Changed income

[Marshabrady]

Originally Posted by linamonroll

That's so strange. How can they just blatantly disregard what their own rules say in black and white? At some point is the appeal with HPD not the agency? Maybe HPD would be more likely to follow their own rules? I tend to not trust what the agencies tell me as my experience with them is they don't want to deal with anyone's situation that is the least bit complicated and would prefer to lie to you and hope you go away than actually do their job.

Yeah, luckily I didn't have to find out. Appeal goes through the agency first, just not with the same dept that first had your file.....

My firs lottery apt - I was rejected for "change in household composition" in that case I was consistently giving them docs based on just me, not my sister when they rejected me. I didn't even start an appeal, I was so mad, I went straight to HDC and she just asked me to send her a statement including page 1 of my sister's lease - BG had to put me back in process after that.

[Ghost20]

Originally Posted by linamonroll

That's so strange. How can they just blatantly disregard what their own rules say in black and white? At some point is the appeal with HPD not the agency? Maybe HPD would be more likely to follow their own rules? I tend to not trust what the agencies tell me as my experience with them is they don't want to deal with anyone's situation that is the least bit complicated and would prefer to lie to you and hope you go away than actually do their job.

I could be totally wrong but they MAY still count a “one time bonus” as income bc a lot of companies do provide a yearly discretionary bonus (not to be confused with guaranteed bonus) which still counts towards the individuals total comp and may be recurring depending on performance and/or budget. It will still be labeled as discretionary but since it’s reevaluated annually it’s not necessarily “one time”.

Individuals probably have tried to use that gray area to claim it should not be counted towards total comp when in fact, it should.

In this specific case, Marshabrady had backup from her boss/employer that it was indeed one time (so I agree in this scenario it shouldn’t be considered) but I can understand why the agency will be more inclined to count it as oppose to not count it.

[linamonroll]

Originally Posted by Ghost20

I could be totally wrong but they MAY still count a “one time bonus” as income bc a lot of companies do provide a yearly discretionary bonus (not to be confused with guaranteed bonus) which still counts towards the individuals total comp and may be recurring depending on performance and/or budget. It will still be labeled as discretionary but since it’s reevaluated annually it’s not necessarily “one time”.

Individuals probably have tried to use that gray area to claim it should not be counted towards total comp when in fact, it should.

In this specific case, Marshabrady had backup from her boss/employer that it was indeed one time (so I agree in this scenario it shouldn’t be considered) but I can understand why the agency will be more inclined to count it as oppose to not count it.

Yeah, the phrasing in the handbook is "sporadic or non-recurring" income should not be counted in your total income. Again, if one can provide evidence such as an employer letter, that the bonus is not expected to re-occur, it should not be counted in projecting your income for the next 12 months. As others have said though, the agencies sometimes don't like to actually follow the rules and one or more appeals may be needed. If you are expected to get a bonus yearly but don't know how much, they'll probably have to go by your last bonus or averaging your last several.