Ebony Hall (00:02) Welcome back to this week's Tuesday tip. I'm Ebony Hall and of course, know, Vicki Bell and Vicki, you have some good news for us this week. Vickie Bell (00:10) do have good news for you. Brace yourselves. On September the 18th, 2024, the public housing from HUD sent out a notice that they were not going to be ready to implement HOTMA on January 1, 2025. But guess what? Two days later on September the 20th, But Multifamily came out with a notice and this notice says that they are extending HOTMA until 7 -1 -2025. Now, public housing did not give an extended period date, but Multifamily Housing did. They will not be implementing HOTMA. On 1 -1 -2025, they're saying that it has been extended to July 1, 2025. The public housing, they did not give an extension date. So we'll have that to look forward to. But guys, it gives you a little more breathing room. On the screen, you'll see the notice from HUD. It talks about the extension. How many of you? Ebony Hall (01:25) Mm Vickie Bell (01:34) And I know I can't see you, but how many of you are ready? How many of you do you think would have been ready on 1 -1 -2025? Not many, because I've talked to some of you. Some of you were even worried about your January and your February ARs, because those would have been due, we would have sent the notice out in September and in October for February. Ebony Hall (01:53) Mm -hmm. Vickie Bell (02:02) So guess what you can breathe. You can breathe a little deeper now. By the time we get ready to implement on 7 -1 -2025 there should be no questions about it. Which means that you don't have to do a whole lot of corrections to your 5 -9s. Ebony Hall (02:21) That's a good thing. And I made this just for you, Ms. Vicki. You ready? Vickie Bell (02:26) Okay, yes I guess. Ebony Hall (02:31) You get an extension and you get an extension and you get an extension. Vickie Bell (02:32) Yes, you get an extension. And we all get an extension. Now, it might seem like a little thing, but it's really not. Because the management companies have done their tenant selection plans. Fingers crossed everybody has. And they have done their EIV policies and procedures. But HOTMA Ebony Hall (02:46) Mm Vickie Bell (03:00) encompasses so many parts of the industry and what we do as an industry that even a little three month, four month breathing period, you know, helps. So yeah, everybody gets an extension. But now as my mom used to tell me, just because you have time on your hands, Vicki, does not mean that you cannot put that time to use. So Even though you have time on your hand, make sure that you're ready for July 1, 2025. There is no excuse. And I personally think that the software as well as the documentation and the forms that we're waiting on should be ready by July 1 of 2025. So look at your housing forms. Ebony Hall (03:35) because now there's no excuse. Vickie Bell (03:56) your housing forms, not HUD's, but yours, which would be your tenant selection plan, your EIV policies and procedures, and the main one that we haven't done a whole lot of talking about, which is your house rules. This gives you a chance to incorporate what they say will be in HOTMA into your housing rules. Now, housing rules, as you know, are part of the lease. And it's a major part that we use for evictions and to support the lease and make it legally binding and what you do with the lease legally binding. So during this period of time, as my mom says, use your time wisely, make sure that you incorporate the things that you think you need to incorporate into your lease. Now, Vicki, what if they change things? It's easier to remove something than it is to try to word it to put it in. So I will go ahead and based on the information that has already given us on HOTMA and rewrite my house rules. Don't do not D -O -N -O -T put them into effect, but go ahead and be prepared so that when the deadline of July 1st Ebony Hall (04:52) Mm Vickie Bell (05:18) comes and they says, okay, we're keeping this one. You'll be prepared. Ebony Hall (05:23) And for those of you who were ready to meet that deadline, kudos to you for getting it done in advance. So maybe you can help some of your colleagues out with theirs. Because I this has been stressful for people. Vickie Bell (05:29) Yes. It has been stressful. think I got a couple of extra gray hairs because of it. But it's a lot, and it's a lot to conceive. So make sure that you look at your and review assets. Make sure you review the income process. Now, what does that do for us? Since we're not implementing it just yet, we're going to hold tight and we're going to still do everything the way we have always done, which means if you have an EIV discrepancy, you should try to resolve that discrepancy. But as they told us when we first got EIV, all discrepancies aren't so easily resolved. The reviewer is going to look for your good faith effort in trying. You need to make notes in your file. Don't ever forget that the file tells the story. And so you need to still continue under 202D doing what you have been doing, but just know that the postponement would mean you still have to do your EIV the way that you've always done it. As far as the passbook rate, it did change to my knowledge. Ebony Hall (06:59) Mm -hmm. Vickie Bell (07:01) And we're going to have to get with DeAnna, the person that processes our vouchers. She says our software still isn't taking the new passbook rate. So to my knowledge, you can still use the old passbook rate. There some other things that will be coming up. We will try to keep you posted. If you have questions, give us a call. Ebony's going to post this notice, I'm sure, because she always does. Ebony Hall (07:30) It's up already. Yes. Vickie Bell (07:31) ⁓ it's already on our website. So remember that. Remember that this time allows you time to train your staff. You can do some examples on your own. There are still people out there who are doing HOTMA training. We have not got on board yet because we're trying to wait to see what's going to be what. But come up with some scenarios. If you attend the AHMAs, There are plenty of people there who train and they have those scenarios that you can use. What ifs, if you want to say, and go through those type of things with your staff. else Ebony, what else can we talk about? Ebony Hall (08:15) I mean, that's the biggest news. And it's funny because we actually recorded this tip last Thursday. And I told Ms. Vickie said, wouldn't it be funny if between now and Tuesday that they dropped this for us? And don't you know it? They did it on Friday. So. Vickie Bell (08:17) That is the biggest news. She talked it up, y 'all. Yes, they did. Yes, they did. Just take this breather to breathe, but not to go to sleep. Take it to do what you feel like you need to do so that you will be ready, because there's no way around it. It's coming. It will be here. Ebony Hall (08:45) Amen. Just we got six more months of time to prepare. Vickie Bell (08:59) Six more months. it feels good. We might have a Thanksgiving, y 'all, and we might have a Christmas without being worried and crying and frustrated and taking it out on our families. We might just do that. We might just do that. Ebony Hall (09:04) Ha Vickie Bell (09:15) all realize that we are in the housing industry. We all realize that if it weren't for the great job that you guys do in affordable housing, there would be more people under the bridges. So we want to work with HUD. We want to keep positive minds and positive tones about what we do because there are far too many people, including men, women, and children, who are without housing. Ebony Hall (09:23) Definitely. All right, well, I think that's about it, Ms. Vicki, but. Vickie Bell (09:48) Well, you all go celebrate, celebrate, celebrate. Don't waste your time celebrating, but waste your time doing something good. Take your time doing something positive. Don't waste time is what I'm trying to say. Ebony Hall (09:52) Ha All right, well that's it for this week's Tuesday Tip. think, thank you, Miss Vicki. Always a pleasure, always a pleasure. think Pam is picking up next week's Tuesday Tip. Vickie Bell (10:08) Well, thank you, Ebony, so much. Yes, Pam's gonna do Tuesday Tips for the month of October. And we will get back with some questions and answers, some part of that, because you all have been sending in some great questions. Questions about our A's, and that's one of the things that's going to change in HOTMA And so for right now you can. Things that I think would benefit Ebony Hall (10:22) very good. Vickie Bell (10:46) everybody to hear what one person had to go through. So we'll get some of those out to you too. Ebony Hall (10:50) Mm -hmm. and with your questions they can send them to. Vickie Bell (10:56) They can send them to VBell at NavigateHousing .com anytime. Or they can send them to Ebony. E hall at NavigateHousing .com. Thank you guys. Y 'all take care, be safe, and we'll talk with you soon. Ebony Hall (11:04) ehall at navigate housing .com.