§ 984.303 - Contract of Participation (CoP).

§ 984.303 Contract of participationParticipation (CoP).

(a) General. Each eligible family that is selected to participate in an FSS program must enter into a contract of participation CoP with the PHA or owner that operates the FSS program in which the family will participate. The contract of participation There will be no more than one CoP at any time for each family. There may be an ITSP for as many members of the family as wish to participate. The CoP shall be signed by a representative of the PHA or the owner and the head of FSS family, as designated by the family. This head of FSS family does not have to be the same as the official head of household for rental assistance purposes.

(b) Form and content of contract -

(1) General. The contract of participationCoP, which incorporates the individual training and services planITSP(s), shall be in the form prescribed by HUD, and shall set forth the principal terms and conditions governing participation in the FSS program, including . These include the rights and responsibilities of the FSS family and of the PHA or owner, the services to be provided to, and the activities to be completed by, the head of the FSS family and each adult member of the FSS family who elects to participate in the program.

(2) Interim FSS family goals. The individual training and services planITSP, incorporated in the contract of participationCoP, shall establish specific interim and final goals by which the PHA or owner, and the family, may measure measures the FSS family's progress toward towards fulfilling its obligations under the contract of participation, CoP and becoming self-sufficient. For each participating any FSS family that is a recipient of welfare assistance at the outset of the CoP or that receives welfare assistance while in the FSS program, the PHA or owner must establish as an interim goal that a final goal for each FSS participant that every member of the family become independent from welfare assistance and remain independent from welfare assistance at least one year before the expiration of the term of the contract of participationCoP, including any extension thereof. Also, see the employment obligation described in paragraph (b)(4) of this section. Aside from the goals specifically required in this section, PHAs or owners must work with each participant to establish realistic and individualized goals and may not include additional mandatory goals or mandatory modifications of the two mandatory goals.

(3) Compliance with lease terms. The contract of participation CoP shall provide that one of the obligations of the FSS family is to comply with the terms and conditions of the respective public housing lease or Section 8 -assisted lease. However, all considerations allowed for other assisted residents for repayment agreements, etc., shall also be allowed for FSS participants.

(4) Employment obligation -

(i) Head of family's obligation. The head of the FSS family shall be required under the contract of participation to seek and maintain suitable employment during the term of the contract and any extension thereof. Although other Minimum requirement. Although all members of the FSS family may seek and maintain suitable employment during the term of the contract, only the head of the FSS family is shall be required under the CoP to seek and maintain suitable employment during the term of the contract and any extension thereof.

(ii) Seek employment. The obligation to seek employment means that the head of the FSS family has applied for employment, attended searching for jobs, applying for employment, attending job interviews, and has otherwise followed following through on employment opportunities.

(iii) Determination of suitable employment. A determination of suitable employment shall be made by the PHA or owner, with the agreement of the affected participant, based on the skills, education, and job training of the individual that has been designated the head of the FSS family, and receipt of other benefits of the household member, and based on the available job opportunities within the jurisdiction served by the PHA or in the community where the PBRA property is located.

(5) Consequences of noncompliance with the contract. The contract of participation CoP shall specify that if the FSS family fails to comply, without good cause, with the terms and conditions of the contract of participation, which includes compliance with the public housing lease or the Section 8-assisted lease, the PHA may:

(i) Withhold the supportive services;

(ii) Terminate the family's participation in the FSS program; or

(iii) For the Section 8 FSS program, terminate or withhold the family's Section 8 assistance, except in the case where the only basis for noncompliance with the contract of participation is noncompliance with the lease, or failure to become independent from welfare assistance. However, failure to become independent from welfare assistance because of failure of the head of household to meet the employment obligation

the consequences of noncompliance with the CoP as described in paragraph (

a

i)

(4)

of this section

, or failure of the FSS family to meet any other obligation under the contract of participation, except the interim goal concerning welfare assistance, is grounds for the PHA to terminate or withhold Section 8 assistance

.

(c) Contract of Participation term. The contract of participation CoP shall provide state that each FSS family will be required to fulfill those obligations to which the participating family has committed itself under the contract of participation CoP obligations no later than 5 years after the effective first re-examination of income after the execution date of the contractCoP.

(d) Contract of Participation extension. The PHA or owner shall, in writing, extend the term of the contract of participation CoP for a period not to exceed two (2) years for any FSS family that requests, in writing, an extension of the contract, provided that the PHA or owner finds that good cause exists for granting the extension. The family's written request for an extension must include a description of the need for the extension. Extension of the CoP will entitle the FSS family to continue to have amounts credited to the family's FSS escrow account in accordance with § 984.304. As used in this paragraph (d), “good cause” means circumstances good cause means:

(1) Circumstances beyond the control of the FSS family that impede the family's ability to complete the CoP obligations, as determined by the PHA or owner, such as a serious illness or involuntary loss of employment

. Extension of the contract of participation will entitle the FSS family to continue to have amounts credited to the family's FSS account in accordance with § 984.304.

;

(2) Active pursuit of a current or additional goal that will result in furtherance of self-sufficiency during the period of the extension (e.g., completion of a college degree during which the participant is unemployed or under-employed, credit repair towards being homeownership ready, etc.) as determined by the PHA or owner; or

(3) Any other circumstance that the PHA or owner determines warrants an extension, as long as the PHA or owner is consistent in its determination as to which circumstances warrant an extension.

(e) Unavailability of supportive services -

(1) Good-faith effort to replace unavailable services. If a social service agency fails to deliver the supportive services pledged under identified in an FSS family member's individual training and services planITSP, the PHA or owner shall make a good faith effort to obtain these services from another agency.

(2) Assessment of necessity of services. If the PHA or owner is unable to obtain the services from another agency, the PHA or owner shall reassess the family member's needs , and determine whether other available services would achieve the same purpose. If other available services would not achieve the same purpose, the PHA or owner and the family shall determine whether the unavailable services are integral to the FSS family's advancement or progress toward self-sufficiency. If the unavailable services are:

(i) Determined not to be integral to the FSS family's advancement toward self-sufficiency, the PHA or owner shall revise the individual training and services plan ITSP to delete these services, and modify the contract of participation CoP to remove any obligation on the part of the FSS family to accept the unavailable services, in accordance with paragraph (f) of this section; or,

(ii) Determined to be integral to the FSS family's advancement toward self-sufficiency (which may be the case if the affected family member is the head of the FSS family), the PHA or owner shall declare the contract of participation null and void. Nullification of the contract of participation on the basis of unavailability of supportive services shall not be grounds for termination of Section 8 assistanceterminate the CoP and follow the requirements in paragraph (k) of this section regarding FSS escrow disbursement.

(f) Modification. The PHA or owner and the FSS family may mutually agree to modify the contract of participation. The contract of participation may be modified in writing CoP with respect to the individual training and services plans, ITSP and/or the contract term in accordance with paragraph (d) of this section, and/or designation of the head of the FSS family. Modifications must be in writing.

(g) Completion of the contract. The contract of participation CoP is considered to be completed, and a family's participation in the FSS program is considered to be concluded when one of the following occurs:

(1) The

FSS family has fulfilled all of its obligations under the

contract of participation

CoP, including all family members' ITSPs, on or before the expiration of the contract term, including any extension thereof

; or (2) 30 percent of the monthly adjusted income of the FSS family equals or exceeds the published existing housing fair market rent for the size of the unit for which the FSS family qualifies based on the PHA's occupancy standards

.

The contract of participation will be considered completed and the family's participation in the FSS program concluded on this basis even though the contract term, including any extension thereof, has not expired, and the family members who have individual training and services plans have not completed all the activities set forth in their plans.

(h) Termination of the contract. The contract of participation is automatically CoP shall be terminated if the family's Section 8 housing assistance is terminated in accordance with HUD requirements. The contract of participation CoP may be terminated before the expiration of the contract term, and any extension thereof, by:

(1) Mutual consent of the parties;

(2) The failure of the FSS family to meet its obligations under the contract of participation CoP without good cause, including in the Section 8 FSS program the failure . This includes an FSS family who has moved out of multifamily assisted housing and families receiving tenant-based assistance under section 8(o) of the 1937 Act who fail to comply with the contract requirements because the family has moved outside the jurisdiction of the PHA, and the PHA has not determined that there is good cause terminate the CoP with FSS escrow disbursement in accordance with paragraph (k)(1)(iii) of this section;

(3) The family's withdrawal from the FSS program;

(4) Such other act as is deemed inconsistent with the purpose of the FSS program; or

(5) Operation of law.

(i) Option to terminate Section 8 housing and FSS participation or withhold the coordination of supportive service assistance. The PHA or owner may terminate or withhold Section 8 housing assistance, the coordination of supportive services , and or terminate the FSS family's participation in the FSS program, if the PHA or owner determines, in accordance with the FSS Action Plan hearing procedures provided in 24 CFR 982.555 , that the FSS family has failed to comply without good cause with the requirements of the contract of participation as provided in paragraph (b)(5) of CoP in accordance with this section.

(j) Transitional supportive service assistance. a A PHA or owner may continue to offer to a former FSS family who that has completed its contract of participation and whose head of family is employedCoP, appropriate coordination of those FSS supportive services in becoming needed to become self-sufficient ( if the family still resides in public housing , or Section 8 -assisted housing), or in remaining self-sufficient (if housing. If the family no longer resides in public housing, Section 8-assisted housing, or other assisted housing, then a PHA or owner may continue to coordinate supportive services for a former FSS family that completed its CoP using only funding sources that are not HUD funds or HUD-restricted funds.

(k) Termination with FSS escrow disbursement.

(1) The CoP is will be terminated with FSS disbursement when:

(i) Services that the PHA or owner and the FSS family have agreed are integral to the FSS family's advancement towards self-sufficiency are unavailable, as described in paragraph (e) of this section;

(ii) The head of the FSS family becomes permanently disabled and unable to work during the period of the contract, unless the PHA or owner and the FSS family determine that it is possible to modify the contract to designate a new head of the FSS family; or

(iii) An FSS family in good standing moves outside the jurisdiction of the PHA (in accordance with portability requirements at § 982.353 of this chapter) for good cause, as determined by the PHA, and continuation of the CoP after the move, or completion of the CoP prior to the move, is not possible. PHAs must be consistent in their determinations of whether a family has good cause for a termination with FSS escrow disbursement under this paragraph (k).

(2) Upon termination of a CoP pursuant to paragraph (k)(1) of this section, escrow funds must be handled consistent with § 984.305.