Federal Funding

HUD Briefing Gives New Details on American Jobs Plan

~ Claire Salant ~ Leave a comment

Secretary Fudge and HUD Senior Advisors led a briefing on Monday June 21st to update housing advocates on details of the American Jobs Plan (AJP), and urge continued support across advocacy networks. In the briefing, she called the AJP a “once in a lifetime opportunity” to address decades of disinvestment in moderate and low-income housing, and its $40 billion Capital Fund investment “the biggest down payment we will make,” while simultaneously acknowledging that the $40 billion did not go far enough. The HUD team emphasized the importance of redeveloping and preserving public housing units to the administration’s dual goals of racial equity and reducing the environmental footprint of public housing.

HUD Senior Advisor Peggy Bailey also gave a more detailed breakdown of the proposed $40 billion for the Capital Fund:  

$27 billion: Major Rehabilitation, Modernization, and Redevelopment

  • Leveraging capital through Capital Fund, mixed finance, and RAD
  • Build new units up to Faircloth
  • Includes RAD rent boost ($1 billion),  tenant-protection vouchers ($500 million), expanding the scale of Choice Neighborhoods ($2 billion)

$13 billion: Immediate Health/Safety Needs and Environmental Impact of Public Housing

  • $6 billion to Public Housing Authorities with public housing for immediate needs and renovations – capital grants by formula
  • $7 billion for health, safety, and climate needs – competitive grants
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NAHRO and Industry Partners Release Joint Statement Supporting Universal Housing Vouchers

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

On June 17, 2021, NAHRO along with its industry partners—CLPHA, PHADA, and the MTW Collaborative—jointly issued a statement on universal housing vouchers. Only one in five low-income households that are eligible to receive housing assistance can be served by existing programs due to limited funding. The statement discusses the need for additional rental assistance to address housing instability and prevent homelessness. The statement also discusses the strengths of the voucher program in providing scalable assistance that is proven and effective.

The full statement is can be view here.

HUD Updates Eviction Prevention and Stability Toolkit

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

HUD has updated its eviction prevention and stability toolkit. The toolkit provides ten items that can help PHAs and Housing Choice Voucher landlords stabilize families during the COVID-19 pandemic. The toolkit provides the following documents:

The updated eviction prevention and stability toolkit can be found here.

Emergency Housing Vouchers FAQ Updated to Version .2

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

HUD has updated the Emergency Housing Voucher frequently asked questions (FAQ) document to version .2. The FAQ can be found on HUD’s Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) website. The new updated FAQ answers questions related to eligibility, partnerships and collaborations, voucher administration, administrative and service fees, portability, reporting requirements, EHV allocation, EHV voucher acceptance/rejection process, and moving to work (MTW).

The FAQ can be found here.

President Kicks Off Holiday Weekend With Proposal to Increase HUD Funding

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

The President’s full FY 2022 budget proposal released May 28, provides additional details to the topline numbers outlined by the Administration in April. Overall, the President proposes to increase HUD funding by 15%, focusing increases core programs, climate change resiliency, disinvested communities, and HUD staff capacity.  

The Administration proposes full funding for Section 8 On-going Administrative Fees, which HUD estimates to be $2.79 billion. In addition to fully funding Admin Fees, the President calls for an additional $490.7 million in Admin Fee for PHAs to use for mobility-related social services. If funded, it would be the first time since FY 2003 the full cost of operating the voucher program has been met. NAHRO commends the Administration for the recognition of the work that PHAs are doing in communities and the resources needed to continue those vital services.

NAHRO is glad to see the Administration’s support for affordable housing and community development reflected in the FY 2022 proposed budget. This 15% increase in HUD funding includes a significant increase for the public housing capital fund to preserve existing affordable housing, $500 million more for the HOME Program, which will build more affordable housing, and an increase in resources to support the Housing Choice Voucher Program. These are all vital steps in helping to house our nation’s families, seniors and children.

NAHRO President Sunny Shaw, in response to the budget proposal
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HUD Posts First FAQ for Emergency Housing Vouchers

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has posted its first frequently asked questions (FAQ) document on Emergency Housing Vouchers. These vouchers–for people at-risk of homelessness, people experiencing homelessness, people fleeing domestic violence, and people experiencing housing instability–were recently allocated to almost 700 PHAs. The Department released guidance discussing how the vouchers will operate. This FAQ answers questions that may not have been answered by the initial operational guidance notice.

Topics in the FAQ include the following:

  • Eligibility;
  • Partnerships and collaboration;
  • Voucher administration;
  • Portability; and
  • Reporting requirements.

The full FAQ may be found here.

Admin Fee Special Fee Applications

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

HUD’s Financial Management Division sent out an email with reminders for application deadlines for certain administrative fee special fees. Additional explanations of the categories can be found in Notice PIH 2021-10 on the implementation of the Housing Choice Voucher program in 2021. Today is the last day for certain categories!

CategoryDue Date
HUD-VASH Special Fees (HUD-VASH)Friday, May 14, 2021
Family Unification Program Special Fees (FUP)Friday, May 14, 2021
Disaster Related Special FeesFriday, October 29, 2021
Special Fees under The Secretary’s DiscretionFriday, October 29, 2021

HUD Creates Emergency Housing Vouchers Website

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

HUD has created an Emergency Housing Vouchers website. Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHVs) were created by the American Rescue Plan and provide 70,000 vouchers for people experiencing or at-risk of homelessness, fleeing domestic violence and other categories, or who people who are at a high-risk of housing instability. The website currently includes the following:

The website will also host FAQ documents on EHVs in the near future.

The website can be found here.

HUD Publishes Details on New Emergency Housing Vouchers

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

As part of the American Rescue Plan, Congress allocated $5 billion in funding for Emergency Housing Vouchers. On May 5, 2021, HUD published PIH 2021-15 titled “Emergency Housing Vouchers – Operating Requirements.” HUD is using a portion of that funding to allocate 70,000 vouchers to PHAs. The vouchers are to assist families that are experiencing homelessness (or at risk of homelessness); attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking or human trafficking; or were recently homeless and for whom providing rental assistance will prevent the family’s homelessness or having high risk of housing instability.

For more information about the vouchers, please join us for a webinar on Thursday, May 13: “Emergency Housing Vouchers – What You Need to Know!“

The notice lays out the procedures and requirements of receiving and administering the emergency housing vouchers (EHVs). It states operating requirements; allocation of administrative and other support services fees; the housing assistance payments (HAP) funding renewal process; family eligibility requirements; EHV waivers; the EHV recapture and redistribution procedures; and the prohibition on the reissuance of turnover of EHVs after Sept. 30, 2023.

In structuring this program, HUD reached out to industry groups to ask for feedback. NAHRO provided comments on how the program should be structured. We are pleased that much of NAHRO’s feedback was incorporated into this notice including creating a services fee, using enhanced payment standards, allowing security deposit assistance, allowing utility deposit assistance, allowing rental application assistance, allowing the use of landlord incentives, allowing purchasing essential household items (e.g., furniture), allowing initial self-certification of certain information, and using certain other flexibilities.

NAHRO members will receive additional information in the near future.

The full notice can be found here.

2021 HCV Implementation Webinar Added to Youtube

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has uploaded their 2021 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Implementation webinar. This presentation focuses on Notice PIH 2021-10 and discusses how the funding for the voucher program in 2021 will be implemented along with key deadlines for additional funding (e.g., housing assistance payment [HAP] set-aside funding and special administrative fees).

The video can be found here or below.