Fast Facts For Dealing With Child Support And Income-Based Housing

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Income-based housing can be a good opportunity to live in a space that is comfortable and affordable. As a single parent, income-based housing may be the best way to find an apartment for you and your child that you can afford in a good neighborhood. Often, developers receive tax credits from building income-based or tax credit apartments, which provides incentives to build the affordable housing. If your income and credit match what the property is looking for, you can apply. One of the biggest problems that can happen during the application process is understanding child support and income. Here are a few fast facts to know if you are applying for income based housing and have an order to collect child support. 

Some consider child support income

One of the issues that you can run into with a property that is based on income is what they count as income. Some places will account for your personal income from jobs, as well as extra income from stocks, interests, and other financial holdings. There are others that will insist on including child support as a form of income. This can become a problem, especially if you are not receiving child support consistently. Be sure to ask how they calculate income specifically and if they may make accommodations based on the situation. 

You can get a letter of arrears from the court

If your child support is in arrears due to the other parent not paying, you may be able to prove that you are not receiving child support as income. For some income based properties, consistent non-payment can be enough to prove that you do not have an income of child support for your household. If you receive welfare from your state, you can also prove that you may not be getting any of the arrears because the back payments will have to be paid to the welfare division first. 

If the housing is tax-based, child support doesn't count

If you are looking to apply for income-based or tax-credit based housing, the tax-credit based housing can be easier to apply for as a person with a child support order. Child support is not considered as income on tax forms, which means that this does not have to be reported to the tax-based housing company. Apply for all income and tax-based housing by submitting your pay stubs and tax records in order to reflect an accurate portrayal of your dependable income. 

For help clarifying your support order and its role in your income reporting, talk with a lawyer like those at Cotto Law Firm P.C..


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