Sample: Administrative Plan chapter on income and assets
A HOTMA income and assets chapter, written for one agency's choices and ready for the board.
Sample with a fictional agencyChapter 6: Income and assets
Summary: this chapter brings Riverbend's voucher program in line with HUD's HOTMA rules at 24 CFR 5.609 and 5.603 before HUD enforces them on January 1, 2027. Each place where HUD lets the agency choose is marked Riverbend policy; the board adopts those choices with the chapter.
6-I. Annual income
Annual income is all amounts received by, or on behalf of, the family that are not specifically excluded under 24 CFR 5.609(b). At admission and at each annual reexamination Riverbend counts income the family expects to receive in the coming 12 months, using the family's income in the prior 12 months where HUD allows it.
Riverbend policy: at annual reexamination, Riverbend uses income determinations from the following means-tested programs, where the determination was made within the prior 12 months: SNAP, TANF, Medicaid and SSI. Riverbend will not use a determination the family disputes; it verifies income directly instead.
6-II. Net family assets
Net family assets are the net cash value of all assets owned by the family, after deducting reasonable costs to convert them to cash, excluding the assets HUD excludes, including retirement accounts recognized by the IRS, education savings accounts, ABLE accounts, and necessary personal property.
Riverbend policy: when net family assets do not exceed HUD's current self-certification threshold, Riverbend accepts the family's signed declaration of total assets and the income they produce, and verifies assets fully at least every third year.
| Asset type | How Riverbend counts it |
|---|---|
| Checking and savings accounts | Average balance over the last 6 months for checking; current balance for savings |
| Retirement accounts (IRS-recognized) | Excluded |
| Real property | Market value less outstanding loans and costs of sale |
| Necessary personal property | Excluded |
| Non-necessary personal property | Counted only when its combined value exceeds HUD's current threshold |
6-III. Asset limitation
A family is not eligible for assistance if its net family assets exceed HUD's current asset limit, or if the family owns real property suitable for occupancy, except as 24 CFR 5.618 allows.
Riverbend policy: Riverbend applies the asset limitation at admission. For families already assisted, Riverbend does not enforce the limitation at reexamination, as HUD permits. The board may revisit this choice by amending this chapter.
6-IV. Interim reexaminations
| Change reported | Riverbend policy |
|---|---|
| Decrease in adjusted income | Processed when it is 10% or more of annual adjusted income |
| Increase in earned income | Not processed between annual reexaminations |
| Increase in other income | Processed when it is 10% or more of annual adjusted income |
| Family composition change | Always processed |
Families report changes in writing within 30 days. A decrease takes effect the first of the month after the family reports it; an increase takes effect the first of the month after 30 days' notice to the family.
6-V. Deductions and hardship exemptions
Riverbend applies HUD's current dependent and elderly or disabled family deductions, and the HOTMA threshold for health and medical care and reasonable attendant care and auxiliary apparatus expenses, with HUD's phased-in relief for families who had the deduction before HOTMA.
Riverbend policy: a family may request a hardship exemption in writing. Riverbend decides within 30 days. Relief lasts 90 days and may be extended in 90-day steps while the hardship continues.
6-VI. Errors in rent calculation
Riverbend corrects any error in a family's rent within 30 days of finding it. Errors of less than HUD's de minimis amount per month are corrected going forward only. Riverbend policy: where a family underpaid because of an agency error, Riverbend does not seek repayment; where it overpaid, Riverbend credits the difference against future rent or repays it, at the family's choice.
Board action
Resolution 2026-14 adopts this chapter effective January 1, 2027, and directs staff to apply it at the first annual reexamination on or after that date. Riverbend's Administrative Plan does not require public comment for this change.