On Wednesday, February 28, HUD published Notice 2018-03 titled “Guidance on the Use of Operating Subsidy for Capital Fund Purposes for Subsidy Appropriated and Allocated for Calendar Year 2018 and Subsequent Years.” The Housing Opportunities Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA) included language that allows PHAs to transfer up to 20 percent of their Operating Funds to their Capital Fund, language NAHRO has advocated for strongly over many years. This guidance explains how public housing agencies (PHAs) operating public housing may use a portion of their Operating Subsidy for capital activities, subject to HUD requirements.
Month: February 2018
Public Housing Reentry Technical Assistance
The Vera Institute of Justice (Vera) is accepting applications from PHAs for 14 months of technical assistance for those PHAs that are planning and implementing reentry programs or changing their policies to safely increase access to housing for people with conviction histories.
Vera encourages a diverse set of PHAs to apply–including those of all sizes and those with Housing Choice Vouchers. Multiple PHAs that are geographically close to each other may also submit a single joint application.
Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PST on Wednesday, May 2, 2018.
Questions should be directed to John Bae at jbae@vera.org. Additional information on the application can be found here.
2018 HCV Admin Fee Rates posted
Yesterday, HUD’s Housing Voucher Financial Management Division sent an email stating that the CY 2018 Administrative Fee Rate Tables have been posted on HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program page.
The CY 2018 Administrative Fee Rates Description can be found here.
The CY 2018 Administrative Fee Rate Tables can be found here.
The Office of Housing Choice Vouchers website (where the tables are posted) can be found here.
HUD Permanently Sets Aside Small Area FMR Suspension
In a stipulated judgment filed on February 16, HUD has permanently set aside the Small Area Fair Market Rent (FMR) suspension. Last summer, using authority in the Small Area FMR regulation, HUD suspended the mandatory implementation of Small Area FMRs for 23 of 24 designated areas. Recently, a federal court found that HUD did not appropriately use its regulatory authority to suspend the mandatory components of the rule. In this document, HUD agrees to permanently set aside the suspension and continue implementing the Small Area FMR program on an expedited basis.
The full stipulated judgment and order can be found here.
HUD Updates FY 2018 FMRs
Earlier today, HUD published a notice in the Federal Register titled “Fair Market Rents for the Housing Choice Voucher Program and Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy Program Fiscal Year 2018; Revised.” The notice updates the FY 2018 FMRs based on new survey data for the following eight areas:
- Hawaii County, HI;
- Hood River County, OR;
- Jonesboro, AR HUD Metro FMR Area (HMFA);
- Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA);
- Santa Maria-Santa-Barbara, CA MSA;
- Seattle-Bellevue, WA HMFA;
- Urban Honolulu, HI MSA; and
- Wasco County, OR.
These eight areas requested reevaluation and provided data to HUD to allow for a reevaluation. The notice also responds to comments previously submitted.
The full notice can be found here.
Congress Approves Budget Deal, Ends Brief Shutdown
After a brief government shutdown this morning, Congress approved a two-year budget deal and a continuing resolution that re-opened the government. While the budget deal includes an increase to non-defense spending for FY 2018, there is no guarantee that additional funding will be allocated to housing and community development programs- contact your legislators today to tell them to increase funding for HUD programs in the current fiscal year.
The budget deal package includes:
- Continuing Resolution: extends government funding through Friday, March 23.
- New budget caps for FY 2018 and FY 2019: the two-year agreement raises spending caps by $300 billion over two years. The deal does not honor parity between defense and non-defense spending changes. Non-defense spending is raised by:
- FY 2018- $63 billion
- FY 2019- $68 billion
- Additional supplemental disaster relief funding: $89.3 billion for disaster relief for areas impacted by the hurricanes and wildfires of 2017. A full summary of the breakdown of funding is available from the Senate Appropriations Committee.
- Debt ceiling suspension: Lifts the debt ceiling until March 2019.
- Tax extenders: Continues expiring tax cuts and credits, but the bill does not include the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Improvement Act (S. 548).
Now that the spending cap for FY 2018 has been set, appropriators can get to work finalizing spending for the current fiscal year. At this point, the process basically starts over again. The chairs of the Appropriations Committee will re-allocate funding to all 12 appropriations bills, including the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) bill. Once the new 302(b) allocations are set, appropriators will work to finalize spending bills and assemble an omnibus spending package. All this work needs to be completed in six weeks before the expiration of the current CR on March 23.
Just because there is an additional $63 billion in funding for FY 2018 doesn’t mean THUD or HUD will necessarily see any of that increase. It’s critical that you reach out to your legislators immediately to urge them to allocate as much funding as possible to THUD and HUD. NAHRO will also send a message to Capitol Hill next week encouraging robust funding of THUD and HUD.
Congress Creates Opportunity Zone Program
Established by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Congress has created a new community development program that encourages long-term investments in low-income urban and rural communities. The Opportunity Zone Program provides tax incentives for investors to re-invest unrealized capital gains into Opportunity Funds by providing a temporary tax deferral for capital gains. Opportunity Funds are private sector investment vehicles that invest at least 90 percent of their capital in Opportunity Zones. This new program has the potential to become an important, viable program for housing and community development agencies across the country.
Governors for all U.S. states and territories, along with the mayor of the District of Columbia, are allowed to identify 25 percent of the total number of low-income census tracts in their state, territory, or federal district as an Opportunity Zone. States must conform to the Low-Income Community federal standard as a baseline for zone designations but are free to establish additional criteria to reflect local needs and priorities.
Governors have until March 22, 2018 to identify their Opportunity Zones to the Treasury Department.
HUD Publishes Notice on FY 2017 Set-Aside Tenant-Protection Vouchers
Earlier today, HUD published a notice titled “Funding Availability for Set-Aside Tenant-Protection Vouchers – Fiscal Year 2017 Funding” (PIH 2018-02; H 2018-01). In it, HUD makes 5 million dollars available from the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Appropriations Act that the bill allocated for Tenant Protection-Vouchers (TPVs) for certain at-risk households in low-vacancy areas.
Major changes from the FY 2016 Funding Availability for Tenant-Protection Vouchers notice include the following:
- Application submission has been revised in two ways:
- Owners may submit an application for a triggering event that occurred within the past 5 years or will occur within 180 days;
- applications will be received on a rolling basis until funding is exhausted or HUD issues a new notice for FY 2018;
- Removes the “Rental Assistance Payments (RAP) contract expirations prior to” FY 2012 and “properties with Rent Supplement contract expirations prior to FY 2000” categories;
- Requires owners specify between enhanced vouchers or Project-based Vouchers (PBVs) and whether the owner is willing to accept the other form of assistance where the Public and Indian Housing (PIH) Field Office is unable to find a PHA willing to administer the preferred assistance type;
- Adopts Fair Market Rents (FMRs) and Small Area FMRs (in metropolitan areas) as a proxy for market rents;
- Revises owner calculation of household income requirements;
- Consolidates previous household list requirements;
- Allows PHAs to rely on an owner’s determination of a rent burden for a household;
- Allows owners and PHAs to use an owner’s most recent family income examination in certain circumstances;
- Revises how low-vacancy areas are defined; and
- Removes HUD internal standard operating procedures.
NAHRO is still in the process of reading through this notice and will supply additional details to its members.
The notice can be found here.
This Tuesday!! NAHRO e-Briefing – RAD: Program Updates and PHA Experiences
RAD: Program Updates and PHA Experiences
A NAHRO Professional Development e-Briefing
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
1:30 – 3:00 pm EST
The Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) continues to be a critically important tool for housing authorities looking to pursue innovation while renovating and preserving their local affordable housing stock. As we begin 2018, join the NAHRO Policy Team for an in-depth review of the current status of RAD. Participants will also hear from PHAs that have gone through the RAD conversion process. These RAD agencies will discuss why RAD worked for them, explain how they chose between Project Based Vouchers (PBV) or Project Based Rental Assistance (PBRA), and share lessons learned and best practices. Whether your agency is a RAD veteran or exploring whether RAD is a viable option for the future, don’t miss this opportunity to have your questions addressed by industry experts during this interactive online training.
Only $95 for NAHRO members!
Registration closes Monday, February 12 at 11:59 ET pm.
Reminder: Whether you’re watching alone or with an audience of 100, only one registration per connected device is required, making NAHRO Professional Development’s e-Briefings an outstanding value! Can’t attend the session at the scheduled time? Register anyway, and we will email you a link to the archived recording as soon as it’s ready to be stream.
Harvard Webinar on Implementing Smoke-Free Public Housing
NAHRO has been asked to share the following webinar invitation:
Building Success: Adopting and implementing an effective smoke-free housing policy
Webinar offered on:
Wednesday, February 14, 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. (EST) Register Here
OR
Tuesday, February 20, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. (EST) Register Here
Please join the team from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Boston University School of Public Health for a webinar that will provide useful, practical guidance and support for the implementation of smoke-free policies, whether you are just starting the process or engaged in ongoing implementation. The webinar will summarize key findings from the experiences of more than 150 public housing authorities that have adopted and implemented smoke-free policies. We will offer this webinar on February 14 and again on February 20, 2018. Space is limited – register today!
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To register for the online event on Wednesday, February 14, 2018 2:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00)
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1. Go to https://huit-uc.webex.com/huit-uc/onstage/g.php?MTID=e624490f2602de87357e4b5dd3bceeb8e
2. Click “Register”.
3. On the registration form, enter your information and then click “Submit”.
Once the host approves your registration, you will receive a confirmation email message with instructions on how to join the event.
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To register for the online event on Tuesday, February 20, 2018 1:00 pm, Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00)
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1. Go to https://huit-uc.webex.com/huit-uc/onstage/g.php?MTID=e9b46ec4054ca4b09dfc9b4a7ce584cbe
2. Click “Register”.
3. On the registration form, enter your information and then click “Submit”.
Once the host approves your registration, you will receive a confirmation email message with instructions on how to join the event.
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For assistance
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You can contact Robyn Keske at:
rkeske@hsph.harvard.edu
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This WebEx service includes a feature that allows audio and any documents and other materials exchanged or viewed during the session to be recorded. By joining this session, you automatically consent to such recordings. If you do not consent to the recording, discuss your concerns with the meeting host prior to the start of the recording or do not join the session. Please note that any such recordings may be subject to discovery in the event of litigation.
The NAHRO Blog: Legislative & Policy Updates from Washington, DC 