AHRP (Affordable Housing Rental Program), and TAHRP (Temporary Affordable Housing Rental Program) are both designed to work with private property owners in providing rent for those that are low income. The property owner will have to be willing to receive 2 payments. One will be from DOH for all of the units that are active, and another payment will be from the tenant. In either instance, the applicant will need to go to Social Welfare > Services > Rent Program. The programs will all be intended to give affordable housing to those that need it.
In either instance, there will be an inspector that will inspect the unit, and common spaces for one of 2 levels of standards. Level 1 is safe, but not NSC compliant, and the second one is NSC compliant. These 2 statuses are important for how the property owner and tenant will interact. This might turn some property owners off, but it will be their choice to accept the program or not.
For those units that are safe but not NSC compliant, the TAHRP program will be provided. This will require the tenant to apply for LIHP so they can move into a compliant property as soon as possible. The goal is to continue to ensure NSC compliance while not contributing to those that are in housing distress. If the property is NSC compliant, then the tenant will receive the AHRP program, and will not have to do anything else. The property owner can also require a lease to be signed. In the TAHRP program, the property owner can not. This is again designed to promote property owners to bring their properties up to code, and therefore receive money for programs that would help the tenant in need.
There will be something called fair market rent. This will depend on the community, type of rental, and what utilities are included. The property owner can not charge more than fair market rent in order to receive money from either rental program. No matter the case, the tenant will pay between 30% and 35% of the adults’ income in rent.