On November 30, HUD released a proposed rule for public inspection that would require PHAs/owners that administer public housing and or project-based rental assistance (PBRA) to provide tenants with 30-day notice prior to the commencement of a formal judicial eviction
procedure for lease termination.

According to HUD, “…the proposed rule would curtail preventable and unnecessary evictions by providing tenants with time and information to help cure nonpayment violations.” In their reasoning for proposing the rule, HUD uses the interim final rule titled “Extension of Time and
Required Disclosures for Notification of Nonpayment of Rent,” published October 2021 as part of the basis. The interim rule allowed for HUD to extend the time period before lease termination for nonpayment of rent to a minimum of 30 days.

The proposed rule provides the 30-day notice period without the contingency of a national emergency and the availability of emergency rental assistance funds as seen in the interim final rule. It also allows owners and PHAs to provide a longer notice period if they wish to.

Comments on the proposed rule are due 60 days after the notice is published. Those interested in submitting comments can do so by going to Regulations.gov.

A more detailed analysis of the proposed rule will be featured in the next edition of the NAHRO Monitor on December 15.

HUD has announced that it will distribute nearly $25 million in Housing Mobility-Related Service awards to 7 PHAs. According to HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge, these awards will “boost access to housing vouchers for families who need them most.” With these funds, more PHA’s will be able to administer housing mobility programs – increasing access to opportunity neighborhoods for families with children in the HCV program.

The HCV Mobility Services Program provides mobility-related services and implements administrative policies to help PHAs address common barriers HCV families face obtaining housing in neighborhoods with access to amenities like high-performing schools, access to jobs, low crime rates, parks, and other amenities. Research has demonstrated that growing up in a lower poverty neighborhood is associated with higher academic achievement, better health outcomes, and higher long-term chances of success.

Congratulations to the Housing Authority of the City of Dallas, Texas, Boston Housing Authority, Houston Housing Authority, Connecticut Department of Housing, Housing Authority of the Birmingham District, Seattle Housing Authority, and Milwaukee County DHHS – Housing Division on receiving these awards!

On November 15, HUD published a notice in the Federal Register titled “Family Self-Sufficiency Achievement Metrics (“FAM”) Score.” The notice describes updates to the FAM Score that HUD has implemented to track the program performance of PHAs that receive FSS program coordinator grants.

The FAM Score is meant to provide HUD, Congress, PHAs, and other entities information on the performance of individual FSS programs. According to HUD, this is meant to help grantees determine how their programs compare to others across the country and their success in helping participants graduate from the FSS program.

This notice makes a number of adjustments meant to improve the FAM Score such as updating thresholds for computing scores; factoring in local economic conditions; using a three-year average for measuring earnings and graduation rates; modifying the number of comparison households used to determine the Earnings Performance Measure; and clarifying how joint FSS grantees are counted across years.

For PHAs that received MTW Demonstration designation prior to December 15, 2015, this notice does not apply.

A more detailed analysis of this notice will be featured in the next edition of the NAHRO Monitor on November 30.

For the full notice, please see here.

The final week of the NAHRO Day 3 webinar series has been rescheduled to Thursday November 30 at 1:30pm ET.

In the final webinar, titled “Building Resident and Owner Financial Resiliency,” panelists will discuss strategies that promote wealth building and barrier reduction. Panelists will also discuss the state of tenant accounts receivable (TARS) in public housing.

Esusu, a leading financial technology platform leveraging data to empower renters and improve property performance, will also provide data on how reporting on-time rental payments has impacted renters across the country.

Panelists:

• Jennifer Keogh | Vice President Operations, Affordable Housing, Progress Residential
• Samir Goel | Esusu
• Wemimo Abbey | Co-Founder, Esusu
• Eric Oberdorfer | Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs, NAHRO

To register for the Day 3 webinar series, please see here.

On November 7, HUD announced the suspension of the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) deadline requirements through December 31, 2025.

The suspension is included in the 2023 HOME appropriation, which adds a provision continuing the suspension of the 24-month commitment requirement. The suspension would extend to any CHDO funds that were deobligated in 2018 or that would be deobligated through 2025.

Enforcement of the CHDO commitment deadlines will cease by HUD until end of the suspension date.

For more information, please contact your local HUD Field Office.

The fourth week of the NAHRO Day 3 webinar series will be this afternoon, Thursday November 9 at 1:30pm ET.

This week’s webinar, titled “Centering Impacted Communities in Advocacy,” explores advocacy for Public Housing Authorities (PHAs). Speakers will share strategies towards garnering support for funding, redevelopment, partnership, and other aligned priorities. Additionally, speakers will convey the importance of residents’ and program participants’ perspectives.

The session is led by the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District located in Alabama.

To register for the Day 3 webinar series, please see here.

Future Webinar Topics:
November 16: Building Resident and Owner Financial Resiliency

On October 24, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) jointly issued the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) final rule.

The CRA, which was designed to encourage banks to help meet the credit needs of low- and moderate-income communities, has been revised to better adapt to changes in the banking industry. The final rule takes effect on April 1, 2024, with staggered compliance dates on January 1, 2026, and January 1, 2027.

The final rule includes revisions such as:

• Establishes and updates four performance tests (Retail Lending Test, Retail Services and Products Test, Community Development Financing Test, and Community Development Services Test).
• Reduces the number of major product lines potentially evaluated under the Retail Lending Test from six to three.
• Limits the evaluation of automobile lending under the Retail Lending Test.
• Adjusts retail lending performance ranges.
• Changes weight of community development financing activities to now be weighted equal to retail activities when evaluating large banks under the Retail Lending Test.
• Tailors requirements for delineating retail lending assessment areas (RLAAs).
• Adds metric under the Community Development Financing Test that focuses on certain investments relative to deposits for banks greater than $10 billion.
• Creates an impact factor under the Community Development Financing Test to evaluate investments made to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and New Markets Tax Credit.
• Clarifies the strategic plan option and provides additional flexibility for banks with nontraditional business models.
• Increases the compliance date for banks to be in alignment with the new requirements from 12 months to more than 24 months after the rule is adopted and published.
• Clarifies the provision on CRA ratings downgrades.
• Allows certain loans to small businesses to be considered as a community development loan under the economic development category.
• Recognizes differences in bank size and business models to include large banks, intermediate banks, small banks, and limited purpose banks.
• Updates asset size thresholds for different bank sizes.
• Exempts small and intermediate banks from new data collection requirements that apply to banks with assets of at least $2 billion.
• Limits certain data collection and reporting requirements to large banks with assets greater than $10 billion.

For a more detailed analysis of the final rule, please see the next edition of the NAHRO Monitor on November 15.

For the final rule, see here.

On November 2, 2023, the Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) published CPD Notice 2023-12, “CPD Implementation Guidance for the Build America, Buy America Act’s domestic content procurement preference as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.” This notice is the first piece of implementation guidance by the Department on the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA). This guidance applies to roughly eighteen CPD programs, which are defined in Section III of the notice.

The guidance discusses the following topics:

• The implementation process for this new law,
• Implementation dates and an overview of guidance for all federal agencies,
• Definitions,
• Applicability for CPD programs,
• The waiver process,
• Guidance on Tribal Recipient waivers,
• Project-specific waivers—including nonavailability and cost waivers,
• The process for determining whether BABA applies to a project,
• Recordkeeping,
• Frequently Asked Questions, and
• Sample grant agreement language.

Understanding whether and when the BAP applies to specific situations can be difficult because HUD has utilized a phased implementation waiver. This means that agencies must comply with the law’s Build America Preference (BAP) based on when funds were obligated, the program for which funding was awarded, and the type of materials purchased with the funds. The guidance describes a step-by-step process for reviewing whether funding may apply to a project. However, while many programs are not yet covered by BABA, the law does currently apply to CDBG funds obligated on or after November 15, 2022 to buy iron or steel, Recovery Housing Program funds obligated on or after August 23, 2023 to buy iron or steel, and several non-CPD programs used for iron or steel purchases.

 As the Office of Management and Budget continues implementing BABA for federal agencies, the information HUD provides to CPD funding recipients may change. Additionally, this waiver focuses primarily on CPD programs, though the principles about how and when the BAP applies would be useful for any HUD recipient of Federal financial assistance.

NAHRO applauds HUD’s release of this guidance. While it does not apply to all HUD programs, it is topical as several CPD programs are beginning to receive funding subject to the BAP. For more information, see the November 3 NAHRO Direct News and the November 15 edition of The NAHRO Monitor, and the notice.