Federal Regulation

HUD to Publish HCV RFIFs

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Today, HUD has posted a pre-publication copy of a notice titled “Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments Program – Fiscal Year 2018 Inflation Factors for Public Housing Agency Renewal Funding.” This notice informs the public of the publication of Renewal Funding Inflation Factors (RFIFs), which are the inflation factors applied to the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program renewal funding that adjusts the funding amount of individual PHAs to take into account changes in rents, utility costs, and tenant incomes.

The notice also notes that the methodology for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 factors is the same as the FY 2017 factors, but requests comments on whether this should be changed. In particular, the notice requests feedback on whether the current practice of incorporating local rent surveys used to change FMRs into the calculation of RFIFs should continue. Comments will be due 30 days after this notice has been published in the Federal Register.

The FY 2018 RFIFs, when posted on Wednesday (5/30/18), will be found here.

The pre-publication copy of the notice can be found here.

[5/30/18 Edit – Comments are due June 29, 2018. The full published notice can be found here.]

[6/11/18 Edit – HUD has extended the comment deadline for this notice to July 6, 2018. The pre-publication copy of the extension can be found here.]

HUD Publishes 2018 HCV Implementation Notice

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday, HUD published notice PIH 2018-09, titled “Implementation of the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2018 Funding Provisions for the Housing Choice Voucher Program.” This notice provides information about the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program implementation in 2018. Topics in this notice include calculation of calendar year (CY) 2018 Housing Assistance Payments (HAP); $75 million of HAP set-aside funding; tenant protection vouchers; funding for administrative costs; special-purpose vouchers; and other topics.

The notice also provides a brief summary of FY 2018 HCV account totals (for additional coverage, please see NAHRO’s Section 8 coverage of the FY 2018 Omnibus budget bill [members only]):

  • HAP Renewal Funding – $19.6 billion;
  • Tenant Protection Vouchers (TPV) – $85 million;
  • Administrative Fees (both Ongoing and Additional) – $1.76 billion;
  • Mainstream Program – $505 million;
  • Tribal HUD-VASH renewals – $5 million;
  • HUD-VASH vouchers – $40 million; and
  • Family Unification Program – $20 million.

For additional information, please click below.

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HUD to Withdraw AFFH Local Government Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) Tool

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Moments ago, in an email from HUD Exchange, HUD announced that it plans to withdraw the assessment tool for local governments. According to HUD, “the current iteration of the Tools is substantively deficient and unduly burdensome because it resulted in great expense to program participants and HUD, yet it is not adequately guiding participants through the creation of acceptable Assessments of Fair Housing (AFHs).” Local governments must still comply with their obligation to affirmatively further fair housing.

HUD has posted pre-publication copies of three notices:

  1. Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing: Withdrawal of the Assessment Tool for Local Governments – This notice withdraws the current local government assessment tool because it is “substantively deficient and unduly burdensome”;
  2. Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing: Withdrawal of Notice Extending the Deadline for Submission of Assessment of Fair Housing for Consolidated Plan Participants – This notice withdraws the previous notice (published on Jan. 5, 2018; 83 Federal Register 683) which extended the submission deadline for AFHs; and
  3. Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH): Responsibility to Conduct Analysis of Impediments – This notice notes that local governments still have an obligation to affirmatively further fair housing and must conduct an Analysis of Impediments (AI).

The email notes that applicable program participants should update their AIs in accordance with the HUD Fair Housing Guide.

NAHRO will keep our members informed as we learn additional details.

NAHRO Begins New Partnership on Smoke-Free Public Housing; May 17 Complementary Webinar

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

ANSR2On March 15, Live Smoke Free, the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO), and the National Alliance of Resident Services in Affordable and Assisted Housing (NAR-SAAH) began a partnership to support successful smoke-free public housing policy and implementation. The Clean Air for All: The Smoke-Free Public Housing Project is made possible by funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It will provide training and technical assistance to public housing authorities (PHAs), resident services staff, and public housing residents impacted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) smoke-free public housing rule. The Tobacco Control Legal Consortium at the Public Health Law Center and national smoke-free housing expert Alison Freeman are also partners in the venture.

The Clean Air for All: The Smoke-Free Public Housing Project spans a two-year time period, from March 15, 2018 to March 14, 2020. Services available to PHAs include:

  • Training & educational opportunities (at the national and regional levels),
  • Consultations,
  • Implementation tools,
  • Tips for resident engagement,
  • Referrals to local support,
  • Compliance & enforcement strategies, and
  • Referrals to cessation resources.

On May 17 at 12:30pm Eastern Time join the Clean Air for All team for a complimentary, live discussion and Q&A on the “Instituting Smoke-Free Public Housing” final rule. Participants will hear a brief update on the rule and be able to submit questions to Live Smoke Free, NAHRO, and NAR-SAAH staff. Have any and all your remaining questions on final implementation of the rule answered before the July 30 compliance date. Join us to help your agency transition to and maintain successful smoke-free public housing environments. Register for this complimentary session at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3798829557136111363.

To learn more about the Clean Air for All: The Smoke-Free Public Housing Project or to seek support for a PHA, contact gbanna@nahro.org.

CBPP and PRRAC Publish Small Area FMR Implementation Guide

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Recently, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Poverty and Race Research Action Council published a Small Area Fair Market Rent (FMR) implementation guide titled “A Guide to Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs): How State and Local Housing Agencies Can Expand Opportunity for Families in All Metro Areas.” The guide provides background on Small Area FMRs–which are FMRs that are calculated over zip codes instead of broader metropolitan areas to incentivize the deconcentration of poverty in metropolitan areas–as well as advice to PHAs on how to effectively implement them.

For those PHAs that are already familiar with HUD’s Guidance on Small Area FMRs and HUD’s Implementing Small Area FMRs Guidebook, there are still some new ideas in this guide. For example, this guidebook notes that to protect families in low-rent zip codes, which will see a decline in FMR, a PHA may apply a portion of the reduction and then hold families harmless  after the initial reduction. A footnote helpfully explains that though this option is “not mentioned in HUD’s notice or guidebook . . . [it] is permitted by the applicable regulation. 24 C.F.R. § 982.505(c)(3)(ii) [Hyperlink added].”

The CBPP and PRRAC Small Area FMR Implementation Guide can be found here.

Groups sue HUD over AFFH

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Earlier today, three groups (the National Fair Housing Alliance [NFHA], the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service, and Texas Appleseed) filed a complaint in Federal Court (the United States District Court for the District of Columbia) against HUD regarding its recent actions to extend the deadline for local governments to submit their Assessments of Fair Housing (AFHs).

The complaint states that HUD “published a three-page notice . . . suspending the key requirements of the [Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH)] rule” (HUD characterizes this action as an “Extension of Deadline for Submission of Assessment of Fair Housing for Consolidated Plan Participants“). The action caused “irreparable and ongoing injury” for the three groups suing. As a result of HUD’s action, Texas Appleseed and the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service will have to “divert [mission-critical] resources” to “remedying the effects of [HUD’s] actions.” Additionally, NFHA will have to “divert resources to assisting its members around the country . . . to combat the effects of [HUD’s] actions.”

The groups believe that HUD erred in three ways. First, “[b]y failing to engage in notice-and-comment rulemaking before delaying and altering the AFFH Rule, HUD failed to observe procedures required by law, in contravention of the [Administrative Procedure Act].” Second, “HUD’s delay of the Rule is arbitrary, capricious, or an abuse of discretion, in contravention of the [Administrative Procedure Act]” because HUD’s rationale for extending the deadline (inadequate technical assistance among other reasons) does not explain why HUD cannot improve its technical assistance or why it is acceptable to go back to the previous regulatory framework (i.e., the Analysis of Impediments). Third, “HUD’s effective suspension of the AFFH Rule violates the Fair Housing Act, in contravention of the [Administrative Procedure Act].” Here, the complaint states that HUD is violating its own “affirmative obligation under the Fair Housing Act to ensure that federal housing programs are administered, and federal housing funds spent, in a manner that furthers fair housing.”

The complaint asks that the Court do five things. First, enter a declaratory judgment that HUD’s action is “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion or contrary to law, and without observance of procedure required by law.” Second, issue preliminary and permanent injunctions requiring HUD to suspend its notice extending the deadline for submission of AFHs for local governments and implement and enforce the requirements of the AFFH rule moving forward. Third, direct HUD to take affirmative steps to remedy the harms caused by the extension. Fourth, award the groups attorney’s fees and costs. Fifth, award any other relief that may be “just and equitable.”

The full complaint can be found here.

HUD Releases Rent Reform Proposal

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ 1 Comment

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its rent reform proposal earlier today–titled “Making Affordable Housing Work Act of 2018.” The President’s previously released proposed FY 2019 budget anticipated certain rent reform proposals, though at the time of the proposed budget’s release, these proposals were unknown. The Department has now released its proposal.

In a press release accompanying the proposal, HUD states that “a simplified structure of ‘core rents’ that offers a more transparent and predictable rent calculation . . . is easier for both landlords and tenants to understand.” It also states that “HUD will . . . create a menu of ‘choice rents’ that PHAs and owners may implement to promote greater flexibility, local control, and self-sufficiency for non-elderly/non-disabled households.”

NAHRO staff is in the process of reading through the legislation and will provide additional information in the near future.

The full press release can be found here.

The full legislative text can be found here.

[5/1/18 – NAHRO members can find a full summary of the legislation here. (You must be logged in to view this page.)]

HUD Sends FSS Program Coordinator Funding Letter

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Earlier today, HUD sent a Fiscal Year 2018 Family Self-Sufficiency Program Coordinator Funding Letter to PHA Executive Directors. The letter is meant to help “prepare for the upcoming Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 Family Self Sufficiency Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) competition.” The letter discusses Public and Indian Housing Information Center (PIC) data; the possible use of composite scores in funding determinations; and checking the System for Award Management (SAM) and DUNS status.

Click below to learn more.

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President Signs Executive Order on Work Reforms

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Earlier today, the President signed an executive order on work reforms titled “Executive Order Reducing Poverty in America by Promoting Opportunity and Economic Mobility.” The executive order is divided into five sections: purpose; policy; review of regulations and guidance documents; definitions; and general provisions. This blog post provides a summary of the executive order.

Click below to read the full post.

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HUD Publishes CY 2018 Administrative Fee Rates in Federal Register

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Earlier today, HUD published, in the Federal Register, a notice titled “Notice of Annual Factors for Determining Public Housing Agency Administrative Fees for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher, Mainstream, and Moderate Rehabilitation Programs.” According to the notice, administrative fees will continue to be earned on the basis of vouchers leased on the first of each month as taken from the Voucher Management System (VMS) at the close of each reporting cycle. Two rates are given: the first is for the first 7,200 voucher unit months, while the second applies to all remaining  voucher unit months in calendar year (CY) 2018.

The full notice can be found here.

[Note: HUD has previously published these rates on their website.]