Resident Advisory Board

1. WHAT IS A RESIDENT ADVISORY BOARD (RAB)?

A Resident Advisory Board (RAB) is a group of residents that advises a housing authority about its Annual and 5-Year PHA Plans. The law says that each housing authority has to have a RAB as part of the PHA Plan process. The residents on the RAB should be similar to the residents living in public housing. If the public housing residents are very diverse, the RAB should also be very diverse. The purpose of the RAB is to participate in the PHA Plan Process and to represent the views of the residents. RAB members should find out what issues are important to residents and what issues the housing authority should know about.

A RAB is responsible for:

• reviewing a housing authority’s PHA Plan
• making comments on the PHA Plan (what’s good, what’s bad, what should be changed)
• meet with housing authority staff to talk about the PHA Plan

If it wants, the RAB can talk about the PHA Plan without the help of any housing authority staff. The RAB can also meet with residents to get information and pass information along

2. WHAT ARE PHA PLANS AND WHAT IS THE PHA PLAN PROCESS?

PHA Plans are developed by each housing authority. There is an Annual Plan, which is produced every year at the same time. There is also a 5-Year Plan, which talks about long-term goals. They contain a lot of information about a housing authority’s rules, including:

• how tenants are admitted and evicted
• decisions on collecting and raising rents
• plans for resident programs
• decisions about spending money on maintenance, repairs, security, and other programs

The PHA Plan Process is a step-by-step process that a housing authority must follow each year to produce the annual PHA Plan. The housing authority must follow strict rules—and resident participation is important. The Resident Advisory Board is the key to effective resident participation.

3. WHO BELONGS TO THE RAB?

The RAB is made up of public housing residents and resident leaders. The members are from many different IHA-owned properties. Call the IHA office at (607) 273-8629, ext. 234 for a list of the current RAB members.

4. HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED WITH YOUR RAB?

• Tell your housing authority that you want to be a member of the RAB
• Talk with current RAB members to find out what’s going on
• Ask the RAB if you can attend RAB meetings

 5.  WHEN DOES THE RAB MEET?

The RAB meets periodically in the Titus Towers II Conference Center located at Ithaca Housing Authority, 800 S. Plain Street, Ithaca. Call 273-8629, ext. 234 for a meeting schedule.