On September 27, HUD released a notice under public inspection that extends the compliance period under the National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) final rule for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV), Project Based Voucher (PBV), and Moderate Rehabilitation programs until October 1, 2024.

The delay is meant to give Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) additional time to implement NSPIRE standards as required by HUD. In this time, PHAs will have more time to train staff, communicate with landlords, and gain more knowledge from HUD in transitioning to NSPIRE.

PHAs must notify HUD of their decision in whether they decide to continue using Housing Quality Standards (HQS) for inspections or transition to NSPIRE before the October 2024 deadline.

To notify HUD of either decision, PHAs must email NSPIREV_AlternateInspection@hud.gov and send a courtesy copy to their Field Office representative. Additionally, PHAs must list the date on which they plan to transition to and or implement NSPIRE.

The notice is expected to be published in Federal Register on September 28, 2023.

For more information, please see the full notice here.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) will launch a new nationwide cybersecurity program on Tuesday, September 26 at 3:00 pm EST. The program focuses on educating Americans on how to stay secure online and will also include the launch of the agency’s first-ever Public Service Announcement (PSA) that will air nationwide. The launch will include remarks by CISA Director Jen Easterly. Cybersecurity is only becoming more and more important as we move systems online and into the cloud. Interested individuals can watch the launch online here. The session is today, at 3:00pm EST.

On September 12, HUD issued Notice CPD–2023-08, which is meant to provide consistent methodology for conducting risk analyses for Community Planning and Development (CPD) formula and competitive grantees. The notice also establishes monitoring priorities within CPD’s Grants Management Process Reporting (GMP-R) system.

The notice supersedes Notice CPD-22-11, which implemented a risk analysis methodology that considered risk factors, sub factors, and symptomatic causes in program performance.

The new notice incorporates revisions to CPD’s risk analysis policies and procedures to provide greater flexibility towards CPD’s monitoring obligations. The revisions are intended to augment departmental policy to include:

• Developing risk-based rating systems to evaluate all program grantees;
• Rating and selecting grantees for monitoring;
• Identifying program risks and setting monitoring objectives; and
• Documenting the process and recording the rationale for choosing grantees to be monitored.

In addition, the notice highlights the role of CPD Field Offices in performing risk analysis and ratings for grantees/grants.

Programs assessed under this notice include:

• Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG)
• HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME)
• Emergency Solutions Grants Program (ESG)
• Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program (HOPWA)
• Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program Competitive (HOPWA-C)
• Continuum of Care (CoC)
• Neighborhood Stabilization Programs (NSP 1, 2, and 3)
• Section 8 Single Room Occupancy Moderate Rehabilitation (SRO)
• Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR, including CDBG-NDR and CDBG-MIT funds)
• Community Development Block Grant-CARES Act (CDBG-CV)
• Emergency Solutions Grants Program-CARES Act (ESG-CV)
• Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program-CARES Act (HOPWA-CV)
• Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS Program Competitive-CARES Act (HOPWA-C-CV)
• Recovery Housing Program (RHP)
• Housing Trust Fund (HTF)

To view the full notice, see here.

On September 15, HUD released a notice under public inspection that extends the compliance date for HUD’s National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) final rule for Community Planning and Development (CPD) programs until October 1, 2024.

The notice is set to be officially published on September 18 and extends the compliance date for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and Housing Trust Fund (HTF), Housing
Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA), Emergency Solution Grants (ESG) and
Continuum of Care (COC) programs.

According to HUD, they note that the basis for extending the deadline is due to the different implementation needs of various program participants. Additionally, some CPD programs such as the HTF and HOME programs are unable to update some of their standards and policies in accordance with the NSPIRE final rule until HUD publishes the lists of specific deficiencies. P

Participating jurisdictions and grantees of the the HTF and HOME programs should prepare for the compliance date by updating property standard regulatory citations and requirements in
written agreement templates. The templates should include State recipients, subrecipients, and project owners as required by law.

Program recipients including those of the CoC, ESG, and HOPWA programs that administer housing choice vouchers or project based vouchers may still use NSPIRE standards beginning October 1, 2023. Guidance for the following programs as they apply to NSPIRE standards is intended to be published by HUD soon.

For the full notice, see here.

Applications to participate in the Small-Rural Frozen Rolling Base (SR-FRB) program are due on September 21, 2023 through the Public Housing Portal. The program allows PHAs who have the Small Rural designation and operate public housing to receive public housing subsidy amounts based on their average utility usage for the most recent three years before entering the program. Meanwhile, PHAs should make investments to become more efficient, thereby decreasing expenses. If PHAs spend less on utilities than the frozen amounts in the Public Housing Operating Fund formula, the agency keeps the cost savings. The money saved from improving efficiency while receiving funding at their prior energy usage level can be used to supplement either Public Housing Operating or Capital Fund needs for up to 20 years.

Key requirements to join the program include the following:

• Agencies must meet the Small Rural designation;
• Moving to Work agencies (MTW) are only prohibited if their MTW agreement modifies utility expense levels (UEL);
• Agencies must operate public housing;
• The program applies to PHA-paid utilities, so resident-paid utilities are not included in the program;
• The SR-FRB does not apply to trash removal or flat rate utilities;
• Agencies may choose to freeze specific utilities and at specific asset management projects (AMPs); and  
• Agencies may not layer this program with an energy performance contract in the same year at the same AMP.

For more information, visit the SR-FRB web page for guidance, points of contact, and a technical support videos.  Additionally, see the list of small rural PHAs for eligibility questions and NAHRO’s summary of the most recent SR-FRB guidance.

Join NAHRO’s Policy Team and HUD’s MTW Office on September 12 from 3pm – 4pm to learn more about HUD’s request for applications for the 5^th cohort of the MTW Expansion. Hear about the MTW expansion, the MTW flexibilities available for the new cohort, eligibility for the cohort, the application process, and the requirements of the application. There will be time to ask NAHRO staff questions. Recommended for PHAs with 1,000 or less combined units. Register here. 

HUD has published PIH Notice 2023-24, “Implementation of a Voluntary and Anonymous HUD Inspection Feedback Survey for Incorporation into the National Standards for the Physical inspection of Real Estate Program.” This notice explains the role of resident feedback in NSPIRE inspections and includes the following key details.

• The residents of each unit inspected under NSPIRE will have the opportunity to provide feedback about the inspection experience and their unit’s physical condition;
• This feedback will not factor into NSPIRE scores but may inform future NSPIRE inspections;
• Residents will access this survey via a flyer left behind by inspectors, usually on the kitchen counter; and
• This feedback will commence with the implementation of NSPIRE inspections for each unit type (July 1, 2023 for all public housing units and Multifamily Housing that participated in the NSPIRE Demonstration, October 1, 2023 for all other programs).

See the September 15 edition of The NAHRO Monitor and Notice 2023-24 for more information.