On May 3rd, HUD released Notice PIH-2019-11 (HA) titled “Final Implementation of Public Housing Over-Income Limit Under the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA).” The notice provides supplemental information on the implementation process for public housing income limits, which were codified through regulation last summer.
Affordable Housing
HUD Publishes Notice on Treatment of ABLE Accounts
[5/6/2019 (12:58 PM ET) – The original version of this post linked to the wrong notice; the links have been corrected.]
In late April, HUD published a notice titled “Treatment of ABLE Accounts in HUD-Assisted Programs” (PIH 2019-09). The notice states that for the purpose of determining eligibility and continued occupancy, HUD and HUD program administrators must disregard amounts in an individual’s Achieving Better Life Experience (ABLE) account. These accounts are established by states and allow for contributions to be made to the account to benefit the designated beneficiary for qualified disability expenses. According to the notice, “[t]he designated beneficiary must be a person with disabilities, whose disability began prior to [his, her, or their] 26th birthday and who meets the statutory eligibility requirements.”
The notice requires that the entire value of the ABLE account be excluded, including actual or imputed interest on the ABLE account balance. Additionally, distributions from the ABLE account are also not considered income.
Owners and PHAs should develop a policy and procedure for verifying ABLE accounts that obtains the following:
- the name of the designated beneficiary; and
- the State ABLE program administering the account to verify that the account qualifies as an ABLE account.
This notice applies to the public housing program; the housing choice voucher program; project-based section 8; Section 202/162 project assistance contract; Section 202 project rental assistance contract; Section 202 senior preservation rental assistance contracts; Section 811 project rental assistance contract; Section 811 project rental assistance; Section 236; and Section 221(d)(3) and Section 221(d)(5) below market interest rate.
The full notice can be found here.
HUD Releases Notice on Required Conversions
HUD recently released Notice PIH 2019-10 titled “Required Conversions.” Section 33 of the U.S. Housing Act requires PHAs to convert certain distressed public housing units to Section 8 tenant-based assistance if it would be more expensive to modernize and operate the distressed development for its remaining useful life than to provide tenant-based assistance to all residents; or if the PHA cannot assure the long-term viability of a distressed development. This Notice provides guidance on the requirement that PHAs annually review their inventories to determine whether any of their public housing developments (or parts of developments) meet the criteria for required conversion from public housing. This notice also provides guidance on developing a required conversion plan in such instances.
HUD Posts New Sexual Harassment Training
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has posted several new items related to sexual harassment training. The main sexual harassment training page on HUD Exchange can be found here. Resources include fact sheets, videos, and a training module.
Additional webinar training can be found below:
| Webinar Title | Date | Time | Registration Link |
| Preventing Harassment for PHA Residents & Voucher Program Participants | Now until July 29, 2019 | 3:00-4:00 PM EDT | Register to View Webcast |
| Preventing and Addressing Sexual and Other Discriminatory Harassment in Housing (for Private Housing Owners and Managers Participating in Voucher Programs) | Now until July 29, 2019 | 3:00-4:00 PM EDT | Register to View Webcast |
| Preventing and Addressing Sexual and Other Discriminatory Harassment in Housing (for PHA Employees) | Now until July 29, 2019 | 3:00-4:00 PM EDT | Register to View Webcast |
HUD Publishes FY 2019 Income Limits
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has posted the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Income Limits. Income limits are used by a variety of programs across the federal government.
They can be found here.
HUD Publishes HCV FY 2019 Funding Provisions Notice
Last week, HUD published a notice titled “Implementation of the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2019 Funding Provisions for the Housing Choice Voucher Program“; PIH 2019-08. This notice implements the funding provisions of the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 budget.
The budget includes the following HCV-related amounts:
- Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) Renewal Funding – $20,313 million;
- Tenant Protection Vouchers (TPVs) – $85 million;
- Administrative Fees – $1,886 million;
- Mainstream Program – $225 million;
- Tribal HUD-VASH Renewals – $4 million;
- New HUD-VASH vouchers – $40 million;
- New Family Unification Program (FUP) vouchers – $20 million;
- Mobility Demonstration – $25 million; and
- Total HCV Appropriations – $22,598 million.
Points of Interest:
- Offset – HUD will perform a “small offset” to ensure that the national HAP proration is at or above 99.5 percent. Detailed calculations of the offsets will be provided to PHAs in the renewal allocation enclosure. Offsets will come from “excess” program reserves.
- TPVs – HUD will provide TPVs for vacant units that were occupied within the previous 24 months of certain public housing and multifamily housing actions and are no longer available as assisted housing (subject to availability of funds).
- Blended and Higher Admin. Fees – Applications for blended administrative fees (for PHAs serving multiple administrative fee areas) and higher administrative fees (for PHAs that operate over a large geographic area) are due by Friday, May 31.
- Special Fees – $30 million in funding is available for HCV homeownership fees; special fees for PHAs that administer TPVs in connection with multifamily housing conversion actions; special fees for portability (the receiving PHA will receive 12 months of funding equal to 15 percent of the PHA’s 2019 Column A rate for administrative fees; while HUD supplies these fees automatically, HUD advises PHAs to make sure accurate PIC data is entered by May 15, 2019); special fees for certain audit costs; and special fees for administrative costs related to administering the HUD-VASH program.
- Mobility Demonstration – the Department will publish a Federal Register notice to implement that mobility demonstration and announce the competition for funding.
- Set-Aside Funds – $100 million will be reserved for shortfall funds (no due date); unforeseen circumstances (application due date May 31, 2019); portability (application due date May 31, 2019); project-based vouchers held from use during re-benchmarking (application due date May 31, 2019); and certain instances of HUD-VASH voucher usage (application due date May 31, 2019).
The full notice can be found here.
HUD Issues Notice Strongly Encouraging CO Detectors in HUD-assisted Housing
Earlier today, HUD issued a notice titled “Carbon Monoxide Detectors in HUD-Assisted Housing“ PIH 2019-06. The notice does three things. First, it reminds owners, managers, and agents of HUD-assisted housing that where required by local law, HUD-assisted housing (i.e., public housing, the housing choice voucher program, section 8 project-based rental assistance, section 202, and section 811) is required to have carbon monoxide (CO) detectors. Second, it strongly encourages those not required by local law to still install CO detectors in 1) units with fuel-fired appliances and burning appliances or an attached garage and 2) in bedrooms that contain a fireplace or a fuel-fired appliance or burning appliance. Third, the notice states that HUD will pursue rulemaking to implement a CO detector requirement in units with fuel-fired and burning appliances or attached garages for the housing choice voucher program, public housing, and the multifamily programs.
The press release can be found here.
The notice can be found here.
HUD to Publish FY 19 Inflation Factors for HCV Program
Tomorrow, HUD will publish its Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Renewal Funding Inflation Factors (RFIFs) for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program. These factors are applied to PHAs’ FY 2018 HCV Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) spending to determine HCV HAP eligibility for FY 2019 (i.e., the inflation factor is applied to how much a PHA spent in the previous year to determine how much it is eligible for this year, assuming Congress has fully funded the HAP account). The national inflation factor is 4 percent, though individual PHAs will have different factors depending on their location. The FY 2019 inflation factor calculation methodology remains the same as FY 2018 methodology.
A pre-publication copy of the notice can be found here.
When published tomorrow (4/17/2019), the full RFIFs can be found here.
HUD Releases 2019 Capital Fund Processing Information
On April 16, HUD released the Department’s 2019 Capital Fund processing information. The obligation start date is April 16, 2019 with an obligation end date of April 15, 2021. All funds must be expended by April 15, 2023. A list of capital fund awards by PHA can be found here along with additional information on processing.
HUD to Host MTW Expansion Call on Wednesday (4/17/19) for Eligible Cohort #1 Agencies
In its effort to publicize the Moving to Work (MTW) Expansion, HUD will host a call dedicated to potential cohort #1 applicants this Wednesday (4/17/19). This is in addition to NAHRO’s complementary MTW application webinars. Relevant details on the call, provided by a HUD official, can be found below:
On Wednesday, April 17th from 3-4PM EDT the MTW Team will hold a conference call for all agencies eligible for MTW Cohort 1. Please join the call to get any questions you may have regarding MTW Cohort 1 and/or the application process answered.
The conference begins at 3:00 PM Eastern Time on April 17, 2019; you may join the conference 5 minutes prior.
Dial-in: 1-877-369-5243 or 1-617-668-3633
Access Code: 0397071##
Need an international dial-in number?
Need technical assistance? Call the AT&T Help Desk at 1-888-796-6118 or 1-847-562-7015.
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