Month: August 2018

HUD Increases HCV Administrative Fee Proration to 80%

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday, HUD’s Housing Voucher Financial Management Division sent a letter to PHA Executive Directors and certain Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program Representatives announcing that the 2018 administrative fee will increase from 76 percent to 80 percent. The Department notes that the final number may change again based on national leasing behavior and finding additional funding. The additional administrative fee funding will be obligated during September 2018. The Department also notes that for portability, it is recommended that PHAs continue to use the original estimated 76 percent proration from January to July and begin to use the new 80 percent proration in August.

While NAHRO is pleased that HUD has found the funds to increase the administrative fee proration to 80 percent, we will continue to stress to decision-makers in Washington, D.C., the importance of fully funding this account.

The full letter can be found here.

HUD Publishes FY 2019 FMRs

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

In a notice titled “Fair Market Rents for the Housing Choice Voucher Program, Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy, and Other Programs Fiscal Year 2019,” HUD announced the publication of its Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Fair Market Rents (FMRs). Comments on the FMRs are due by October 1, 2018. The effective date of the FMRs are October 1, 2018.

The methodology used to calculate these FMRs remain the same as it was for the FY 2018 FMRs. The methodology used to calculate these Small Area FMRs remain the same as it was for the FY 2018 Small Area FMRs. The Department is continuing to implement certain changes (which NAHRO commented on) made in calculating FY 2018 Small Area FMRs. Additionally, as mandated by the Small Area FMR rule, HUD is limiting the amount a FMR or Small Area FMR may decrease to no greater than 10 percent.

The notice also discusses the calculation of Renewal Funding Inflation Factors (RFIFs)–the annual inflation factor by which voucher renewal funding is increased. The Department was considering changing how it calculates RFIFs. The Department notes that most comments “directed HUD to continue using FMR surveys in the calculation of RFIFs.” (Read NAHRO’s RFIF comments here.) The Department is still contemplating how best to incorporate research surveys into the calculation of RFIFs.

FY 2019 FMRs can be found here.

FY 2019 Small Area FMRs can be found here.

The notice announcing the publication of the FMRs can be found here.

HUD Issues Notice Suspending HOME 24-Month Commitment Requirement

~ Eric Oberdorfer ~ Leave a comment

On August 27, HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) published notice CPD-18-10, titled “Suspension of 24-Month Commitment Requirement for Deadlines Occurring in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.” The FY18 omnibus contained a hard-fought provision, first included in the FY 2017 omnibus, which suspended the HOME program’s statutory 24-month commitment requirement for HOME funds that are set to expire in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. The commitment requirement was widely viewed as a difficult and unnecessary deadline for participating jurisdictions (PJs) to meet.

Continue reading →

Last Week of August Advocacy: Support HUD Funding!

~ Tess Hembree ~ Leave a comment

It’s the final week of August advocacy! We’ve sent over 2,000 letters to Congress in August – a good number, but still well below our goal of 3,000 letters. Please take action now to support responsible funding for housing and community development in FY 2019.

House and Senate Appropriations staff are currently working to negotiate a final Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) spending bill. Using the Senate-approved FY 2019 THUD bill and the House Appropriations Committee-approved bill, staffers are in the process of “conferencing” these two pieces of legislation into a single bill, likely to be passed as a larger spending package. This means important decisions about spending levels for housing and community development programs are being made right now. Make sure your voice is heard in this process by sending a letter to your members of Congress today.

Please help us reinforce the importance of responsible funding for housing and community development programs and help NAHRO send 3,000 letters to Capitol Hill this month – reach out to your members of Congress now!

HUD Awards FY 18 Emergency Safety and Security Grants

~ Eric Oberdorfer ~ Leave a comment

HUD has awarded on $5 million to 22 public housing agencies across the country for Emergency and Security Improvements.  The FY18 omnibus provided $21.5 million for grants to PHAs for emergency capital needs resulting from unforeseen or unpreventable emergencies and natural disasters, excluding presidentially declared emergencies and natural disasters under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Act. This included a set-aside of $5 million reserved for safety and security emergencies. HUD’s Capital Fund Emergency Safety and Security Program supports public housing authorities as they address the safety of public housing residents. These grants may be used to install, repair, or replace capital needs items including security systems/surveillance cameras, fencing, lighting systems, emergency alarm systems, window bars, deadbolt locks and doors.

HUD’s press release can be found here.

HUD Creates New Landlord Task Force

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Earlier today, HUD published a press release announcing that it would create a new Landlord Task Force. The task force is being created as a response to two new studies which found that most landlords do not accept vouchers and, in those instances where landlords do accept vouchers, the landlords are dissatisfied with the administrative burdens associated with the vouchers. The Department will begin a landlord engagement campaign on September 20th in Washington DC, where it will present findings from the two studies. There will also be landlord forums in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and Salem, Oregon. After receiving feedback from these forums, the task force will provide policy recommendations to the Secretary to increase landlord participation in the Housing Choice Voucher program.

The two studies which served as the impetus for the creation of the task force are titled “Pilot Study of Landlord Acceptance in the Housing Choice Voucher Program” and “Urban Landlords and the Housing Choice Voucher Program: A Research Report.” The former study will be released in a month and looked at five cities: Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Fort Worth, Newark, and Washington, D.C. It found that many landlords did not accept vouchers, especially in high opportunity areas. The latter study examined three areas: Baltimore, Cleveland, and Dallas. It found that while many landlords appreciated the reliable rent payments of the Housing Choice Voucher program, they were frustrated with inspections and how housing authorities handle tenant disputes.

A summary of Pilot Study of Landlord Acceptance in the Housing Choice Voucher Program can be found here. (The full study will be released next month.)

The Urban Landlords and the Housing Choice Voucher Program: A Research Report can be found here.

The Department’s press release on the new task force can be found here.

Federal Judge Dismisses AFFH Suit

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

In an opinion published on Friday, a federal judge dismissed a suit brought by several fair housing organizations. The fair housing groups wanted HUD to reinstate the local government assessment tool as part of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) process. The court found that the groups did not meet the requirements to sue and that even if they did, HUD should not be required to reinstate the local government tool.

After providing background information and describing the relevant law, the opinion discussed three issues. First, whether the fair housing groups had standing (i.e., met the legal requirements to sue); second, whether the fair housing groups were entitled to a preliminary injunction reinstating the assessment tool for local governments; and third, whether New York State could join the suit. The court found that the fair groups lacked standing (i.e., did not meet the legal requirements to bring suit); that even if they had standing, they were not entitled to a preliminary injunction ordering that the local government tool be reinstated; and that New York State could not join the suit.

Fair Housing Groups Lack Standing

The court found that the fair housing groups lacked standing and could not bring a suit. Although the court found multiple reasons why the fair housing groups lacked standing, the court focused most of its analysis on how there was a lack of injury to the fair housing groups by the withdrawal of the local government tool. The court found that the withdrawal of the local government tool did not impair the mission of the fair housing groups because many aspects of the AFFH rule remain in place, including the new community participation requirements, which give the fair housing groups continuing opportunities to participate in a more robust Analysis of Impediments (AI) process. The court also found that withdrawal of the local government tool did not cause a drain of the fair housing groups’ resources because they are engaged in the same types of activities that they were undertaking before the withdrawal of the local government tool and because withdrawal of the tool does not require that the groups spend more on operational costs. Finally, the court also found that the fair housing groups lacked the other elements of standing–causation and redressability.

Fair Housing Groups Not Entitled to a Preliminary Injunction

The court found that even if the fair housing groups had standing, they were not entitled to a preliminary injunction. Again, although there were several reasons why they were not entitled to a preliminary injunction, the court focused its analysis on showing why the fair housing groups were unlikely to succeed on the merits of the case. First, the court noted that withdrawal of the local government tool did not require notice-and-comment procedures (these are the procedures used in the informal rulemaking process when an agency is creating a regulation) because the local government tool is properly characterized as an “information collection” and not subject to notice-and-comment procedures. Second, the court found that the withdrawal of the tool was not arbitrary or capricious because HUD provided adequate reasoning for its decision to withdraw the local government tool (HUD noted the high failure rate of program participants to submit acceptable first-time submissions and the high costs of scaling up technical assistance for future submissions). The court also did not find the other factors needed for a preliminary injunction including a risk of irreparable harm, a balance of equities in favor of the fair housing groups, or an accord with the public interest.

New York State May Not Join the Suit

The court found that New York State may not join the suit because, like the fair housing groups, it lacked standing because of a lack of injury.

The full opinion can be found here.

HUD Files Complaint Against Facebook

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

On Friday, HUD published a press release announcing that it was filing a housing discrimination complaint against the social networking site Facebook. The Department claims that Facebook has a series of options which allow advertisers to control which groups can see their advertisements. By allowing advertisers to restrict certain groups–defined by protected characteristics–from viewing advertised housing, HUD believes that Facebook is discriminating.

For example, advertisers may restrict the viewing pool of users based on protected characteristics like race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, and disability. Facebook mines data on its users and classifies its users based on protected characteristics. Advertisers may then choose to restrict which groups see their advertisements based on those groups’ interests. The Department found that Facebook allows the following:

  • Advertisers to discriminate based on sex by showing ads only to men or women;
  • Advertisers to discriminate based on disability by not showing ads to users whom Facebook categorizes as interested in things like assistance dogs or mobility scooters;
  • Advertisers to discriminate based on familial status by not showing ads to users whom Facebook categorizes as interested in things like child care or parenting;
  • Advertisers to discriminate based on national origin by not showing ads to users whom are interested in certain countries or geographical regions like Latin America or China; and
  • Advertisers to discriminate based on race or color by allowing advertisers to advertise to certain zip codes.

The Department’s press release can be found here.

The Department’s complaint can be found here.

Brookings Publishes Guide on Writing Effective Regulatory Comment Letters

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

The folks over at the Center on Regulations and Markets at Brookings have written a handy and short (seven pages!) guide to commenting on regulations. It discusses the federal rulemaking process; how to structure a comment letter; some things to consider about a regulation; assessing the legality of a regulation; and the mechanics of commenting on the rulemaking process.

If you’re interested in writing effective comments to HUD (or any other federal agency), this may be a good guide to take a look at.

The guide can be found here.

HUD to Reopen AFFH Rule

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Earlier today, HUD published a press release announcing that it published a notice inviting public comment on amendments to its Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation.

[8/16/18 Edit – the notice has been published in the Federal Register. It can be found here. The comment due date is October 15, 2018.]

The Department wishes to receive comments on amending the rule so that it does the following:

  1. minimizes regulatory burden while more effectively aiding program participants to meet their statutory obligations;
  2. creates a process focused primarily on accomplishing positive results, rather than on analysis;
  3. provides for greater local control and innovation;
  4. seeks to encourage actions that increase housing choice, including through greater housing supply; and
  5. more efficiently utilizes HUD resources.

Currently, HUD has suspended the obligation of local governments to file Assessments of Fair Housing (AFHs) using the local government tool. The Department believed that the tool was “confusing, difficult to use, contained errors, and frequently produced unacceptable assessments, and otherwise required an unsustainable level of technical assistance.” There is currently a lawsuit brought by three civil rights groups filed against HUD on its action suspending requirements of the rule.

NAHRO will provide additional information to our members as we continue to read through the notice and as additional information becomes available.

The Department’s press release can be found here.

A pre-publication copy of the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking can be found here.

[8/16/18 Edit – the published copy can be found here.]