Day: July 5, 2016

HUD Announces Funding for Project-Basing HUD-VASH Vouchers

~ Eric Oberdorfer

On July 1, HUD released Notice PIH 2016-11 (HA) entitled, “Set-Aside Funding Availability for Project-Basing HUD-VASH Vouchers.” The Notice announces the availability of approximately $15 million in HUD-VASH funding that will support 2,000 units of project based voucher (PBV) assistance to enable homeless veterans and their families to access affordable housing with an array of supportive services. The vouchers are being made available from a set-aside contained in the 2016 omnibus that provided approximately $60 million dollars of funding for HUD-VASH vouchers.

Any PHA that administers a Housing Choice Voucher program may apply for up to 150 units to be placed under PBV HAP contract(s). Applications are due no later than midnight in the time zone of the PHA on September 9, 2016. All applications must be submitted electronically to VASH@hud.gov.

Please see HUD’s Notice for more information on application requirements and scoring.

For in-depth information on the 2016 omnibus’ Section 8 program funding, click here (members only).

 

HUD Publishes Revised New Administrative Fee Formula

~ Tushar Gurjal

HUD has published its revision of the new administrative fee formula for the Housing Choice Voucher Program. The new formula would calculate administrative fees on the basis of six variables:

  1. Program size;
  2. Wage rates;
  3. Benefit load;
  4. Percent of households with earned income;
  5. New admissions rate; and
  6. Percent of assisted households that live a significant distance from the PHA’s headquarters.

The PHA’s fees would be calculated yearly and then have a revised inflation factor applied to the calculated fee.

HUD has made three major changes to the prior formula:

  1. For PHAs in metropolitan areas, the wage index formula variable is based on the average local government wage rate for the PHA’s metropolitan Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA), rather than that average local government wage rate for all of the metropolitan counties in the PHA’s state;
  2. The health insurance cost index formula has been replaced with a new “benefit load” formula variable, which is designed to measure the variation in costs for all benefits that are paid for HCV employees, not just health insurance costs [In NAHRO’s comments we wrote the health insurance cost index metric does not “accurately (capture) all benefit costs” and recommended “(a) proxy that measures and takes into account these higher PHA costs”]; and
  3. The small area rent ratio (SARR) variable has been removed from the proposed formula [In NAHRO’s comments, we stated that “the small area rent ratio does not appropriately measure the actual costs of helping voucher holders to access high opportunity neighborhoods”].

NAHRO is still in the preliminary stages of analyzing the formula. Additional details and analysis will be forthcoming.

The full notice can be read here.

NAHRO’s comments on the previous formula can be read here.