AppFolio officially launched its affordable housing product at NAA Apartmentalize in 2023, and since then we have been constantly enhancing our capabilities and features to unlock greater efficiency for our customers. This year, we expanded our HUD features to include a revamped HAP Request experience that makes it easier than ever to submit all of the key requirements to your Contract Administrator (CA) or HUD.
We also launched a new Waitlist feature, expanded our TRACS capabilities, and added the option for you to turn on HOTMA at your LIHTC properties when you are ready to start implementing the new rules and regulations. In this article, we’ll explore all these updated innovations in more detail and unpack the ways they can help you improve your operational efficiency.
Category: Affordable Housing
Last modified: November 18, 2024
By: Diana Lopez Negrete
Since launching our affordable housing product last year, our team has been hard at work building and expanding our offerings to better serve your needs. This year we’ve rolled out a number of new features, including:
When it comes to managing affordable housing, there’s no better excitement than moving a new resident into their apartment and off the waitlist for good — but sometimes the stress of managing your waitlist can deflate that whole experience. Now, with AppFolio’s updated waitlist capabilities, you can conveniently oversee critical waitlist requirements and review key application details from one single source in AppFolio Property Manager.
The waitlist in AppFolio makes it easy to track applications against HUD’s rules and guidance while implementing preferences specific to your own property. You can easily notate key information for prospective residents, including all engagements and interactions, so you can make the most informed decisions. And you can manage your waitlist on the same platform as your properties — removing the need to toggle between different software and spreadsheets.
For HUD property managers, it helps to be able to view any TRACS messages and errors right away, so you can address them quickly and get HAP Requests submitted on time. With our new TRACS Messages feature, which allows you to see messages directly in AppFolio, you can proactively resolve submissions before re-submitting your files to your CA. That means no more hours spent redoing declined vouchers or dealing with delays to your subsidy payments.
With this feature, you can review TRACS submissions for errors and make sure you are proactively submitting the most accurate files to your CA. Additionally, you can access historical TRACS submissions to audit and review for compliance purposes and ensure you review any previous errors before submitting new submissions. This will help build trust with your CA by proactively resolving errors and submitting accurate files, while enabling you to receive the correct subsidy payments on time.
Recouping costs from HUD for subsidy payments is critical to your bottom line and financial stability — and it makes it a lot easier when you can handle the whole process in one place. With our updated HAP Request capabilities, you can now easily create, review, and submit all of the required components of a HAP Request directly in AppFolio.
Keep a historical record of your HAP Request submissions and all compliance documents in one system, and leverage AppFolio’s powerful platform to fulfill your HAP Request needs and oversee compliance across all of your HUD properties. Easily train your team in 5 steps to keep your vouchers on time and on track, while ensuring greater accuracy before submitting to your CA.
This enhanced experience includes every component of a HAP Request:
In addition to expanding our affordable housing capabilities and features, we have also made sure our teams are on top of the upcoming HOTMA changes and updates. Recently, HUD announced an extension for HOTMA. Multifamily property owners now have until July 1, 2025 to reach full compliance (previously January 1st, 2025).
If you manage LIHTC properties and your Housing Finance Agency (HFA) has released its HOTMA guidance and forms, you can enable HOTMA in AppFolio Property Manager on a property-by-property basis. For HUD properties, we are still waiting on HUD to release the final version of TRACS 203A to implement the necessary technical requirements in AppFolio Property Manager.
We know that HOTMA continues to be a focus for your business and our teams will continue to monitor any upcoming announcements from HUD and HFAs.
Managing affordable housing is complicated. With a complex web of program requirements and compliance regulations, it can be time-consuming to maintain regulatory accuracy when submitting files to HUD and Housing Finance Authorities. That’s why we want to make it as easy as possible for you and your teams. Our goal is to always listen to our customers’ needs and build a product that works the way you work, so that you can focus on what’s important - your communities.
We will continue to add more features and capabilities to our affordable housing product in 2025 and beyond, so stay tuned and always check back for our latest updates. And if you’d like to see these latest features and innovations in action, sign up for a free product demo, and a member of our team will reach out to you.