Cleveland rental analysis

Build your CMHA rent record before you model the cash flow.

For a rental administered by Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority, the property's ZIP, bedroom basis, utility responsibilities and applicable dates all matter. Use one record per unit to turn that research into a clearly labeled rent-to-owner assumption.

Use the blank worksheet Open the free calculator

Sources checked September 6, 2026. Confirm the schedule applicable to your proposed tenancy. Doormetrics is independent of CMHA and HUD.

Start with Cuyahoga's sources and dates

Confirm the authority

Use Cuyahoga CMHA's Rent page for cases it administers. Search results also contain Columbus CMHA documents. Confirm the agency for the specific tenancy before using a schedule.

Read the lookup date

The CMHA lookup displays FY2026, effective January 1, 2026. Select the ZIP and applicable bedroom basis. The initial table alone does not establish your property's amount.

The surrounding Rent page still has a FY2025 heading. Record the displayed date and ask CMHA to resolve uncertainty about the schedule for your case.

Check the HUD transition

HUD has published FY2027 rents, effective October 1, 2026, subject to valid area reevaluation requests. That publication alone does not establish a replacement CMHA standard for your tenancy.

Read the dated HUD notice

Your Cleveland rent-evidence worksheet

Use your browser's Print command for a blank copy, or keep these fields in your own notes. Leave unresolved amounts blank. Tenant income and personal voucher documents belong with the appropriate agency process.

These are spaces for written notes, with no online submission or automatic transfer into the calculator.

1. Identify the unit and bedroom basis

Property reference, ZIP and city: Blank space for your written notes. Keep one record for each unit and confirm its location.
Administering housing authority: Blank space for your written notes. Confirm which agency administers this tenancy.
Unit type and confirmed bedrooms: Blank space for your written notes. Keep the property's confirmed bedroom count separate from the voucher size.
Tenancy date and contract type: Blank space for your written notes. Record the proposed date and whether this is a new or existing contract.
Voucher size, if established: Blank space for your written notes. Record the applicable bedroom size without collecting personal voucher documents.
Bedroom basis confirmed by CMHA: Blank space for your written notes. Record which size the agency applies to this case.

HUD uses the lower applicable payment standard for the voucher size or leased unit size. Record the basis applied to this case. HUD guidance

2. Save the payment-standard evidence

Open CMHA's ZIP lookup, then record the result and its limits.

Selected ZIP and bedroom basis: Blank space for your written notes. Select the property's ZIP in the official lookup before recording a figure.
Published payment standard: Blank space for your written notes. Leave this blank until the applicable row has been checked.
Effective date and date checked: Blank space for your written notes. Record the schedule's effective date separately from the day you read it.
Source reference and unresolved question: Blank space for your written notes. Keep the official link and anything CMHA still needs to confirm.

Evidence status: not checked / schedule observed / case confirmed by CMHA

3. Record the tenant-paid utility allowance

Use the HCVP Utility Allowance Chart linked from CMHA's Rent page. Its linked file is named UA 2026.pdf; check the actual effective date and applicable rows when you open it. No local allowance amounts are reproduced here.

Schedule effective date and date checked: Blank space for your written notes. Read the actual utility chart; the year in its filename is insufficient.
Unit type, bedroom basis and source: Blank space for your written notes. Record the schedule categories that apply to the unit.
Electricity: Blank space for your written notes. Record who pays, the applicable allowance row and its amount.
Space heating and fuel: Blank space for your written notes. Record who pays, the fuel type, the applicable row and its amount.
Cooking and water heating: Blank space for your written notes. Record responsibility, fuel, rows and amounts for each service.
Water/sewer and trash: Blank space for your written notes. Record responsibility and applicable rows and amounts for each service.
Tenant-provided appliances, if applicable: Blank space for your written notes. Record any applicable appliance allowance rows and amounts.
Total tenant-paid utility allowance: Blank space for your written notes. Add only the verified applicable rows. Keep unknown amounts blank.

For each service, keep responsibility, fuel or unit type, the applicable row and its amount together. If the schedule cannot be verified, retain the source link and ask CMHA which schedule applies.

4. Keep a separate owner-utility budget

Record the bills the owner will actually pay. Keep them separate from the allowance used in voucher analysis.

Owner-paid utilities and monthly estimate: Blank space for your written notes. Record bills the owner will actually pay, separately from the tenant's allowance.
Supporting bill or quote and date: Blank space for your written notes. Keep the evidence behind the owner's estimated cost.
Costs still missing: Blank space for your written notes. An unresolved bill or repair cost is not zero.

5. Record the rent review

CMHA reviews market reasonableness and family affordability when a Request for Tenancy Approval (RFTA) is submitted. Its affordability calculator estimates new-contract affordability; the property's rent review still applies. Read CMHA's process.

Proposed monthly rent to owner: Blank space for your written notes. The proposed amount still needs its supporting evidence and agency review.
Comparable unassisted rental evidence: Blank space for your written notes. Record sources, dates, relevant property differences and utility responsibilities.
Family-specific affordability status: Blank space for your written notes. Record not reviewed, estimate only, or CMHA determination received.
Rent reasonableness status: Blank space for your written notes. Record not reviewed, under review, or CMHA determination received.
Inspection and tenancy-document status: Blank space for your written notes. Record outstanding inspection, lease and HAP documentation questions.
Confirmed owner rent and source, if established: Blank space for your written notes. Use the actual determination or contract and keep its date.
Next question for CMHA or the owner/agent: Blank space for your written notes. Write the unresolved item and the source needed to resolve it.

6. Choose the owner-income assumption

Monthly rent-to-owner scenario: Blank space for your written notes. This is the monthly rent input to take into the cash-flow calculator.
Basis and supporting source/date: Blank space for your written notes. Label proposed rent, supported estimate or confirmed contract rent.
What could change the assumption?: Blank space for your written notes. Keep unresolved rent or cost evidence visible when comparing scenarios.

The agency payment to the owner and the household's rent payment together fund rent to owner. Count that rent once. Household income affects program affordability; it is not owner rental income. Keep utility allowances and any utility reimbursement separate from owner receipts, following CMHA's calculation.

See CMHA's Landlord Participation Guide for payment roles and the current local schedules for amounts.

Official starting point: cmha.net/housing/landlords/rent.php. Sources checked September 6, 2026. This record organizes research; CMHA determines program eligibility and rent approval.

Take the recorded assumption into the calculator

Enter your rent-to-owner scenario as monthly rent. Add financing, taxes, insurance, HOA, owner utilities, vacancy, management, maintenance and capital reserves, plus closing costs and initial repairs. The calculator models your inputs; it does not fetch CMHA schedules or approve a tenancy.

Keep missing figures visible in your notes. Compare another documented rent or cost scenario if useful, with each result labeled by its assumptions. A precise result cannot confirm an unresolved cost or promise a return.

Model the cash flow

Questions during the local review

Can I use a Cleveland-wide HUD figure for every ZIP?

Keep the geography with the number. CMHA's lookup asks for a ZIP; HUD publishes area-wide FMRs and ZIP-based Small Area FMRs. Use the applicable local schedule for the case. HUD SAFMR datasets

Does this worksheet tell a household what it will pay?

It records owner research and open questions. CMHA handles household income, assistance and affordability determinations. Use its official rent resources for that process.

What if I cannot verify a schedule or rent figure?

Keep the amount blank, retain the official source link and ask CMHA which schedule applies. A separate hypothetical scenario must remain labeled hypothetical throughout the review.

Review the rest of the rental

Connect the local record with the rental analysis workflow. Revisit the Section 8 rent terms or review ARV and sold comps for purchase-value questions. Sold-price evidence serves a different purpose from comparable rental evidence.

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