
When rental assistance is provided as part of a Transitional Housing (TH) or Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) project, program participants receiving rental assistance are required to pay rent. For a comprehensive overview of how to determine income and calculate rent, please review Section 5.609 and 5.611(a) and Section 578.77 of the CoC Program Interim Rule.
Looking for definitions of the common CoC and ESG Program terms referenced throughout the Virtual Binders?
In Rapid Re-Housing (RRH) projects are not subject to the occupancy charge and rent contribution requirements in Section 578.77. Instead, RRH projects must follow their CoC's written standards for determining the amount or percentage of rent that each participant may pay. The CoC Program Interim Rule outlines the specific requirements of RRH (§ 578.37(a)(1)(ii)).
The amount of rent or occupancy charges owed by the program participant is calculated using the family’s annual income less allowable deductions. Generally, it is based on six factors:
For PSH and TH projects, the program participant’s rent cannot exceed the highest of:
Projects that provide Rental Assistance to program participants must charge rent that is the highest of these three figures. In these cases, the program participant’s contribution is paid straight to the landlord and the recipient pays the landlord the difference of the program participant’s contribution and the contract rent.
Projects that support housing with leasing funds do not have to charge an occupancy charge (which is similar to rent), but if they do, they are not permitted to charge any amount higher than the highest of these three figures. In these instances, the recipient pays the landlord 100 percent of the rent and collects the occupancy charge from the program participant.