determining when
who is less than 18 years of age or who is a payment of a flat rent is a financial hardship
student or person with a disability must provide that financial hardship include the
• $400 for any elderly family or disabled following situation.
family • The family has experienced a decrease in
• The sum of the following to the extent the income because of changed circumstances
sum exceeds 3% of annual family income: including loss or reduction of employment,
- Unreimbursed medical expenses of any death in the family, or reduction in or loss of
elderly family or disabled family earnings or other assistance;
- Unreimbursed reasonable attendant care • The family has experienced an increase in
and auxiliary apparatus expenses for expenses, because of changed circumstances,
disabled family member(s) to allow for medical costs, child care, transportation,
family member(s) to work. This education, or similar items; and
deduction may not exceed the income • Such other situations determined by the PHA to
received. be appropriate.
• Any reasonable childcare expenses
(children under 13 years old) necessary to Maximum Initial Rent Burden (Housing Choice
enable a member of the family to be Voucher Only): The family’s share may not
employed or to further his or her education. exceed 40% of the family’s monthly adjusted
income when the family initially moves into the
Permissive Deductions (Public Housing unit or signs the first assisted lease for a unit. The
Only): maximum initial rent burden applies only when
PHAs may establish other deductions as they the gross rent for the unit selected exceeds the
wish but should understand that HUD does not applicable payment standard.
provide any additional operating subsidy and
the PHA must establish a written policy for the Flat Rent (Public Housing Only): Annually at
deductions. recertification families must be offered a choice
of a flat rent or an income-based rent. If a family
Other Provisions elects to pay a flat rent a PHA can (if desired)
Hardship Exceptions: PHAs must waive the recertify family income as infrequent as every
minimum monthly rent requirement for any three (3) years instead of annually. Family
family unable to pay due to financial hardships composition must be recertified annually. Flat
as described in the PHA’s written policies. rent is based on the market rent charged for
comparable units in the private unassisted rental
HUD has specified some circumstances that would market and will not increase or decrease as
constitute hardship which are: changes in income occur. A family can request a
switch to an income-based rent at any time due to
• Switch from flat rent to income-based rent a financial hardship.
because of hardship.
• A family that is paying a flat rent may at any Welfare Sanctions: If the welfare agency reduces
time request a switch to payment of income- the welfare payment because of fraud of a family
based rent (before the next annual option to member in connection with the welfare program
select the type of rent) if the family is unable to or non-compliance with economic self-sufficiency
pay flat rent because of financial hardship. The requirements, the PHA must still include the
PHA must adopt written policies for amount of the reduction in the Annual Income that
determining when payment of flat rent is a is used to calculate total tenant payment.
financial hardship for the family.
• If the PHA determines that the family is Reference Materials
unable to pay the flat rent because of financial Legislation:
hardship, the PHA must immediately allow the • United States Housing Act of 1937, 42 USC
requested switch to income-based rent. The 1437, et seq. as amended
Regulations:
• General HUD Program Requirements; Waivers,
24 CFR Part 5
• Admissions to, and Occupancy of, Public
Housing, 24 CFR Part 960
• Section 8 Tenant-Based Assistance: Housing
Choice Voucher Program, 24 CFR Part 982
• Determining Adjusted Income in HUD
Programs Serving Persons with Disabilities:
Requiring Mandatory Deductions for Certain
Expenses; and Disallowance for Earned
Income, 66 FR 6218, issued January 19, 2001;
24 CFR Parts 5, 92, et al. (effective April 20,
2001)
Notices:
• “Federally Mandated Income Exclusions”
Notice 66 FR 4669, April 20, 2001
• “Improving Income Integrity in Public and
Assisted Housing” Notice PIH 2001-15, issued
May 2, 2001
• Frequently Asked Questions about the
Admissions and Occupancy Rule:
http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/phr/about/ao_faq2.cfm#
2c
For Additional Information:
Contact your Public Housing Authority (PHA) in
your area. In addition, you can find information
about HUD’s programs on HUD’s Internet
homepage at http://www.hud.gov or call the Public
and Indian Housing Information Resource Center at
1-800-955-2232.
