a) Determine start date, anticipated lottery dates, anticipated first payment to landlords, end date. b) Conduct marketing and outreach, including developing the program announcement,(with the announcement translated into different languages, including Chinese and Spanish), advertising the program within the Lexington community including outreach to community groups and providing the announcement for Town of Lexington website and channels and providing fliers and copies of application for the Town Office Building, Community Center and Cary Memorial Library, that ensure broad access to eligible households. c) Develop and maintain application materials for the rental assistance program, subject to Town/Trust review and approval. d) Receive, intake, and process applications submitted by Lexington households, ensuring that all confidential and personal information is securely stored and safeguarded. e) Determine and certify household eligibility to receive benefits in accordance with the Beneficiary Eligibility Requirements described in Section 2.3. f) Conduct a lottery to determine awardees. (Sequence of steps e) and f) may be determined by the contractor. g) Execute Participation Agreement between Landlord and Tenant and the administering agency/contractor. h) Develop written procedures to be used for invoicing, making direct payments to landlords, and reporting and record-keeping. i) Make rental assistance payments directly to property owners or management companies on behalf of eligible households. j) Maintain complete program records for all applications, payments, and related activities, ensuring records are available for review or audit upon request. k) Report outcomes to evaluate the program’s effectiveness, e.g., whether rental assistance prevented eviction or displacement, and whether the tenant remained housed, to the Affordable Housing Trust (see Attachment A for information to be collected for this purpose). A survey of award recipients may be needed to obtain such information.
