Affordable Housing Application for Remote Electronic Certification

Abstract

A computer implemented application and system for providing accurate and remotely facilitated certifications of tenants eligible to participate in an affordable housing program, including federally funded and other government types affordable/low-income housing programs. The computer implemented application and system facilitates completion of all steps and elements required for multiple types of certifications, including move in certifications, interim certifications, transfer certifications, annual certifications, and move out certifications. The computer application facilitates remote certification to minimize the difficulties that have been experienced by tenants in providing documents, verifications, and correct answers to affordable housing program forms and questionnaires in person as well as any type a change occurs related to income, status, or household makeup about which the tenant has to notify the affordable/low-income housing program. The application can populate answers provided by a tenant or another party in relevant forms and questionnaires and update any required forms and documents.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer implemented method for completing and storing any type of certification for affordable/low-income housing programs remotely, the computer implemented method comprising:
 providing access to a tenant and one or more other parties to an affordable/low-income housing program to one or more interfaces on an affordable housing application in order to complete the any type of certification, wherein the affordable housing application provides remote access over a network using one or more computing devices to the tenant to provide necessary information required to complete the any type of certification, wherein the any type of certification affirms the tenant is eligible to be a participant of the affordable/low-income housing program, wherein the one or more other parties further comprise property management and/or staff, compliance specialists, and/or administrators of the affordable housing application;   providing one or more interfaces and/or checklists with necessary items for completing the any type of certification depending on a type of affordable/low-income housing program the tenant is a participant of and depending on a type of electronic certification to be completed, further comprising making the one or more interfaces and/or checklists accessible to the property management of a property where the tenant resides so that the property management is informed as to items required as stated in the one or more interfaces and/or checklists;   providing an assembled package of one or more forms, questionnaires, and documents for the tenant and the one or more parties to access remotely, wherein the tenant is required to provide responses and answers and fill out the one or more forms, questionnaires, and documents as presented and stored in the affordable housing application;   providing status updates about the one or more forms, questionnaires, and documents to the tenant and the one or more parties, wherein the status updates indicate whether the one or more forms, questionnaires, and documents are pending, completed, or further action is required;   providing one or more interfaces for posing comments and questions to the tenant in the affordable housing application, wherein the one or more other parties are able to make requests and respond to questions posed by the tenant in the one or more interfaces;   receiving uploaded documents or other types of proof related to household makeup and income that are needed for the any type of certification;   providing an account or record of attempts made to contact either the tenant or another party, wherein the another party further comprises an employer of the tenant or another individual relevant to ascertaining or determining the household makeup or the income of the tenant;   providing completed questionnaires, forms, and the other documents with entered answers and responses obtained from the tenant;   requesting signatures from the tenant and other relevant parties;   assembling the completed questionnaires, forms, and the other documents with signatures in a completed certification for the tenant; and   storing the completed certification for any future auditing conducted by a representative/agent of the affordable/low-income housing program.   
     
     
         2 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 using an error checking analyzer that is part of the affordable housing application, auditing the completed certification for completion and accuracy prior to approval for storing and viewing by the representative/agent of the affordable/low-income housing program.   
     
     
         3 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 displaying the any type of certification as being either pending or completed, wherein the any type of certification further comprises an initial or move-in certification, an interim certification, a transfer certification, an annual certification, or a move-out certification.   
     
     
         4 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 creating electronic forms for the tenant to view, complete, and sign.   
     
     
         5 . The computer implemented method of  claim 4 , wherein the electronic forms comprise forms related to income questionnaires, asset verification, employer verification, household makeup, student status, and/or student verifications. 
     
     
         6 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the electronic forms comprise affidavits for the tenant or another individual to complete. 
     
     
         7 . The computer implemented method of  claim 6 , wherein the affidavits comprise affidavits related to income, assets, student status or information, credit, race, ethnicity, or household. 
     
     
         8 . The computer implemented method of  claim 7 , wherein the affidavits related to the household comprise information regarding child support, marital status, and/or court related proceedings or documents. 
     
     
         9 . The computer implemented method of  claim 1 , further comprising, extracting identified information from a previously completed certification and populating a pending certification with the extracted information for review and approval by the tenant for a current certification awaiting completion. 
     
     
         10 . A system for completing certifications for affordable/low-income housing programs remotely, comprising:
 a network;   a computing device having a display screen;   one or more memory including processor readable instructions stored thereon; and   one or more processors configured to read and execute the processor readable instructions to cause the system to:
 provide an affordable housing application configured to import or create electronic forms, questionnaires, or other documents for a pending certification, wherein the electronic forms, questionnaires, or other documents are accessible by one or more parties, wherein the one or more parties comprise a tenant, a compliance specialist, a property management representative, and/or an administrator of the affordable housing application; 
 provide access to the tenant of an affordable/low-income housing program to one or more interfaces of the affordable housing application in order to complete the pending certification; 
 provide selectable explanatory information for fields, questions, spaces, or other parts of the electronic forms, questionnaires, or other documents to assist the tenant in responding to the fields, questions, spaces, or the other parts of the electronic forms, questionnaires, or other documents; 
 provide status updates about completed and/or pending said forms, questionnaires, or the other documents to the tenant and the one or more parties; 
 provide one or more interfaces for posing comments and questions to the tenant in the affordable housing application, wherein the one or more parties are able to make requests and respond to questions posed by the tenant in the one or more interfaces; 
 receive uploaded documents or proof related to household makeup and income that are needed for the pending certification; 
 provide an account or record of attempts made to contact either the tenant or an additional party, wherein the additional party further comprises an employer of the tenant or another party relevant to ascertaining or determining the household makeup and the income of the tenant; 
 provide completed questionnaires, forms, and other documents with entered answers and responses; 
 request signatures from the tenant and other relevant parties; 
 assemble the completed questionnaires, forms, and other documents with signatures in a completed certification for the tenant; and 
 store the completed certification for any future auditing conducted by a representative/agent of the affordable/low-income housing program. 
   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors is further configured to read and execute the processor readable instructions to cause the system to:
 audit the completed certification for completion and accuracy prior to approval for storing and viewing by the representative/agent of the affordable/low-income housing program.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors is further configured to read and execute the processor readable instructions to cause the system to:
 display any type of certification available in the affordable housing application as pending or completed, wherein the any type of certification further comprises an initial or move-in certification, an interim certification, a transfer certification, an annual certification, and a move-out certification.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors is further configured to read and execute the processor readable instructions to cause the system to:
 create electronic forms for the tenant to view, complete, and sign.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the electronic forms comprise forms related to income questionnaires, asset verification, employer verification, household makeup, student status, and/or student verifications. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the electronic forms comprise affidavits for the tenant or another party to complete. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the affidavits comprise affidavits related to income, assets, student status or information, credit, race, ethnicity, or household affidavits. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the household affidavits comprise information regarding child support, marital status, and/or court related proceedings or documents. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more processors is further configured to read and execute the processor readable instructions to:
 pose specific questions, wherein the specific questions mirror questions or requests for information included in one or more fields in the electronic forms, questionnaires, or other documents to be submitted in the pending certification for the affordable/low-income housing program;   extract answers provided by the tenant in response to the posed specific questions;   map the extracted answers to designated fields in the electronic forms, questionnaires, or other documents; and   provide the electronic forms, questionnaires, or other documents filled out with the extracted answers to the tenant and/or the one or more parties to review.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the affordable housing application notifies the tenant and the one or more parties of any relevant deadlines for each tenant of a property with respect to a required certification. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the affordable housing application updates any existing forms, regulations, or other required documents with a more recent version of each and notifies the tenant or the one or more parties of any changes made to the existing forms, regulations, or other required documents.