572.110—Identifying and selecting eligible families for homeownership.
(a) Selection procedures.
(1)
Recipients must establish written equitable procedures for identifying and selecting eligible families to participate in the homeownership program, consistent with the affordability standards in § 572.120. Except for Indian tribes and IHAs as described in § 572.405(a)(2), the recipient must have a procedure to carry out its affirmative fair marketing responsibilities, described in § 572.405(e), that apply whenever homeownership opportunities are made available to other than current residents of the property. These procedures must include specific steps to inform potential applicants and solicit applications from eligible families in the housing market area who are least likely to apply for the program without special outreach.
(2)
The written selection procedures must provide for selection only of families that are creditworthy and have the financial capacity to handle the anticipated costs of homeownership. Any family determined not to have paid the appropriate amount of tenant contribution under a HUD housing assistance program must be required to resolve any deficiency before being selected for homeownership.
(b) Preferences.
(1)
In making selections for the program, each recipient must give first preference to qualified residents who legally occupied units on the date the recipient's application for the implementation grant was submitted to HUD and to persons residing in the units at the time the properties are selected. If the unit occupied by a former resident on the date the implementation grant application was submitted to HUD is occupied by a different resident at the time of property selection, a vacant unit under this program must be offered to the former resident at the earliest possible time.
(2)
In the case of vacant properties for which the preferences in paragraph (b)(1) of this section do not apply, recipients must give a first preference to otherwise qualified eligible families who reside in public or Indian housing under the 1937 Act. Recipients must use whatever measures are considered appropriate to inform residents of public and Indian housing developments within the housing market area of the preference, such as informing resident councils, PHAs, and IHAs, or other appropriate measures.
(3)
Recipients must give a second preference to otherwise qualified eligible families who have completed participation in one of the following economic self-sufficiency programs: Project Self-Sufficiency, Operation Bootstrap, Family Self-Sufficiency, JOBS, and any other Federal, State, territorial, or local program approved by HUD as equivalent.
(c) Responsibilities of selected families.
(1)
Each eligible family selected for homeownership must certify at the time it acquires an ownership interest in the unit (or enters into a lease-purchase agreement for the unit) that it intends to occupy the unit as its principal residence during the six-year period from the date it acquires ownership interest in the unit, unless the recipient determines that the family is required to move outside the market area due to a change in employment or an emergency situation or the family sells its ownership interest. The family may permit others to rent space (such as a basement area or a spare bedroom) in the unit occupied by the family as its principal residence. (See § 572.115(c) concerning the rental of units in a multi-unit property purchased by a homebuyer under this part.)
(2)
Any homebuyer that violates the agreement made under paragraph (c)(1) of this section shall be subject to penalties as provided in the transfer documents, as prescribed by HUD.
(3)
Each eligible family selected for the program must participate in counseling and training of homebuyers and homeowners regarding the general rights and responsibilities of homeownership.
(d) Social security numbers; wage and claims information.
As a condition of eligibility for homeownership under this part, at the time a family applies for howeownership, the recipient (or other appropriate entity) must:
(1)
Require the family to meet the requirements for the disclosure and verification of social security numbers, as provided by part 5, subpart B, of this title; and
(2)
Require the family to sign and submit consent forms for the obtaining of wage and claim information from State Wage Information Collection Agencies, as provided by part 5, subpart B, of this title.
(e) Notification of rejected applicant families.
Recipients or another appropriate entity must promptly notify in writing any rejected applicant family of the grounds for any rejection.