Details about the three steps for selecting participants from among eligible households are provided below.
Two program rules--ParticipationAnnualSubsidyFloor and ParticipationMaxPctFMR--are used to determine which eligible households are selected for the pool of potential participants. These rules include values for different characteristics such as ethnicity, race, household composition, source of household income, number of bedrooms, and average monthly tenant payment so that the likelihood of selection may be varied depending upon these characteristics.
In order for an eligible household to be placed in the pool of potential participants, AnnualSubsidyReceived must exceed the lowest value of ParticipationAnnualSubsidyFloor among the values specified for the entries matching the household's characteristics. For example, if a value of 100 is specified for households with earned income, 150 is specified for households with two bedrooms, and 200 is specified for all other types of households, then a household with earned income would be placed in the pool of potential participants if AnnualSubsidyReceived exceeds $100, a household without earnings but with two bedrooms would be placed in the pool of potential participants if AnnualSubsidyReceived exceeds $150, and a household without earnings and with less than or greater than two bedrooms would be placed in the pool of potential participants if AnnualSubsidyRecieved exceeds $200.
In addition to meeting the criteria defined by AnnualSubsidyReceived, the household's reported monthly rental payment as a percentage of the FMR must be less than or equal to the maximum value specified for ParticipationMaxPctFMR for the household, based on its characteristics.
Program rules ReportedRent and ReportedHomeOwnershipExpenses specify the variables containing a household's reported values. Households that are selected for the pool of potential participants and whose reported rental costs are within a specified range of their monthly required rental payment (AnnualRentPaid/12) are initially assigned to participate. Prior to version 34.0, the range was specified by ParticipationRentRangeIncrement.
In version 34.0, ParticipationRentRangeIncrement was replaced with a set of nine new rules--RentRangeChildHhIncLimit1-3, RentRangeAgedDisabIncLimit1-3 and RentRangeOtherIncLimit1-3. RentRangeChildHhIncLimit1-3, RentRangeAgedDisabIncLimit1-3 and RentRangeOtherIncLimit1-3 apply to households with children, households with an elderly or disabled head or spouse (and no children), and households without an elderly or disabled head or spouse (and no children), respectively. Rules ending with �1� apply to households with income below 37.5 percent of the eligible income limit. Rules ending with �2� apply to households with income greater than or equal to 37.5 percent of the eligible income limit and below 62.5 percent of the eligible income limit. Rules ending with �3� apply to households with income greater than or equal to 62.5 percent of the eligible income limit.
The rent range rules contain amounts corresponding to the following average monthly required rental payment categories: $0, $1 - $25, $26 - $50, $51 - $100, $101 - $200, $201 - $350, $351 - $500, and $501+. For example, if the amount specified for the $101 to $200 category is $20, then a household whose simulated average monthly rental payment is equal to $140 must have reported rent between $120 and $160 in order to be selected as an initial participant.
Once the �initial participants� have been selected, additional adjustments can be made to change some of the initial participants into nonparticipants and to change some of the households not initially selected to participate (who are in the pool of potential participants) into participants. These adjustments are made using the participation adjustment rules.
Prior to version 34.0, participation adjustments were specified through ParticipationAdjustmentFactor. Beginning with version 34.0, these adjustments are made through a set of nine rules--PartAdjChildHhIncLimit1-3, PartAdjAgedDisabIncLimit1-3, and PartAdjOtherIncLimit1-3. PartAdjChildHhIncLimit1-3, PartAdjAgedDisabIncLimit1-3, and PartAdjOtherIncLimit1-3 apply to households with children, households with an elderly or disabled head or spouse (and no children), and households without an elderly or disabled head or spouse (and no children), respectively. Rules ending with �1� apply to households with income below 37.5 percent of the eligible income limit. Rules ending with �2� apply to households with income greater than or equal to 37.5 percent of the eligible income limit and below 62.5 percent of the eligible income limit. Rules ending with �3� apply to households with income greater than or equal to 62.5 percent of the eligible income limit.
PubOrSubsidizedHousing computes an average of the applicable participation adjustment factor for each household. For example, if a household is non-Hispanic, White, has an elderly household head or spouse, has children, has Social Security, has two bedrooms, and has an average monthly rental payment of $250, and the corresponding adjustments for these characteristics are .3, -.2, .15, .4, .2, -.3, and .6, then the module computes an average adjustment of .16.
If the average adjustment is positive and the household has not been selected as an initial participant and the household is in the pool of potential participants and the household's random number is less than or equal to the average adjustment, then the household is assigned to participate.
If the average adjustment is negative and the household has been selected as an initial participant and the household's random number is less than or equal to the absolute value of the average adjustment, then the household is made a non-participant.
Alignment table 2 tabulates eligible and participating households by household characteristic. The middle columns indicate whether households passed the various tests (annual subsidy > floor amount, reported rent <= maximum percent of FMR, and reported rent within the specified range of required rent).