The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, (HUD) has just announced that the Lakewood Township Residential Assistance Program, (LTRAP), for the second year in a row, attained a perfect 100% score on the Section Eight Management Assessment Program, (SEMAP). SEMAP is the tool HUD uses to measure the performance of housing agencies administering the Section 8 housing choice voucher program. According to Mr. George Davenel of HUD Newark, LTRAP is one of only eight out of 109 Section 8 agencies in New Jersey to receive a perfect 100% score this year, earning 145 points out of 145 total possible points. LTRAP has consistently been ranked by HUD in the “high” performance category, always scoring above 90% in the annual SEMAP rating. There are approximately 3,400 housing agencies in the nation administering the HUD Section 8 program.

Founded in 1977, and led by Rabbi Meir Hertz since its inception, LTRAP is operated by the Lakewood Tenants Organization (LTO), a New Jersey not-for-profit organization.  In April, LTRAP marked 31 years serving the affordable housing needs of Lakewood’s residents.

LTRAP is sponsored locally by the Township of Lakewood. However, one hundred (100%) percent of its funding is derived from HUD. There are a total of 109 Section 8 programs in New Jersey: 80 are administered by housing authorities, and 29 by housing agencies.  LTRAP is by far the largest private (non-governmental) agency providing affordable housing in the state. As this SEMAP score shows, it is also one of the top in the nation—public or private.

*While the Section 8 program started out assisting only renters, it was expanded in 2001 to provide homeownership opportunities. LTRAP currently enables qualified participants to move from renting to homeownership by offering a choice of rent or mortgage subsidy payments.  LTRAP currently assists 1,058 Program participants. The participants consist of approximately 1,000 renters and approximately 60 homeowners participating in LTRAP’s Section 8 Homeownership Program, HomeRun™. Under the HomeRun™ Program the participant’s mortgage is subsidized in the same way that a participating renter’s rent would be subsidized. The program objective is to provide affordable, decent and safe housing for eligible families, while increasing a family’s economic mobility as well as its geographic and residential choice.  For additional information regarding LTRAP’s homeownership program, please visit LTRAP’s web site at www.ltrap.org.

*LTRAP currently has 1,451 names on its Waiting List, of which 1,148 (79%) are Lakewood residents.  Lakewood residents receive a preference over non-residents.  LTRAP stopped taking applications in December, 2004, and will reopen applications’ intake when the current list is nearly depleted and the prospect for assisting additional applicants improves. Unfortunately, due to severe federal budgetary cutbacks, which only worsened since 9/11 and the war in Iraq, there has been no new funding awarded to the Section 8 program in the past 8 years.  Consequently, the waiting list hardly moves. The only progress made on the waiting list is by turnover, when someone leaves the program. This happens very infrequently—the ‘turnover’ rate is approximately 3% per year. At this rate it will take years before the waiting list is reopened.

*In addition to HUD’s annual SEMAP administrative evaluation, LTRAP’s fiscal operations are also annually audited by an Independent Public Accountant (IPA Audit), selected in a Request For Proposals (RFP) bid process. The fiscal audits for at least the past 25 years were consistently clean; there have been no findings, nor even any recommendations. Copies of all the LTRAP Audit Reports are forwarded to Mr. William Reiker, the Lakewood Treasurer, for inclusion in Lakewood’s Single Audit Report, as required.

(YWN Lakewood Desk)