Sun’s general policy is to not “hold” homes but to instead close with the first fully approved applicant. Exceptions are made for applicants who list the Housing Choice Voucher Program (also known as Section 8) as part of their income. These exceptions are in recognition of the additional paperwork and inspections required by the Housing Choice Voucher Program.
This process only applies to communities in locations where accepting the Housing Choice Voucher Program is legally required, such as the state of Michigan. Contact underwriting@suncommunities.com with any questions about Housing Choice Voucher participation.
The process below is intended to facilitate clear direction on how to work with customers who have the Housing Choice Voucher Program, but from time to time there may need to be adjustments or case-by-case evaluation of individual applicants’ needs.
While the onus should be on the applicant to communicate that they have Housing Choice Vouchers at the time of application, the Underwriting Team reviews applications for sources of income and will notify the community team if the Housing Choice Voucher program is listed. Contact the Director of Underwriting and/or SVP of Property Services if the event you receive any challenges from the applicant or agency representing the applicant.
Below is the process* for this type of program:
- If the applicant submits the application listing the Housing Choice Voucher Program as a source of income, the community will process the application in the same manner as we do other applications (not holding a home at this point).
- If the community receives a preliminary Underwriting approval which normally takes up to 3 business days, proceed with step 3 below.
- If the community receives a denial, the applicant will receive information on the denial in the mail per our standard process.
- At the time of receiving a preliminary approval, the applicant should work with their housing commission/agency representative to send any needed paperwork ASAP to the community.
- Once the applicant provides the landlord paperwork to complete, a home should be selected and put on a “courtesy hold” and the housing commission/agency inspection should be scheduled for no more than 3 business days later.
- The community should work to complete the landlord package and schedule the inspection ASAP.
- Additionally, the applicant should gather all conditions of the approval and work with the community to send back to Underwriting within 3 business days.
- During this “courtesy hold” period, additional applications for the home may be accepted, but the community should not make an offer to close on the home with any other applicants.
- The community must hear back from the housing commission/agency within 3 business days on a mutually agreed upon inspection date. If the community does not hear back on a mutually agreed upon inspection date within 3 business days, the home will be offered to the next approved applicant. In addition, if the requested conditions for the approval are not received during the 3 business days, the home will be offered to the next approved applicant.
- Once the home passes the inspection, the applicant will have 1 business day to sign a lease, assuming the paperwork is approved by the housing commission/agency.
- If the housing commission/agency does not approve the voucher paperwork or the home doesn’t pass inspection, the community will put reasonable efforts into making any corrections and the home will continue to be held during this time.
- If it is determined that the community cannot meet the demands of the housing commission/agency paperwork or inspection, the community will inform the applicant of this and will give them/the housing commission/agency 3 business days to accept the paperwork and home as-is with immediate lease signing. If the applicant/housing commission/agency does not accept or does not reply to the decision, the home will be offered to the next approved applicant.
*Note: If at any time during the process, it is determined that the applicant is not yet approved for the Housing Choice Voucher Program by the Housing Commission/agency, the applicant’s application will proceed as normal, however the home will not be held and will be offered to the next approved applicant. By law, the applicant has up to 30 days for the Voucher to be approved by the Commission or agency upon receipt of completed landlord information, so they could still pursue a different home once they are formally approved for the Voucher by the Commission or agency.
SunSource Knowledge Base Article: https://sunsource.suninc.com//Interact/Pages/Content/Document.aspx?id=5678