HUD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has published its Semiannual Report to Congress for the period ending March 31, 2018.
It can be found here.
Year: 2018
Final Round of Opportunity Zones Approved
On April 14, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced the final round of designated Opportunity Zones in 4 additional states. Established by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Congress created the 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. 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 be an important, viable program for housing and community development agencies.
According to the Department of the Treasury, nearly 35 million Americans live in the communities designated as Opportunity Zones, and designated census tracts had an average poverty rate of over 32 percent.
The final round of submissions were approved for: Florida; Nevada; Pennsylvania; and Utah.
HCV Forecasting Tool Updated
I have received word from a HUD official that the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Forecasting Tool has been updated. The forecasting tool provides the means to successfully plan and manage a voucher program. The tool has been updated with the final funding numbers for 2018, as well as reconciled 12/31/2017 Restricted Net Position (RNP) numbers for most PHAs.
Additionally, the tool has been updated with several new features:
- the ability to automatically populate PIC EOP report information;
- the ability to incorporate different success rates and time from issuance to HAP rates depending on the voucher type;
- the ability to quickly move information from an old tool to a new tool on the Success Rate Tracker Tab; and
- a better method for estimating potential offset numbers, based on HUD’s most recent offset-calculating methods.
The tool can be accessed from HUD’s Office of Housing Choice Vouchers webpage.
HUD Publishes New RAD and Section 18 Blend Document
Earlier today, HUD’s Office of Recapitalization sent a RADBlast! email announcing the publication of a Frequently-Asked-Questions (FAQ) document about using HUD’s new demolition and disposition notice–PIH 2018-04 (HA)–in conjunction with the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program.
Specifically, the document answers questions around the provision in the demolition and disposition notice that allows PHAs to convert at least 75 percent of public housing units in a project under RAD–which meet the requirements of the RAD Final Implementation Notice REV-3, H-2017-3–and to convert through disposition up to 25 percent of public housing units within the project to Section 8 project-based voucher assistance.
For those contemplating completing a RAD transaction, this provision is another tool to help finance the deal.
The RAD-Section 18 Blend document can be found at the RAD Resource Desk or here.
HUD Publishes UPCS-V Inspection Protocol Beta
On Monday, June 4, HUD held a UPCS-V Information Technology (IT) Summit. During the session, HUD Inspection Standards and Data for Vouchers (ISDV), presented brief welcoming remarks, an overview of where we are in the protocol development process (29,132 inspections conducted; 170 PHAs trained by April; and 247 participating PHAs), described the protocol; described the decision trees; and provided a technical overview of VEDGA.
During the session, HUD also mentioned that a beta version of the UPCS-V protocol would soon be publicly available. Yesterday, HUD published the beta version of the UPCS-V protocol. Changes in the new version of the protocol are based on three guiding principles: simplicity, transparency, and meeting the objective of national housing policy (i.e., aligning with UPCS). Specific changes include the following:
- An addition of a glossary;
- An updated life threatening or emergency (LTE) deficiencies list;
- Inclusion of carbon monoxide as an inspectable item;
- Fifty-three percent decrease in length;
- The alphabetization of the defect dictionary; and
- An overall reorganization of the document to provide information clearly.
Input and feedback on this version of the protocol can be given at ISDV@hud.gov.
HUD is specifically seeking feedback on the following:
- Should there be additional terms added to the glossary?
- Is the order or the protocol logical and does it meet inspector needs?
- Is there anything missing from the protocol that a novice inspector might need?
The slides from the HUD UPCS-V IT session can be found here.
The beta UPCS-V protocol can be found here.
HUD Begins EnVision Center Demonstration
In a press release earlier today, HUD announced the names of the first 17 communities that will receive EnVision Center designations. EnVision Centers are centralized hubs that serve to support four pillars of self-sufficiency: 1) Economic Empowerment; 2) Educational Advancement; 3) Health and Wellness; and 4) Character and Leadership. The EnVision Centers will partner with “federal agencies, state and local governments, non-profits, faith-based organizations, corporations, public housing authorities, and housing finance agencies” and will leverage these “public-private partnerships” to connect households with services to promote self-sufficiency.
HUD plans to develop tools to track and measure resident outcomes and services to ensure that EnVision Centers are able to monitor progress.
NAHRO’s comments on the EnVision Center Demonstration can be found here.
HUD’s full press release can be found here.
The full list of communities receiving the Envision Center designation can be found by clicking below.
HUD Posts “Keys to A Successful RAD Conversion” Videos
On Thursday, May 17 and Friday, May 18, HUD held a training on the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program titled “Keys to A Successful RAD Conversion.” The two day long sessions were held in the Brooke-Mondale Auditorium at HUD’s Headquarters. The training was targeted at PHAs that had not yet contemplated, or had not yet started, a RAD transaction and was meant to provide information about the RAD process. The Department had previously promised to post videos of each of the sessions, which they recently did. The session videos can be found below.
Click below to see each session.
HUD Publishes Webinar on 2018 HCV Implementation Notice
Earlier today, PHA Executive Directors received an email announcing that HUD has published a webinar going over the contents of the 2018 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program Implementation notice. The webinar can be found below. Questions about the notice or webinar can be sent to PIH.Financial.Management.Division@hud.gov.
The webinar can also be found here.
FY 2018 Housing Trust Fund Allocations Announced
On June 5, HUD will allocate more than $266 million in FY 2018 formula funds to eligible grantees of the National Housing Trust Fund (HTF) program. The HTF is a non-appropriated federal resource that complements existing Federal, State and local efforts to preserve and expand the nation’s supply of affordable homes for very low-income (VLI) and extremely low-income (ELI) households, as well as families experiencing homelessness. Authorized in 2008, lawmakers sought to establish a permanent source of affordable housing funding through annual contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (GSEs). Eight years later, the HTF was finally capitalized through its inaugural FY 2016 allocations. HTF grantees include the 50 states, District of Columbia, and five U.S. Insular Areas. Grantees may distribute funds through subgrantees (a unit of general local government or State agency) or directly fund projects proposed by eligible recipients (including PHAs), or a combination of both.
|
FY 2018 Housing Trust Fund Allocations |
||
|
State / Territory |
FY18 Allocation | % Change (FY17 to FY18) |
|
California |
$36,616,277 |
58% |
|
New York |
$22,171,681 |
50% |
|
Texas |
$12,279,085 |
39% |
|
Florida |
$10,442,914 |
36% |
|
Illinois |
$9,812,230 |
37% |
|
Pennsylvania |
$7,759,948 |
32% |
|
New Jersey |
$7,726,903 |
38% |
|
Ohio |
$6,971,712 |
27% |
|
Michigan |
$6,004,558 |
24% |
|
Massachusetts |
$5,720,333 |
24% |
|
North Carolina |
$5,874,191 |
32% |
|
Georgia |
$5,705,499 |
29% |
|
Washington |
$5,197,313 |
26% |
|
Virginia |
$4,672,562 |
22% |
|
Wisconsin |
$4,117,505 |
18% |
|
Indiana |
$3,937,462 |
17% |
|
Missouri |
$3,970,270 |
18% |
|
Arizona |
$3,997,777 |
21% |
|
Tennessee |
$3,688,511 |
17% |
|
Colorado |
$3,563,587 |
13% |
|
Oregon |
$3,654,189 |
16% |
|
Minnesota |
$3,445,781 |
10% |
|
Maryland |
$3,578,771 |
17% |
|
Connecticut |
$3,269,474 |
9% |
|
Louisiana |
$3,068,829 |
2% |
|
South Carolina |
$3,007,655 |
0% |
|
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, District Of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming |
$3,000,000 (Required State Minimum) |
|
|
Puerto Rico |
$1,253,357 |
42% |
|
American Samoa |
$11,995 |
54% |
|
Guam |
$97,028 |
54% |
|
Northern Marianas |
$53,415 |
54% |
| Virgin Islands |
$104,591 |
54% |
| Total | $266,775,403 |
22% |
HUD to Publish HCV RFIFs
Today, HUD has posted a pre-publication copy of a notice titled “Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments Program – Fiscal Year 2018 Inflation Factors for Public Housing Agency Renewal Funding.” This notice informs the public of the publication of Renewal Funding Inflation Factors (RFIFs), which are the inflation factors applied to the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program renewal funding that adjusts the funding amount of individual PHAs to take into account changes in rents, utility costs, and tenant incomes.
The notice also notes that the methodology for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 factors is the same as the FY 2017 factors, but requests comments on whether this should be changed. In particular, the notice requests feedback on whether the current practice of incorporating local rent surveys used to change FMRs into the calculation of RFIFs should continue. Comments will be due 30 days after this notice has been published in the Federal Register.
The FY 2018 RFIFs, when posted on Wednesday (5/30/18), will be found here.
The pre-publication copy of the notice can be found here.
[5/30/18 Edit – Comments are due June 29, 2018. The full published notice can be found here.]
[6/11/18 Edit – HUD has extended the comment deadline for this notice to July 6, 2018. The pre-publication copy of the extension can be found here.]
The NAHRO Blog: Legislative & Policy Updates from Washington, DC 