On December 21, HUD published a press release announcing the awarding of $29 million in grants to PHAs and non-profit organizations across the nation to hire or retain service coordinators to help residents find jobs and educational opportunities through the Resident Opportunities and Self Sufficiency Service Coordinators (ROSS-SC) program. According to HUD, the ROSS-SC program “encourages local, innovative strategies that link public housing assistance with public and private resources to enable participating families to increase earned income; reduce or eliminate the need for welfare assistance; and make progress toward achieving economic independence and housing self-sufficiency.”

HUD Secretary Ben Carson noted that “[p]roviding families who live in public housing the opportunity to invest in themselves is a win-win as it helps them to gain economic and housing independence … [t]oday, we’re investing in our residents, offering them the tools they need to build a brighter future for themselves and their children.”

For a list of grant funding by state, see here.

On December 20, HUD posted in the Public Inspection of the Federal Register a 30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection on changes to Admission and Occupancy Requirements for public housing. According to the Information Collection, HUD is making changes to the Admission and Occupancy requirements that “defin[e] an ‘over income family’ as one having an annual income 120 percent above the median income for the area for two consecutive years and includes new mandatory annual reporting requirements on the number of over-income families residing in Public Housing and the total number of families on the Public Housing waiting lists at the end of each reporting year.”

HUD is making these changes in light of the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA) which included language limiting tenancy of over-income residents in public housing. HUD will use its calculation of very low-income (VLI) to determine income limits. VLIs are preliminarily calculated as 50 percent of the estimated area median family income. VLI limits include several adjustments to align the income limits with program requirements including: high housing cost adjustments, low housing cost adjustments, state and non-metro median family income adjustments, and ceiling and floors for changes. HUD will use the VLI as the basis for the 120 percent income limit by multiplying the VLI limit by a factor of 2.4. Areas without a VLI adjustment would result in an income limit of 120 percent of AMI. Areas with an adjustment would be higher or lower than 120 percent AMI, depending upon the adjustments made.

If a family meets this threshold, public housing authorities (PHAs) have the option of either charging the higher of the fair market rent for the unit or the monthly subsidy (operating and capital fund), or terminating the tenancy within 6 months.

Comments on the proposed notice of information collection are due 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

HUD has released version 1.2 of its PHA Operating Fund Submission Schedule for CY 2019. HUD will make HUD Forms HUD 52723 and HUD 52722 available to PHAs on February 11, 2019. PHAs will be required to submit those forms to their Field Office by March 4. HUD plans to publish preliminary eligibility based on HUD-52723 operating subsidy submissions on April 1. PHAs should contact their Field Office with an issues regarding preliminary eligibility for all projects by April 8.

PHAs are funded based on an estimate in January, February, March, and April.