he Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network Housing Law Group is presenting its 2015 PA Legal Aid Network Housing Law Group Training on  Tuesday, April 14th from 9:00 AM to 4:15 PM at the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency, 211 North Front Street, Harrisburg PA 17101. Check-in and continental breakfast begin at 9:00 AM. Substantive training sessions begin at 9:30 AM.

Program Description:

The program will cover a variety of housing-related matters, including:

• False Claims – The False Claims Act , 31 USC 3729, concerning sec. 8 landlords demanding side-payments from tenants, over and above what is permitted in the HAP contract. 
   
• Abandoned property –Discussion of the problem of the disposition of the property of tenants who have or are alleged to have abandoned. Review of prior statute, 68 P.S. 250.501.1, and its amendment by the current law, Act 167 of 2014.
   
• VAWA provisions relating to housing. Discussion of the provisions of the Violence Against Women Act which relate to housing, especially the protections for DV victims.
   
• Reasonable accommodation. Discussion of the provisions of the Fair Housing Act and other laws which give rights and protections to persons with disabilities.
   
• LIHTC – The Low-income housing tax credit law requires that an owner of LIHTC property have “good cause” to evict a tenant. With the work of RHLS and PHFA, the provision was explicitly brought to the attention of such owners.
   
• HEMAP - Review and updates on the HEMAP program, which gives loans to people who are behind on their mortgage a) due to circumstances beyond their control, and b) there is a reasonable prospect that the homeowner will be able to resume full mortgage payments within either 24 or 36 months, depending on the state unemployment rate.
   
• Discussion of Minor Court Proposed Rule Changes (as time permits).
   

Cost:

• Registration is free to all Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network program staff.
  Click here to see a list of the member programs of the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network.
• Registration for attorneys or staff from other Public Interest programs is $50.00.
• Registration for others is $125.00.

CLE Credit:

This program has been approved by the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board for 5 hours of substantive law, practice and procedure CLE credit. Participants can check in for the training at PHFA beginning at 9:00 AM.   Continental Breakfast will be served.  Lunch will be provided.  Training will conclude at 4:15. 

Registration

Please click the link below to register online:
Registration is Closed.

For those attendees requiring overnight hotel accommodations, please indicate rooming needs when completing online registration. Hotel registration deadline is April 7, 2015.  PLAN, Inc. cannot accommodate requests for room reservations after this deadline.

PLAN, Inc. is pleased to over travel subsidies to  PLAN Network Programs to encourage participation and help underwrite costs for trainers and participants. The travel support amounts have been communicated to the local programs within the PLAN network. Please seek approval and coordinate travel arrangements with your local programs as PLAN, Inc. will reimburse programs, not individuals for travel.

Meeting Facility

This training will be held at the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. The meeting space does not have any extra electrical outlets, so participants should bring full-charged laptops and personal electronic devices. The training facility closes promptly at 5:00 PM and all attendees must exit prior to building closing time.        

For information about the program, please contact Donald Marritz at dmarritz@palegalaid.net.  For questions about registration, please contact Joyce Tomasko at jtomasko@palegalaid.net.