On March 13, HUD issued Notice PIH-2023-03 (HA) titled “Supplemental Guidance for Implementation of Section 103; Limitation on Public Housing Tenancy for Over-Income Families under the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA).” The Notice provides guidance to PHAs on the new limitations for continued occupancy of over-income families living in public housing. The guidance is linked to the HOTMA Sections 102, 103, and 104 final rule that was released in February. The notice provides guidance on setting rents for over-income families allowed to remain in public housing units by PHA policy, restates instructions on how a PHA must calculate the over-income limit, addresses effective dates in the final rule, and describes the requirement to submit annual reports on over-income families. The Notice can be found here.

On February 1, at 2PM ET, NAHRO will host a Policy eBriefing that will provide timely information on Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) programs. This includes innovative strategies for attaining energy and resilience funding for affordable housing building improvements through funding in the IRA. Join NAHRO staff, Steve Morgan from Ameresco, and Vlada Kenniff from NYCHA to learn about the $25 billion in incentives in the IRA, plus significant new tax credits via four federal agencies – IRS, EPA, DOE and HUD — for investments in energy efficiency, renewables, and resilience measures, including indoor air quality. This Policy eBriefing will also touch on jobs, health, and education.

Register for Energy & Resilience Incentives in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) for PHAs and other Affordable Housing Providers: A $25 Billion Opportunity today!

On December 14, HUD issued Notice PIH 2022-37. The notice discusses Personal Property requirements under 2 CFR part 200 and identifies Equipment management and disposition obligations. In the case of 2 CFR part 200, “personal property” means property other than real property that may be tangible, having physical existence, or intangible. “Equipment” means tangible personal property having a useful life of more than one year and a per-unit acquisition cost which equals or exceeds the lesser of the capitalization level established by the non-federal entity for financial statement purposes, or $5,000. “Supplies” means all tangible personal property other than those described in the definition of equipment.

The determination of whether an item qualifies as equipment is determined at the time of acquisition. PHAs must maintain property records, complete a physical inventory of the property every two years, have a control system to ensure adequate safeguards to prevent loss, damage, or theft of the property, have adequate maintenance procedures, and procedures to ensure the highest possible return if the PHA is authorized or required to sell the property. For any equipment that the PHA sells that is worth more than $5,000, the PHA must compensate HUD for its interest in the property, either the lesser of 10% of the sale or $500. The PHA is not required to do this if the trade-in or selling of the property is used for replacement equipment.

The notice can be found here.

This month, HUD released its Public Housing Agency Disaster Readiness, Response, and Recovery Guidebook. The guidebook includes a collection of information, best practices, and resources for PHAs related to preparation for, responding to, and recovering from natural disasters. The first section of the guidebook discusses PHA readiness and covers risk assessment, internal policies and resources, training and communication, coordination and partnerships, and hazard mitigation and resilience. The second portion focuses on response and covers activation and deployment, portfolio assessment, and informing HUD of a diesters. And the last section covers recovery, and includes recovery support strategies, restoring business operations, rehousing displaced residents, repairing and rebuilding the public housing portfolio, and transitioning back to normalization.

Agencies should look to the guidebook before they are impacted by a natural disaster. Although agencies impacted by presidentially declared natural disasters are eligible for assistance from FEMA, they should prepare beforehand to ensure that PHAs can expedite disaster recovery by thinking about risk beforehand and knowing what to expect when and after a disaster strikes.

The guidebook can be found here.

Recently, HUD released four new Notices. Two of the Notices relate to HUD-VASH Vouchers, one is on the Stability Voucher Program, and the last is on revocation and reallocation of Emergency Housing Voucher Awards.

Notice PIH 2022-22: Revoke and Reallocation of Emergency Housing Vouchers: This notice explains HUD’s process for revocation and reallocation of Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) awards. The Notice updates the award allocation formula found in Section 4 of Notice PIH 2021-15 in connection with reallocation of the EHV Awards.

Notice PIH 2022-24: Stability Voucher Program: This notice explains HUD’s non-competitive allocation strategy and program requirements for the new Stability Voucher program. HUD is awarding up to $43,439,000 to support approximately 4,000 new incremental vouchers. Stability Vouchers may assist households who are homeless, at-risk of homelessness, those fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violent, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking, and veterans and families that include a veteran family member that one of the proceeding criteria. All Registrations of Interest must be transmitted no later than 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on October 20, 2022.

Notice PIH 2022-25: Voluntary Reallocation or Recapture of HUD-VASH Vouchers: This notice established the processes under which a HUD-VASH PHA may be approved to voluntarily reallocate all or a portion of their HUD-VASH vouchers to another HUD-VASH PHA or, if reallocation is not an option, have all or a portion of their HUD-VASH vouchers returned back to HUD.

Notice PIH 2022-26: Registration of Interest for HUD-VASH Vouchers: This Notice announces the availability of approximately $79 million in HUD-VASH vouchers. HUD anticipates that the funding will support approximately 8,500 new HUD-VASH vouchers. The FY 22 HUD-VASH Electronic Registration of Interest form must be submitted no later than midnight in the time zone of the PHA on Friday, September 16, 2022.

HUD will be hosting a Webinar on the FY 2022 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Continuum of Care (CoC) Program Competition on August 11 from 2:30-4 PM ET. The webinar will highlight various parts of the CoC Competition process including: funding tiers, CoC application, and project application. Interested parties can join the webinar here. HUD posted the CoC NOFO on August 1. Applications are due September 30. The NOFO is available at grants.gov.

HUD released its FY 2022 Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) Notice of Funding Opportunity on August 4. The FSS program provides grants to PHAs to support the salaries and training needs of FSS Program Coordinators who assist participating families receiving assistance through the Section 8 or Public Housing Program.

HUD’s FSS Final Rule was published on May 17 which made certain changes to program requirements related to program eligibility, escrow deposits, and supportive services. The rule also allows the Secretary to establish a funding formula and extends eligibility by allowing private owners of PBRA properties to voluntarily make an FSS program available to their tenants. 

Agencies will only be eligible for Renewal funding if the agency was funded under any of the FY 2021, FY 2020, and/or FY 2019 FSS NOFOs. PHAs that have not been funded for an FSS grant in any of the last 3 years and PBRA owners already implementing or wishing to implement an FSS program are eligible for funding after renewal funding is distributed. HUD expects to award 800 grants with an estimated total program funding of $113 million. Applications can be submitted through grants.gov.

On June 16, HUD pre-published its Request for Comments: National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) and Associated Protocols in the Federal Register. The request for public comment is focused specifically on the inspection standards associated with the new NSPIRE inspection protocol that HUD will begin implementing in April, 2023. NSPIRE aims to create a unified assessment of housing quality through inspections across multiple HUD programs. NSPIRE applies to the Public Housing program, Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) units, Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) units, and Project-Based Voucher (PBV) programs. Certain HUD Community Planning and Development (CPD) programs would also be required to adopt theses new standards. These programs include the HOME Program, Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA), Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) Program, and Continuum of Care (CoC). A full list of the NSPIRE Standards can be found here. Comments are due 45 days after publication in the Federal Register.

NAHRO will provide an in-depth analysis of the NSPIRE Standards soon.

On July 13, HUD published its notice implementing the Public Housing Operating Fund Shortfall Funding from the FY 2022 Appropriations Act (Notice PIH-2022-17). The FY 2022 Appropriations Act included a provision that provided $25 million for PHAs that experience, or are at risk of, financial shortfalls as determined by HUD. PHAs that are included on the list of eligible PHAs may apply for Shortfall funding by visiting the OpFund Web Portal. PHAs must apply by July 12, 2022. The list of eligible PHAs can be found here.

If your PHA submitted their SF-425 for each Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) supplemental Operating Funds grant please ignore the remainder of this message.

The SF-425 forms for CARES Act supplemental Operating Funds are due by Tuesday, May 31, 2022. PHAs that received CARES Act supplemental Operating Funds are required to submit an SF-425 for each grant in the Operating Fund (OpFund) Web Portal.

• HUD published a training video for PHAs on how to submit the SF-425: https://www.youtube.com/embed/42Ae_shVQ7g
• HUD drafted SF-425 instructions PHAs to complete the form
• HUD drafted a user guide which instructs PHAs on how to submit their SF-425 in the OpFund Web Portal

If you have questions about how to complete the SF-425 please contact your local Field Office. For technical issues with the OpFund Web Portal, please contact REAC – Technical Assistance Center (TAC) by calling 1-888-245-4860 Option #4 or send an email to REAC_TAC@hud.gov.