AYBR Program Administration
Most AYBR problems are not caused by a bad decision. They come from not being able to prove a good decision after the fact. A monitor, an auditor or an angry applicant will eventually ask the same question: show me. This lesson is about being able to show it, safely, and about keeping the program free of conflicts of interest so that what you show can be trusted.
The Program Manual (May 2025), page 8, sets up one Program File for the whole program and one Activity File for each applicant. The manual describes a Program File that could contain four sections: the NOFA and the Agreement, with any amendments; Accounting, which means receipts, bank statements, the draw summary and the wire memo; Procurement and Eligibility Policies; and Program Marketing. An Activity File follows the Activity File Checklist. As Lesson 5 said, the manual calls for a separate Activity File for each approved and each disapproved applicant.
The manual (page 7) also expects your files to contain the information that shows the program benefits low-income households, and data on race and ethnicity for households that applied or benefited. Build that into your intake forms so it is captured once, not reconstructed later.
GCHS procedure. Keep GCHS's IRS exemption reinstatement letter in the Program File. The IRS exemption must stay effective throughout the RSP Agreement term (10 TAC 26.23(b)(1)), so put a recurring check on the calendar for the whole term.
GCHS procedure. GCHS uses two locations on purpose. Program forms and policies live in the shared AYBR Working-Files folder, where the whole team can open the current version. Applicant records, meaning Social Security numbers, income documents and citizenship documents, live only in the GCHS Restricted SharePoint library. Nothing sensitive goes in Working-Files, in email attachments that stay in an inbox, or on a desktop. If you scan a document at a copier or photograph it on a phone, move it to the Restricted library and delete the stray copy.
Why this matters
The household that hands you a Social Security card or a tax return is trusting you with the details that make identity theft possible. A separate, access-controlled library is how GCHS keeps that trust. It also makes monitoring easier, because everything for an applicant is in one known place.
The sources reviewed for this course do not set specific rules for handling Social Security numbers or for breach notification. Do not invent a rule, and do not assume there is none. Check the RSP Agreement, follow GCHS's own data security practices, and ask the Department if a situation comes up.
10 TAC 1.409(a) requires records to be kept in a way that protects the privacy of each client. Computer files must be secured through a remote, online or managed backup service. Physical files belong in a secure space, and archived files should be kept offsite where feasible. The manual (page 7) adds that original documents may not be moved to a consultant's place of business, so keep originals under GCHS's control even when a consultant helps.
The same page says program documents must be available for public inspection by the Department, the Comptroller and the State, and it cites Government Code Chapter 552. In practice, assume that anything in a program file can be requested and read by the Department. That is a good reason to keep notes factual and professional.
10 TAC 1.409(b) says records of client eligibility must be kept for five years starting from the date the household activity is completed, unless federal rules say otherwise. Under 1.409(c), other records are kept as the contract says. The manual (page 7) only points to 1.409 and gives no number, and the RSP Agreement text was not available for this course. Check the Agreement for any longer period.
| Record | How long | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Eligibility records for a household that was served | Five years from completion of the household activity | 10 TAC 1.409(b) |
| Other program records | As the contract says | 10 TAC 1.409(c) |
| Reasonable accommodation requests and responses | Under the 1.409 retention rules | 10 TAC 20.8(h) |
| Records of denied applicants | Unsettled: see below | 10 TAC 20.8(f) |
Denied applicants are an open question. 10 TAC 20.8(f) says denial records are kept for the period described by the agreement or other sources. But no activity is ever completed for a denied household, so the five-year clock has no starting point. Until the Department answers, the conservative practice is to keep a denied applicant's Activity File for five years from the date of the denial. For example, if GCHS completes a household's activity on May 14, 2027, keep the eligibility records at least through May 14, 2032, and longer if the Agreement says so. A household denied on August 3, 2026 would stay on file through at least August 3, 2031 under the conservative practice.
Several rules create records that are easy to forget until a monitor asks for them. Keep this short list in view.
| Record | What to keep | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Outreach documentation | Dates, times and locations of public outreach, with copies of brochures, ads and transcripts, in the Program File | Program Manual, page 8 |
| Language Access Plan | The current plan, ready to give to the Department on request and at monitoring | 10 TAC 20.8(i)(4) |
| Accommodation requests | Each request and GCHS's response | 10 TAC 20.8(h) |
| Denial records | The record of each denied applicant with the basis for denial | 10 TAC 20.8(f) |
| Walk-away letters | The letter in the Activity File and the walk-away policy in the Program File | Program Manual, page 7 |
| IRS exemption letter | The reinstatement letter, with the diary of renewal checks | 10 TAC 26.23(b)(1) |
Consider an ordinary afternoon. A made-up applicant, Mr. Reyes, drops off his latest tax return at the GCHS office. The staff member scans it straight into the Restricted library, puts the paper in the secure space, and checks the item off the Activity File checklist. Later a second staff member reviews his income. She opens the return from the library and does not ask anyone to email it. Nothing sensitive ever sat in Working-Files or in an inbox, and the file shows who received what and when. That habit, repeated for every applicant, is what a good record system looks like.
The manual (pages 5 and 6) requires a written conflict of interest policy before you implement anything. It says that an employee, agent, consultant, officer, trustee, director, board member or official who has Housing Trust Fund responsibilities or inside information may not obtain a personal or financial interest in a Housing Trust Fund activity or contract during their tenure or for one year after. It points to Local Government Code Chapters 171 and 176.
The source of this requirement matters. No section of Chapter 20 or Chapter 26 sets a general conflict rule. Chapter 26 touches the subject only by barring rentals developed, owned or managed by the Administrator or an Affiliate (10 TAC 26.26(c)(1)). The requirement is manual procedure backed by the statutes the manual cites, so write it into your policy and follow it as binding.
Look at the one-year tail in an example. A made-up former GCHS employee leaves in March, forms a small construction company, and in November, eight months after leaving, the company bids on an AYBR job. Under the manual, that person's tenure plus one year has not passed, so the company should not be taking the job. Keep a list of departure dates with the date the one-year tail ends.
At intake, the manual (page 11) tells you to make sure there is no conflict between an applicant household member and any Administrator staff or consultants who process the applications. If a staff member's relative applies, that staff member should step aside from the file. Let a different person handle it and note that in the Activity File. GCHS's policy should say how a staff member discloses a relationship and who decides.
The construction side has its own rule. An inspector must be excluded from consideration as a potential contractor on that activity, and so must any specialist who helps with the inspection (manual, pages 19 and 20). GCHS procedure. GCHS provides inspections, estimating and construction management, not hands-on repair labor. GCHS staff who inspect or estimate a job never bid on it, and contractors are independent firms. GCHS also charges applicants no fees.
Conflicts are not only about relatives. They are also about one person holding every key. Under 10 TAC 1.402(b), no individual may have the ability to perform more than one of these functions that could release funds without appropriate controls: requisition authorization, encumbrance into software, check creation or automated payment, authorized signature, and distribution of paper checks. Under 1.402(c), an organization with fewer than five paid employees must show sufficient controls when it applies for funds and keep them in place through the term of the Contract. The RSP application also looks for fidelity bond coverage and controls, so GCHS must be able to show both.
In a small organization, this means deliberately dividing the steps. The person who approves a contractor's payment request should not also create the payment, and the person who signs should not be the person who mails the check. Write the division down by role, and put it in the Program File.
The manual (page 29) lists "Record keeping system is established" among the items a monitoring review checks, together with marketing, fair housing, procurement and conflict of interest. Under 10 TAC 20.14(e), the Department can ask for all books and records it determines are reasonably relevant, on request. A file that is organized, complete and in the right place makes that visit routine. A file that is scattered turns every question into a search.
1. Which set of items belongs in the Program File rather than an applicant's Activity File?
2. A staff member asks which AYBR rule sets the deadline for notifying households after a data breach involving Social Security numbers. What is the best answer?
3. A household completes its AYBR project on May 14, 2027. What is the minimum retention period for its eligibility records under 10 TAC 1.409(b)?
4. GCHS denied an applicant on August 3, 2026. How long should it keep the denied applicant's Activity File?
5. Where must GCHS keep an applicant's Social Security number, income documents and citizenship documents?
6. A consultant helping GCHS asks to take the original applicant files to its own office to work on them. What does the manual say?
7. Under 10 TAC 1.409(a), how must computer files be secured?
8. Who is entitled to inspect AYBR program documents under the manual?
9. A made-up employee left GCHS in March and formed a construction company, which bids on an AYBR job in November, eight months later. What does the manual's conflict of interest rule say?
10. Which of these people can be covered by GCHS's conflict of interest policy?
11. Where does the AYBR requirement for a conflict of interest policy come from?
12. A GCHS inspector wrote the work write-up for a home. May that inspector, or a specialist who helped with the inspection, be considered as the contractor on that job?
13. Which assignment breaks the separation of duties in 10 TAC 1.402(b)?
14. Which kind of data does the manual say the files should support, in addition to proof of low-income benefit?