Los Angeles Office of Public Housing
September 2009 Newsletter
Serving Southern California

Welcome Johnson Badalpour PIC Moments with Martha What's New in the PIH EIV System? Voucher Management System Schedule Moving to Work Demonstration Income and Rent Determination Requirements HCV Cost Saving Strategies Housing Authority Uses Dog

Welcome Johnson Badalpour

Johnson Badalpour

We welcome Johnson Badalpour as Acting Deputy Director of the Los Angeles Office. He will continue serving our office as a General Engineer, as well as a supervisor. We are grateful for his service.

PIC Moments with Martha

September 2009 Public Housing 50058s must use new development number.

After the September 2009 release all public housing 50058s should use assigned Asset Management Project Groupings (AMP) development number.

During the reformulation of development numbers in the Spring of 2008, HUD moved your building and unit data from old eight character development numbers into new 11 character asset management groups (or new development numbers if you like). At that time we provided the ability for housing agencies to submit public housing tenant form 50058s using either old or new development numbers, informing clients that we would do so for about 12 months.

With the Inventory Management System Public and Indian Housing Information Center (IMS-PIC) system release 6.5 in September 2009 we will no longer accept public housing form 50058s with eight character development numbers if the building/entrance/unit combination was assigned to a new development number. This change in no way affects Section 8 tenant form submissions. Low rent or combined housing agencies that have public housing units in management status that were not transitioned to a new development number should contact their field office.

User Deactivation/Reactivation to Change User Certification

With the 6.5 IMS/PIC release scheduled to take place September 2009, one if the important changes that will replace the Deactivation/Reactivation process will be the User Recertification in IMS-PIC. Every active user in the IMS system must be certified periodically by the security coordinators of their respective housing. Security coordinators must recertify IMS-PIC system users within a recertification window that opens a few days before the beginning of a new certification period. Once a recertification window is closed, all the uncertified users are allowed to access the IMS-PIC system for a few days known as a grace access period, after which they are inactivated. All certified users will continue to have normal system access throughout the certification validity period.

Housing Authority Security coordinators will ONLY have one level of access which is to Certify HA users.

The Field Office PIC Coach will have one level of access which is to certify the Housing Authority (HA) Security Coordinators and the Field Office Users.



Just a reminder that it is important that the Housing Authority email contacts is kept current in PIC.

50058 Received Link to List Head of Household Name

As a result of the newly installed release 6.5 of PIC there is the 50058s received link that provides the names of the Head of Household. Housing Authorities will be able to view the names of the program participants for whom they submitted and PIC accepted successfully a HUD Form 50058. This information is located in PIC under Reports then Delinquency then Delinquency Query.

SEMAP Certifications

The PIC users that are designated as submitting a Section 8 Management Assessment Program (SEMAP) Certification must ensure that they are active in PIC. Executive Directors: Missing the SEMAP Certification due date because your PIC account is INACTIVE will cause your HA to be determined "Troubled." Logon to PIC now to make sure your PIC account is active. If you cannot access PIC, contact Martha E Murillo at (213) 534-2611, and she will activate your access to PIC. FYE 9/30/09 PHAs your SEMAP is due November 28, 2009.

San Diego PIC Workshop

The Los Angeles Office of Public Housing conducted its second in a series of 2 PIC Workshops for the Southern California Housing Authorities staff. The second workshop was held in the City of San Diego on Thursday, September 10, 2009 from 9:30am to 4:00pm, with 39 registrants in attendance. The workshop was hosted by the San Diego Housing Commission.

Martha Murillo, the PIC Coach for the Los Angeles Office of Public Housing, presented topics of interest and concern that consist of the day to day activities in dealing with PIC.  The topics were as follows:

Secure Connection/Secure Systems (WASS) duties
Reset vs. Locked out in WASS

PIC
Reactivation and Deactivation
HA Contacts
Expiration of PIC access
Special Privileges
Understanding PIC Reports
Delinquency Summarization Reports
SEMAP Indicators Reports
Summarization Schedule
Changes with the 6.5 PIC Release scheduled for September 14, 2009.

50058s
Portability
Homeownership
Family Self Sufficiency (FSS)
Special Action Codes
End of Participation (EOP)s
Errors Fatal and Warnings
Coming attractions with September 2009 PIC release
Questions and answers

Other
Voucher Management System (VMS)
Enterprise Income Verification (EIV)
SEMAP Rating Process

Also, Marilyn Patterson had a segment on Building and Units Demo/Dispo and Inventory removals that deal with PIC for those in attendance that have public housing.

The Los Angeles Field Office would like to thank Greg Kamp and the San Diego Housing Commission staff for hosting the workshop and taking care of the logistics.

What's New in the PIH EIV System 9.0 Release for PIH Users?

Upcoming EIV system update training is scheduled for 09/24/09 10:00 a.m. (PST) to 2:00 p.m. (PST), via webcast or satellite. It can also be viewed at the Los Angeles Field Office located at 611 W. 6th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017. Please RSVP via email to Martha E. Murillo (Martha.E.Murillo@hud.gov).

Important Notice: All PIH EIV system users are required to view this training session as a condition of continued PIH EIV system access.

Martha at her desk

Voucher Management System (VMS) Schedule

Be aware that any data entered prior to the 4th of the month may be flagged with a hard edit error.  To avoid any unnecessary delays from having to review those hard edits, we ask that you submit your data only during the new reporting period.)

Also, effective June 15, 2009, Mr. Thomas M. Vitek will be assigned as the new Financial Analyst to process any necessary financial documents from FMC.

Thomas M. Vitek, 9APCF
US Dept of HUD
Telephone: (415)489-6497 or Fax (415) 489-6754
Email: Thomas M. Vitek (Thomas.M.Vitek@hud.gov)

Please note that there is now a new Voucher Management Systems (VMS) manual that was published in April 2009. You may find the manual at this website (http://www.hud.gov/offices/pih/programs/hcv/pubs/instructions.pdf).

Moving to Work Demonstration

• Reduce cost and achieve greater cost effectiveness in federal expenditures;
• Give incentives to families with children where the head of household is working; is seeking work; or is preparing for work by participating in job training, educational programs, or program that assist people to obtain employment and become economically self-sufficient; and
• Increase housing choice for low-income families

Under the legislation, HUD is authorized to grant statutory and regulatory relief from PH and HCV program rules.

Refinement of Income and Rent Determination Requirements in PH and Assisted HousingPrograms

HCV Cost Saving Strategies

Milwaukee Housing Authority Uses Dog as Part of Housing Inspection Process

Pictured: Bedbug sniffing Inspector Gracie

We learned of an innovative program at the Milwaukee Housing Authority using a dog to sniff out bed bugs, which are described as an epidemic in the area.

Acquired from a specialized canine training center in Florida for $10,000, Gracie can go to an apartment door and smell if there's a bedbug or live bedbug eggs inside. In all, the Housing Authority oversees 5,300 units of public housing, says executive director Tony Perez. The funds to acquire Gracie came from fees the housing authority has generated, such as developer fees attached to the housing tax credits used to build Convent Hill, and an environmental service contract that the Housing Authority has for City Hall, and other revenue streams the authority has developed to pay for additional services, he said.

Gracie has been sniffing out bedbugs for the past month and has gone on more than 150 inspection missions. "The advantage is that the animal can pinpoint bedbugs without having to go through all the units in a building, or trying to treat a whole building with various methods like raising the temperature in a building to 120 degrees," Mr. Perez said.