A "Compliance" view of Tropical Storm Fay (and other matters)
I want to begin this post by thanking the many who expressed concern for myself and my family, knowing that we live in the Tampa area and that Tropical Storm Fay was tracking close to here. For the moment, the storm reminds me of Change 2 -- a lot of anticipation and build up, but nothing too severe, at least as far as those in my area are concerned. My thoughts tonight are for all those on the east coast of the state, which was not included in most of the tracking models. I hope all in the path of the storm will remain safe and sound.
It also caused me to think about the differences between HUD compliance and meteorology; meteorologists are probably *wrong* more times than are people involved in HUD compliance. They deal with the forces of nature, while we deal with the forces of regulation -- a slightly more predictable phenomenon. One of the things we have in common is that an incorrect call impacts people.
One of the things that has occurred to me recently is how easy it is for housing professionals to lose sight of what I refer to as "the basics." We can get so caught up in the newer and arguably more complex rules (such as the Section 8 Student Rule, which continues to be a source of confusion for many) that we come close to forgetting the fundamentals.
For instance, I received an email a few weeks back in which a housing professional of many years experience was asking my opinion on the issue of medical expenses and Exhibit 5-3, because he was trying to determine eligibility and was concerned that an inaccurate medical expense figure would affect whether they met the income limits for the building. After determining that it was income limits and not the TTP that was the cause of his anxiety, I reminded him that income eligibility was based on Annual Income, not Adjusted Income -- which he knew as well as anyone -- such was his fixation on the medical expense issue.
In my "Compliance Corner" column on the NCHM website (www.nchm.org) I'll be spending the next few columns going "Back to the Basics." Please feel free to visit, and to tell others. And if it has been a while since you've been to a "refresher" COS, consider it. You might be surprised at how much is familiar....and how much is not.

