Moving to Work
Spartanburg Housing Moving to Work (MTW) Program
In 2022, Spartanburg Housing became a Moving to Work (MTW) agency. MTW allows Spartanburg Housing to design and test innovative, locally designed strategies. In turn, this program can assist residents in finding employment and becoming self-sufficient, increasing housing choices for low-income families.
MTW allows public housing agencies in the MTW demonstration to have pioneered several innovative policy interventions that have been successful at the local level and subsequently rolled out to the rest of the country's public housing agencies. Currently, there are 139 MTW public agencies nationwide.
With our MTW designation, we have implemented the following incentives for our landlords:
- Landlord Sign-On Bonus
- Each new landlord or landlord who has not rented to a tenant within the last year receives a $500 bonus when they sign their housing assistance payment contract).
- Vacancy Loss
- When a landlord rents to a Housing Choice Voucher, and that resident moves out if the landlord chooses to rent to another Housing Choice Voucher resident, they can receive a vacancy loss bonus of up to $500.
- 0-30 days vacant: $150
- 31-60 days vacant: $300
- 61-90 days vacant: $500
- When a landlord rents to a Housing Choice Voucher, and that resident moves out if the landlord chooses to rent to another Housing Choice Voucher resident, they can receive a vacancy loss bonus of up to $500.
- Damage Claim
- Spartanburg Housing will pay up to $1,250 for a damage claim given the following guidelines are met:
- Must have a completed move-in checklist signed by both landlord and tenant
- Must have a completed move-out checklist signed by both landlord and tenant
- Itemized list of repairs and estimated cost to repair provided to Spartanburg Housing within 15 days of moving out of Housing Choice Voucher participant. Spartanburg Housing will use the established Maintenance Charge Schedule (approved by Spartanburg Housing Board) to determine the payout
- Once all documentation has been received, Spartanburg Housing will review and process the request within five business days
- After reviewing, a check will be sent to the landlord with a breakdown of the approved amount.
- Spartanburg Housing will pay up to $1,250 for a damage claim given the following guidelines are met:
- Tenure Bonus
- A bonus of $100 every five years will be paid to landlords for staying with our program.
- Referral Bonus
- A current landlord who refers another landlord will receive a bonus of $100 when the new landlord leases their first unit.
For the residents, we have implemented two incentives:
- Biennial Recertifications
- Starting January 1, 2025, recertifications for all elderly and disabled families will do their next recertification in 2027. From there on out, the families will do them every other year.
- Utility Reimbursement Elimination
- Having officially started on October 1, 2024, residents who receive a utility check will no longer receive them. Utility reimbursements are paid to residents whose utility allowances are higher than their total tenant payment; when this happens, the resident receives a utility reimbursement check.
