To Qualify You Must

· Be 62 years of age or older.

· Meet the income qualifications listed below

· Meet Screening Criteria Listed In Tenant Selection Plan.

Priority is given to those applicants with Extremely Low income.

Income Levels Updated: April 1 2025

If you are applying for state-funded housing and have a history of involvement with the criminal justice system, you have rights and protections.

There Are Only Two Mandatory Reasons That You Can Automatically Be Rejected:

1. Conviction for methamphetamine production in the home; and
2. Being a lifetime registrant on a state or federal Sex Offender database.

You Cannot Be Rejected Based On:

1. All pending arrests (including those with adjournments in contemplation of dismissal (ACOD);
2. Arrest records that were resolved in your favor;
3. Convictions for offenses committed before you turned 18 years old;
4. Misdemeanor convictions that occurred more than 1 year ago;
5. Felony convictions that occurred more than 5 years ago;
6. Convictions resulting in incarceration/parole supervision, from which you were released more than 1 year ago;
7. Convictions that did not involve physical violence or danger to persons or property, or did not affect the health, safety and welfare of others;
8. Convictions for which you have received a Certificate of Good Conduct or Certificate of Relief from Disabilities that is permanent and covers housing.
9. Youthful offender adjudications;
10. Convictions for violations sealed pursuant to Section 160.55 of New York State Criminal Procedure Law;
11. Convictions sealed pursuant to Section 160.58 or 160.59 of New York State Criminal Procedure Law;
12. Convictions that were excused by pardon, overturned on appeal or vacated;

You Cannot Be Asked About 9-12 Above

If a housing provider asks you about them or any pending arrest with an ACOD, you may answer as if the protected arrest, conviction or adjudication never occurred. If you believe you have been discriminated against based on these protections, file a complaint with the New York State Division of Human Rights: https://dhr.ny.gov/complaint

You Must be Given 14 Days to Provide Additional Information Before Any Rejection

You must be contacted and provided 14 business days to provide additional relevant information including:

1. How much time has passed since the conviction(s)?
2. How old were you at the time of the conviction(s)?
3. How serious was the conviction(s)?
4. Evidence about your rehabilitation, including treatment programs, volunteer work, paid employment, etc. since your conviction(s)
5. Were there mitigating circumstances surrounding the offense that reduce the severity of the offense?

If you were not given an opportunity to answer these questions, or if you feel the housing provider did not properly evaluate your application and wrongfully denied you housing, contact New York State Homes and Community Renewal’s Fair and
Equitable Housing Office at feho@hcr.ny.gov for assistance.

More information is available here: https://hcr.ny.gov/marketing-plans-policies#credit-and-justice-involvement--assessment-policies

Click Here for Original PDF Copy

A housing provider/landlord cannot automatically deny your application to state-funded rental housing based solely on your credit score or history. If you have a low credit score or negative credit history, you must be provided with the opportunity to present additional information to explain or refute the findings.

What is the policy?

• You CAN avoid a credit check by evidencing that you paid your rent in full and on time during the last 12 months or the 12 months prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (March 1, 2019 – March 1, 2020).
  
  
• You CANNOT be rejected because of your credit score or credit history if:
  • Your FICO credit score is 580 or above (or 500 if you are homeless),
  • You have limited or nonexistent credit history,
  • Rent subsidies pay your entire rent,
  • Your credit score or credit history is a direct result of a Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)-covered crime(like domestic violence, stalking or harassment), or
  • You have a history of bankruptcy or outstanding debt but present evidence of on-time rental payments over the past 12 months or the 12 months prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic (March 1, 2019 – March 1, 2020).
    
    
• You CANNOT be rejected based on:
  • Medical debt or student loan debt.
  • Unpaid debt that is less than $5,000.
  • Bankruptcies that occurred over 1 year ago.
  • A past eviction or housing court history.
  • Limited or no rent or credit history.
  • Bankruptcies related to, or debt accrued during the New York State COVID-19 State of Emergency (March 7, 2020 – June 23, 2021) and due to financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

What are my rights?

• Housing providers must accept evidence that you paid your rent in full and on time over the preceding 12 months, or the 12 months prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic (March 1, 2019 – March 1, 2020) instead of requiring a credit check.
• Housing providers may only reach out to your current or previous landlord without your permission to obtain information on major lease violations. If a current or previous landlord presents evidence of a major lease violation, you must be given the opportunity to present evidence of mitigating factors (for example, financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
  
  
• Housing providers are limited in the fees that they can charge you:
  • A housing provider cannot charge you a credit or background check fee if you provide one to them that was run within the last 30 days.
  • A housing provider may not charge you more than $20 or the actual cost (whichever is less), to run both a credit check and a background check.
  • Before rejecting your application based on your credit report, you must be given 14 days to present evidence of circumstances that explain negative credit findings such as such as errors in the credit report and short-term periods of unemployment/illness.
  • If you are denied, you must be told why, and you must be provided with a copy of your credit report and background check.

Find more information about your rights when applying to state-funded housing, including if you have a criminal convictions, here: https://hcr.ny.gov/marketing-plans-policies#credit-and-justice-involvement--assessment-policies

Click Here for Original PDF Document

The information regarding race, ethnicity and sex designation solicited on this application is requested in order to assure the Federal Government, acting through the Rural Housing Service, that the Federal laws prohibiting discrimination against tenant applications on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, age and disability are complied with. You are not required to furnish this information but are encouraged to do so.

This information will not be used in evaluation of your application or to discriminate against you in any way. However, if you choose not to furnish it, the owner is required to note the race, ethnicity and sex of individual applicants on the basis of visual observation or surname.

If you have more than one person in the household. You must provide all their infomation for the application to be complete. Press the arrow on the right side to drop down the required infomation. If you do not have any other household members, select Next on the bottom of the page. If you do not have the infomation, you can save the application and complete at a later date.

To Learn More About Reasonable Accommodations Click Here

I hereby certify that I will not maintain a separate subsidized rental unit in another location. I certify that this will be my permanent residence. I certify that I am a U.S. citizen or a qualified alien (a legal or qualified alien refers to any person lawfully admitted to the country who meets the criteria in Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980, 42 USC 1436a I understand I must pay a security deposit for this apartment prior to occupancy. I understand that my eligibility for housing will be based on the USDA Rural Development and NYS Housing and Community Renewal income and occupancy limits and selection criteria. I certify that all information contained in this application is true to the best of my knowledge and that false statements and/or information are punishable by law and will lead to cancellation of this application and/or termination of tenancy after occupancy.

I do hereby authorize Sage Management and any authorized representative to contact any agencies, offices, groups or organizations to obtain and verify any information or materials which are deemed necessary to complete my application for housing. This could include police/background checks and credit checks.

Sage Management Corporation of Western New York, Lewiston Villa and Lewiston meadows do not discriminate on the basis of race. color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, disability, handicap, sexual orientation, gender identity, or familial status.