Dear Participating Landlords and Tenants.

The HABC is presently experiencing extreme business disruptions consequent of the pandemic. Naturally this has deeply affected the Department’s ability to operate effectively, resulting in present staff members being behind on annual re‐examinations of tenant households.

 

For the past 18 months, the pandemic has both eradicated our ability to meeting with program participants face to face to recertify and has had a deeply adverse effect on our ability to maintain full staffing levels due to illness.  Our Rental Programs Department is at the lowest 

staffing levels we have ever experienced.  Combined, these two pandemic disruptions, the inability to meet and receive documents in‐person and limited staff, have greatly impacted our present staff 

member’s ability to complete recertifications on time all while navigating a new telecommuted work environment.

 

We are working diligently to implement additional supports for our Section 8 team members to help us catch up on late recertifications and process updated HAP payments due landlords. We are currently contracting with an outside agency to assist in processing late certifications and we are 

hiring and training new staff.  We have also added new internal program processes and features that will eventually aid all Specialists to be able to complete their processes more efficiently and effectively ‐ but all new systems have a learning curve.

 

While HABC improves our process we respectfully ask for your patience. Tenants are still required to continue to make timely tenant rent payments based on their last certified tenant rent and landlords will receive all outstanding and accumulated HAP due upon tenant’s annual finalization.

 

To aide our efforts we are asking that any program participant that has either the resources or family/friends to assist them in completion and submitting annual recertifications documents online via www.habcnj.org/recert to please do so.  Online submission is the fastest method of document delivery to the HABC and it provides immediate confirmation of receipt where postal submission may be delayed and does not provide confirmation of document receipt. Clients unable to submit documents electronically thereby recertifying via regular mail may also utilize our secure HABC document drop box located on Hudson Street directly outside the  front entrance to 1 Bergen County Plaza, Hackensack, NJ 07601.

 

We have our work cut out for us.  We have new team members, additional assistance programs, the most important goal of timeliness and to thrive as a community solution providing assistance in a time of need for the most vulnerable in Bergen County.

 

Thank you for your support and anticipated understanding while we work to resolve our disruptions, find our way to a new working normal that exceeds Authority expectations and meets our goals of responsive engagement, on‐time rent payments and increased leasing levels.

Housing Authority of Bergen County