Sigh . . . anyone have time to read a 400+ page document?
This is the notice that was sent out . . .
· The CDA is soliciting public comments on its updated Admissions and Continued Occupancy Policy (ACOP) for the Public Housing program. These are the policies which govern the administration of our public housing program. HUD requires that public housing authorities create and update these policies regarding specific areas of program administration. The draft ACOP may be viewed at: http://www.cityofmadison/
housing
Please submit comments via email to: aolvera@cityofmadison.com by Tuesday, February 5, 2012
For questions, please contact Agustin Olvera, Housing Operations Division Director, at 267-8712
The link is wrong, it is actually here.
And the relevant part is here. All 409 pages!
This is what is at stake:
Unlike the housing choice voucher program, HUD regulations for public housing do not contain a list of what must be included in the ACOP. However, individual regulations contain requirements of inclusion in the PHA’s written policy. At a minimum, the ACOP plan should cover PHA policies on these subjects:
• The organization of the waiting list and how families are selected and offered available units, including any PHA admission preferences, procedures for removing applicant names from the waiting list, and procedures for closing and reopening the PHA waiting list (Chapters 4 and 5)
• Transfer policies and the circumstances under which a transfer would take precedence over an admission (Chapter 12)
• Standards for determining eligibility, suitability for tenancy, and the size and type of the unit needed (Chapters 3 and 5)
• Procedures for verifying the information the family has provided (Chapter 7)
• The method for achieving deconcentration of poverty and income-mixing of public housing developments (Chapter 4)
• Grievance procedures (Chapter 14)
• Policies concerning payment by a family to the PHA of amounts the family owes the PHA (Chapter 15 and 16)
• Interim redeterminations of family income and composition (Chapter 9)
• Policies regarding community service requirements; (Chapter 11)
• Polices and rules about safety and ownership of pets in public housing (Chapter 10).
So, yeah, just about everything. I gotta admit, I get these emails and then . . . well, leave it up to Heidi Wegleitner at Legal Action of Wisconsin to read this document and prepare a response because she can do it as part of her job and I don’t have the hours to catch up to her level of expertise with all the federal regulations. So, yeah, after 20 years of working at the Tenant Resource Center, I don’t feel qualified enough to dig into this – and don’t get paid to do it so therefore don’t have the time. I can’t imagine how they really expect any input from real people affected by these policies . . . but I suppose that doesn’t mean we should just let them bury us in this document . . . with the state of housing the way it is in Madison, Public Housing is the ONLY housing that might be viable for hundreds if not thousands of people and these policies can make a difference in their lives . . . if only we have the time to read the 409 page document to figure out how it affects people.
If you want to work on this, let me (or better yet Heidi) know.
