In a motion approved by the board of the housing authority, tenants who pay flat rent will be paying more beginning January, 2020. Those with a rental amount based directly on their income will not see a change.
These prices are looked at annually, in coordination with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's reporting of fair market values. HUD allows housing authorities to charge up to 80 percent of this amount. Next year, a one-bedroom unit in Cleveland Avenue Homes will go from $500 a month to $510.
“Under no circumstance will any tenant ever be paying more than 30 percent of his or her adjusted gross income,” says General Counsel and Vice President of Real Estate Development Kevin Cheshire. “So these flat rents, as we call it, only affect 36 families, across our portfolio of approximately 1500 housing units.”
Cheshire says that if a resident who pays flat rent has a change in their finances, while they cannot request a hardship exemption, they can switch to income-based rent at any time.