HUD has published Notice 2024-02pihn, “Shortfall Grant SF-425 Reporting Requirements.” In each fiscal year (FY) from 2020-2023, HUD has distributed $25 million per year in Public Housing Operating Fund Shortfall grants. The original grant information for FY 2020 and 2021 did not require agencies to provide a report for this funding; however, Notice 2024-02 clarifies that grant recipients for any years between 2020 and 2023 must submit an SF-425 for each year they received this funding. The notice discusses the following based on the year agencies received funding:  the period of performance, due dates for the SF-425, obligation and expenditure dates, and LOCCS policies. The first SF-425 submissions due are April 30, 2024 for FY 2022-2023 awards, and these two years will require annual submissions. 2020 forms are due in April 2025 and 2021 forms due in April 2026.

For more information on the Operating Fund Shortfall notice and context, see the January 15 edition of The NAHRO Monitor or 2024-02pihn.

Waiting List Submissions Due March 31, 2024

On January 3, 2024, HUD continued implementing Section 103 of the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA) by opening the Public Housing Waiting List Module. A major component of Section 103, agencies must report to HUD the number of families on their public housing waiting list(s). HUD will use this module to collect and publish data waiting list lengths. As in other communications about this data collection, HUD reminds agencies to report each family on waiting lists once and not to report the same family more than once if they are on multiple waiting lists.

The module is available via the Public Housing Portal. HUD’s January 3 communication regarding the portal includes the “PHA Public Housing Waiting List User Guide,” “Public Housing Waiting List Submissions” training video, and resources and deadlines for other public housing programs.  

HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing has released “Build America, Buy America Act Implementation Guidance for the Public Housing Program,” PIH Notice 2024-01. This notice is separate from guidance from both HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regarding the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA). The guidance synthesizes the steps HUD and OMB have taken to implement the law and clarifies remaining compliance questions. BABA is being implemented in phases, and agencies do not yet need to comply with the law for many programs.

The notice answers several pending questions about complying with BABA:

• Definitions, several of which were determined by OMB rulemaking,
• How the BAP will apply to ongoing projects,
• Steps agencies should take to ensure their own and their partners’ compliance with BABA,
• Determining which projects must comply with the law,
• Situations in which BABA applicability for specific funding changes over time,
• Documenting purchases and efforts to comply with BABA, and
• Requirements for submitting a waiver to HUD.

For more information, see the notice or the January 15 edition of The NAHRO Monitor.

Applications due March 12, 2024

HUD has reopened the FY 2023 Jobs Plus NOFO to distribute remaining funding amounts from fiscal years 2023-2024 until March 12, 2024. Applicants can find this grant opportunity on grants.gov, and more information is available on the FY 2023 Jobs Plus NOFO webpage, including a full Program NOFO, FAQs, and instructions. PHAs that did not submit an application by the August 21, 2023 deadline may apply, and agencies that applied by the that deadline do not need to submit another application. PHAs who received a Jobs Plus award from FY 2019 or earlier may apply again. In their announcement, HUD “strongly encouraged” agencies to apply who have not received a Jobs Plus award previously or did not apply by the August deadline.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has released several new Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA) resources on HUDExchange. First is the “Sample Admin and ACOP HOTMA Policies.” This document provides brief descriptions of the discretionary policies agencies will need to create to implement sections 102 and 104 of HOTMA as well as sample language PHAs could adopt in their plans. Second, HUD has released four resources intended to be resident-facing, including:

• “HOTMA Resident Fact Sheet: Health Medical, and Childcare Deductions,”
• “HOTMA Resident Fact Sheet: Income Calculation and Reviews,”
• “HOTMA Resident Worksheet: Interim Reviews,” and
• HOTMA Resident Worksheet: Student Financial Aid.”

For more information, see the December 15 edition of The NAHRO Monitor.

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.

NAHRO’s 2nd annual Day 3 webinar series is back! Continuing today, November 2, this five-week webinar series will feature sessions and topics that give attendees a taste of what they would expect from attending our National Conference. Registration is free to all. Attendees that sign-up for a session will automatically be enrolled into the full remainder of the series.

This week’s topic is “This USDA Program is for Rural and Urban Areas.” Community Resources and Housing Development Corporation is a national technical assistant provider for USDA helping to increase the use of their 514/516 program.  This program provides loans (1%, 33 years) and grant funding (a combination total of $5,000,000 per development) PLUS rental assistance to help households that earn 65% of their income in the agriculture industry. Non-profits and housing authorities can learn how to utilize the free technical assistance to help with project planning and application process. This is the only USDA program that is not required to be in a rural area.

Register here: https://nahro-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Zhq2tIjNRtOkYjsjfbfuag

Future Webinar Topics:

November 9: Centering Impacted Communities in Advocacy
November 16: Building Resident and Owner Financial Resiliency

Waiver Form

A proposed waiver form is available to view, and it is housed on the Office of the General Counsel webpage, described below. This waiver form will be used for multiple waiver types.

Webpages

The Department has published two new webpages containing resources for the Build America, Buy America Act (BABA).

1. Build America, Buy America Office of General Counsel Webpage: use this new webpage for the following:
   1. An overview of BABA,
   1. A breakdown of situations in which BABA applies,
   1. An overview of BABA compliance,
   1. A centralized explanation of waivers—including a copy of the proposed waiver form, and
   1. Frequently Asked Questions.
2. Build America, Buy America HUD Exchange Webpage: use this new webpage for the following:
   1. Learn about BABA as it relates to CPD programs specifically,
   1. Find links to BABA training webinars and “quick guides” covering CPD programs including webinars beginning Thursday November 2^nd, and
   1. Find a list of recent BABA news and announcements.

Webinars

There are four upcoming webinars.

• “BABA Virtual Education Outreach” November 9, 2023, 12:00-2:00pm ET: Hosted by HUD Office of Public and Indian Housing, this webinar is for all recipients of Federal financial assistance.
• “Build America, Buy America Act Webinar Series – 2023/2024”: This webinar is for HUD CPD grantees.
  • “BABA Webinar for HUD CPD Grantees” November 2, 2023, 2:00-3:00pm ET
  • “BABA Webinar for CDBG and RHP Grantees” November 15, 2023, 2:00-3:00pm ET
  • “BABA Webinar for ESG and CoC Grantees” November 29, 2023, 2:00-3:00pm ET
  • Four additional webinars beginning in December 2023—see the series link above

See the November 15 edition of The NAHRO Monitor for more information about the waiver form.

On October 31, HUD published a proposed rule titled “Removing Criminal Conviction Restrictions for Testers in FHIP- and FHAP-Funded Testing Programs,” which removes prohibitions against individuals with certain criminal convictions in two programs. These programs, the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) and Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP), provide money to non-profits (FHIP) or state and local governments (FHAP) to combat fair housing violations. One way these organizations pursue this mission is through “testing,” in which program representatives participate in the housing application processes to determine if housing organizations and providers violate fair housing laws during this process. HUD has barred people with felony, fraud, or perjury convictions from serving as these “testers.”

This proposed rule would no longer forbid FHIP and FHAP testers who have prior felony, fraud, or perjury convictions. The final rule outlines the ways in which this change aligns with HUD’s goals as well as the legal basis for this rule.

For more information, see the November 15 edition of The NAHRO Monitor or the proposed rule.

NAHRO’s 2nd annual Day 3 webinar series is back! Starting today, October 19, this five-week webinar series will feature sessions and topics that give attendees a taste of what they could expect from concurrent sessions at our National Conference. Registration is free to all. Attendees that sign-up for a session will automatically be enrolled in the five-week series. Sessions run from 1:30-2:30pm ET.

This week’s topic is “Building Cyber Resiliency Safeguarding Public Housing in the Digital Frontier.” While rapidly evolving technologies have improved housing agency operations, they’ve also created new and emerging cybersecurity risks like ransomware and business email compromise that can disrupt operations for weeks. So how can agencies become more cyber resilient? The panelists will answer that question by walking attendees through Denver Housing Authority’s 2021 ransomware incident. Using Denver’s experience as a backdrop, panelists will outline common cyber vulnerabilities, common sense defense strategies, and best practices to fortify housing agencies against cyber risks, ensuring the safety and privacy of residents and employees in this rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Register here: https://nahro-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Zhq2tIjNRtOkYjsjfbfuag

Future Webinar Topics:
October 26: Breaking down Barriers to FSS
November 2: This USDA Program is for Rural and Urban Areas
November 9: Centering Impacted Communities in Advocacy
November 16: Building Resident and Owner Financial Resiliency