Best Practices for Tenant Conferences and Terminations in Project Based Buildings

Tenant Conferences: Tenant Conferences are meetings between voucher participants and the voucher administering agency to discuss program violations. Tenant Conferences are intended to help support residents in addressing behaviors that negatively impact housing stability and support the resident in successful participation.

There are not a fixed number of Tenant Conferences associated with program termination in project-based supportive housing. In these settings, housing service providers and property managers work collaboratively to support participant stability using best practices in housing first, harm reduction, trauma-informed care, and motivational interviewing.

Tenant Conferences should occur based on rental assistance program requirements but can also be deployed by the voucher administrator in strategic partnership with the other program partners. Participation in these conferences by project partners may vary depending on the nature of the program violation. Tenant Conferences should occur when project-partners believe them to be appropriate.

DOH uses the Tenant Conference and accompanying documentation process as one of several different means of evaluating the implementation of the supportive housing model by project partners. Property managers should send all lease violations to the Voucher Administrator. However, a lease violation in project-based supportive housing does not and should not always result in a tenant conference.

• Areas that warrant a tenant conference in project-based supportive housing are:
  • Repeated lease violations.
    • In these situations, documentation will need to be provided to DOH that outlines:
      • The type of housing stabilization/retention plan currently in place for the participant.
      • The services and resources offered to the tenant by the supportive services staff.
      • Notices and documentation from Property Management
      • Any other helpful information or documentation to share.
  • Serious voucher program violations. Examples can include:
    • Habitually not reporting income.
    • Habitually not reporting changes in family members living in the unit.
      • Non-household members residing in the unit.

Termination: DOH's guidance to project-based supportive housing is that eviction, mutual rescission, or nonrenewal of lease should only be pursued as a last resort following the appropriate level of intervention from the relevant partners including the supportive service provider(s), property management, and the voucher administrator.

Unlike with a tenant-based voucher, with project-based supportive housing, eviction, mutual rescission, or non-renewal of lease results in program termination. Property owners have the legal right to move forward with the legal eviction process at their discretion. However, a pattern of eviction, mutual rescission, or non-renewal of leases that do not align with DOH guidance and/or the implementation of the supportive housing model based on best-practices including housing first, harm reduction, trauma-informed care, and motivational interviewing may impact eligibility for access to supportive services funding and other resources from the State.

Termination for project-based supportive housing should not proceed without a simultaneous or corresponding eviction, mutual rescission, or non-renewal of the lease. Failure to follow this process may result in financial hardship for the project and the inability to receive payment on a resident's behalf during the eviction process.

• Areas that do not require a tenant conference but must be reviewed by the DOH Termination Panel.
  • Serious threatening behavior or violence against program participants or staff with accompanying footage and verified witness statements.
    Note: DOH strives to provide project partners with flexibility to look at the individual circumstances and make a decision. A spontaneous brawl between two residents should be viewed in a different context from a premeditated act of violence or assault. Verbal or written comments are distinct from physical altercations. Project partners have the discretion to determine the appropriate course of action and should not beholden to an automatic policy. Providers should look at individual instances and take into account mitigating factors including police involvement, documentation, substance use, danger to residents or staff, and other relevant extenuating circumstances.
  • Criminal activity with subsequent arrest/conviction that has resulted in documented incarceration (either due to parole revocation or new charges) for more than 120 days.
    Note: Clients can be absent from units for up to 120 days without rental assistance being terminated. In the event that the absence from the unit is related to a criminal justice involvement, police reports, arrest records, and court documents are required prior to proceeding with this type of termination.

Updated 3/22/2023