Federal Regulation

HUD to Publish List of Regulatory Waivers Granted for the Second Quarter of CY 2016

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

On Monday, HUD will publish in the Federal Register a list of regulatory waivers that the agency has granted for the second quarter of calendar year 2016.

The pre-publication list can be found here.

(9/12/16 Edit – The published list in the Federal Register can be found here.)

HUD Publishes Lead-Based Paint Proposed Rule

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

(9/6/16 Update: The published Federal Register notice can be found here. Comments are due by October 31, 2016.)

Tomorrow, HUD will publish its lead-based paint proposed rule titled “Requirements for Notification, Evaluation and Reduction of Lead-Based Paint Hazards in Federally Owned Residential Property and Housing Receiving Federal Assistance; Response to Elevated Blood Lead Levels” in the Federal Register. While NAHRO is still in the process of doing a deeper dive into the proposed rule, here are some of the core requirements being proposed.

  • Program Scope –  The proposed rule will apply to the following 5 sets of programs:
    • Project-Based Assistance Provided by non-HUD Federal Agencies;
    • Project-Based Assistance;
    • HUD-owned and Mortgagee-in-Possession Multifamily Property;
    • Public Housing Programs; and
    • Tenant-Based Rental Assistance.
  • Effective Date –  HUD is considering an effective date of 6 months after publication of the final rule, but is also looking at time periods of either 1 year or 1 month.
  • Elevated Blood Lead Level –  The rule proposes to revise the Lead Safe Housing Rule (LSHR) to adopt the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) approach to establishing a blood lead level for which the CDC recommends environmental intervention. Currently, CDC guidance defines Elevated Blood Lead Level (EBLL) in children under age 6 to be “based on the blood lead level equaled or exceeded by 2.5 percent of U.S. children aged 1 – 5 years.” The current reference range level is 5 or more micrograms per deciliter of lead in the blood. As the CDC is “tying the reference value to the national distribution of blood lead levels, the reference level will continue to decrease whenever progress is made on reducing childhood lead exposure.”
  • Inspection, Evaluation, and Control Activities –  Depending on the program, lead-based paint inspections, inspections for deteriorated paint, and risk assessments including dust-wipe sampling and soil sampling may be required.
  • Abatement Measures –  Public Housing must perform abatement measures to eliminate lead-based paint or lead-based paint hazards during comprehensive modernization.
  • Interim controls and Paint Stabilization –  Depending on the program, additional interim controls (measures designed to reduce temporarily human exposure or likely exposure to lead-based paint hazards) or paint stabilization (repairing physical defects and applying a new coating of paint) may be required.
  • Response to Young Children with Elevated Blood Levels –  If a child under 6 has an elevated blood lead level, the owner or other entity must follow a designated protocol (same for all programs, except non-HUD project-based assistance, for which it is narrower) including:
    • Conducting an environmental investigation;
    • Conducting interim control – measures designed to reduce temporarily human exposure or likely exposure to lead-based paint hazards;
    • Controlling other housing-related sources of lead exposure; and
    • Encouraging occupants to address other non-housing related lead exposure sources.
  • Other units –  If the unit where the child resides is in a building or development with other assisted dwelling units covered by the rule, the owner or other entity must provide documentation to the HUD field office that the owner or other entity has complied with the evaluation requirements. If there is no documentation of compliance with the evaluation requirements, the owner or other entity must conduct a risk assessment and conduct interim controls or conduct a visual assessment and paint stabilization–depending on the program.
  • Comments –  HUD has 4 questions for comment each with subparts.

NAHRO will continue to read and analyze this rule and will provide additional, deeper coverage to its members. Comments will be due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

The pre-publication proposed rule can be found here.

HUD’s Press Release on the rule can be found here.

HUD Announces Changes to the AFFH Assessment Tools for Small PHAs and Local Governments

~ Jenny Hsu ~ Leave a comment

On August 23, HUD will publish a 30-day notice in the Federal Register seeking public feedback on the Local Government Assessment Tool, the instrument with which communities receiving HUD Community Planning and Development (CPD) formula grant dollars must use to conduct and submit their Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) analysis, as required by the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Final Rule.

Due to limited staff and resources, NAHRO has long-requested for HUD to streamline the AFFH assessment tools for small program participants. The 30-day Notice announces two substantial changes that would, ideally, help simplify the AFH process for Qualified Public Housing Authorities (QPHAs), defined as PHAs not designed as “troubled” with a combined unit total of 550 or less, and for local governments receiving small CPD formula grants:

  • HUD seeks to revise the existing Local Government Assessment Tool to include two new streamlined assessments for small program participants, called “inserts.” The first insert would be for use by QPHAs and the second insert would be for use by local governments that received a CBDG grant of $500,000 or less in the most recent fiscal year prior to the AFH due date. QPHAs and local governments seeking to fulfill their AFFH requirements through these streamlined inserts must be involved in a joint or regional collaboration with a local government as the lead entity.
  • HUD seeks to issue a fourth assessment tool for Qualified PHAs. Prior to this notice, HUD had committed to issuing only three AFFH assessment tools (Local Government, State and Insular Areas, and PHA-only). The new QPHA Assessment Tool would be for use by a QPHA or by multiple QPHAs jointly collaborating to submit an AFH. HUD assumes that many QPHAs will want to take advantage of this option, particularly those unable to enter into a joint or regional collaboration with another partner. HUD intends to issue a separate public notice and comment process for this new tool.

The 30-day notice also addresses the public comments received in response to the 60-day information collection notice that was published on March 23, 2016 (see NAHRO’s comments here). NAHRO’s next issue of The Monitor (members only) will have additional details about the contents of the 30-day notice.

NAHRO meets with HUD PIH Leadership

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

Georgi John HUD 16-8-9

NAHRO’s Acting CEO, John Bohm, and the NAHRO Policy Team members; Georgi Banna, Eric Oberdorfer and Tushar Gurjal; along with PHADA and CLPHA met with HUD’s Public and Indian Housing Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS), Lourdes Castro-Ramierz, and many of the PIH department leadership.

Among the topics discussed were the priorities for implementing the Housing Opportunities Through Modernization Act (HOTMA/HR 3700); upcoming HUD rules such as Smoke-Free Housing, Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs), HCV Administrative Fee Formula; Moving to Work (MTW) Expansion; and Triennial Recertifications; and the current priorities of NAHRO, PHADA, CLPHA and HUD. NAHRO and CLPHA were also thanked for their current and continued work in affordable housing and education and the improvement of educational outcomes for the children our members serve.

NAHRO is committed to keeping open and productive lines of communication and will continue to share the thoughts and concerns of our members with HUD.

HUD Holds MTW Expansion Teleconferences

~ Eric Oberdorfer ~ Leave a comment

HUD held its first two MTW Research Advisory Committee meetings on Tuesday, June 26 and Thursday, June 28. As stipulated by the FY 2016 Omnibus, the MTW Research Advisory Committee is tasked to advise HUD on how to move forward with the MTW expansion, especially with respect to specific policies to test in the expansion. The committee discussed potential policy proposals for each of the three statutory MTW objectives: cost effectiveness, self-sufficiency, and housing choice. On Tuesday, the committee discussed potential housing choice policies to implement through the expansion, and on Thursday, the committee discussed cost effectiveness and self-sufficiency. Thirty minutes per call were allotted to public comment. NAHRO staff commented on both calls, and transcripts of those comments can be found here and here (members only).

The committee will reconvene in person in Washington, DC sometime in mid-to-late August or early September. NAHRO staff plan to attend the in-person meeting.

Additional background information on the MTW Expansion can be found here (members only). NAHRO’s MTW policy proposals and research evaluation recommendations can be found here (members only).

HUD Updates Notice on Prioritizing the Chronically Homeless in Permanent Supportive Housing

~ Jenny Hsu ~ Leave a comment

On July 25, 2016, HUD published Notice CPD-16-11 entitled, “Notice Prioritizing Persons Experiencing Chronic Homelessness and Other Vulnerable Homeless Persons in Permanent Supportive Housing.” This notice supersedes the previous Notice CPD-14-012, and provides guidance to Continuums of Care (CoC) and recipients of CoC Program funding for permanent supportive housing (PSH) regarding the order in which eligible households should be served in all CoC Program-funded PSH. This Notice reflects the new definition of chronically homeless as amended by the HUD Final Rule on Defining “Chronically Homeless” and updates the orders of priority that were established under the prior Notice.

CoCs that previously adopted the orders of priority established in Notice CPD-14-012 and who received points for having done so in the FY 2015 CoC Program Competition are encouraged to update their written standards to reflect the updates to the orders of priority as established in this updated Notice. CoCs that have not previously adopted the orders of priority established in Notice CPD- 14-012 are also encouraged to incorporate the orders of priority included in this Notice into their written standards.

Access Notice CPD-16-11 here.

Learn more about HUD’s Final Rule on Defining “Chronically Homeless” here (NAHRO login required).

HUD Seeks Comments on CoC Formula, Proposes Formula Alternatives

~ Georgi Banna

On July 25, the “Continuum of Care Program: Solicitation of Comment on Continuum of Care Formula” notice will be published by HUD in the Federal Register. The purpose of the notice to solicit comments on the current Continuum of Care (CoC) formula and a number of updated CoC Preliminary Pro Rata Need (PPRN formula) options. Comments will be due 60 days after the notice is issued – September 23, 2106, based on the anticipated Federal Register date of July 25.

The current PPRN formula was published by HUD as the interim rule on July 31, 2012, and is a combination of Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) program grant funds and Community Development Block Grant (CBDG) funds awarding formulas. This notice proposes four alternative formulas that use various factors and factor weights.

HUD has made available two tools to explore potential updates to the PPRN formula. The first tool is the CoC PPRN Proposed Formula Impacts by CoC resource where users can learn more about the CoC-level PPRN funding impact of implementing each of the four proposed formulas in the Notice, as compared to the FY 15 PPRN amounts by CoC. The second tool, CoC PPRN Alternate Formula Testing Tool, tests the impact of potential factors for an alternate CoC PPRN formula.

Additional information will be available on NAHRO’s Community Development Resource Center and on HUD’s notice website.

PAHRC Releases “Housing is a Foundation” 2016 Report

~ Tushar Gurjal

Today, July 20, PAHRC released its yearly research report for 2016 titled “Housing is a Foundation.” This year’s report focuses on the lack of available housing assistance, the people who receive housing assistance, and the beneficial impacts of housing assistance. The report supplies data to “foster a better understanding of the need for housing assistance and how this assistance helps meet the needs of low-income families and their communities.”

Here’s a great graphic on how helpful rental assistance is on all facets of a household.

https://www.housingcenter.com/sites/default/files/styles/panopoly_image_full/public/general/Summary.png?itok=lOA8Moub

The full report can be read here.

Additional New Proposed Administrative Fee Links

~ Tushar Gurjal

On July 6, in an email to Public Housing Agency (PHA) Executive Directors, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Castro Ramirez announced a proposed administrative fee HUD webpage that consolidates information on the new proposed administrative fee formula.

The page includes the following resources:

HUD’s page on the new proposed rule administrative fee formula can be read here.

HUD Publishes Revised New Administrative Fee Formula

~ Tushar Gurjal

HUD has published its revision of the new administrative fee formula for the Housing Choice Voucher Program. The new formula would calculate administrative fees on the basis of six variables:

  1. Program size;
  2. Wage rates;
  3. Benefit load;
  4. Percent of households with earned income;
  5. New admissions rate; and
  6. Percent of assisted households that live a significant distance from the PHA’s headquarters.

The PHA’s fees would be calculated yearly and then have a revised inflation factor applied to the calculated fee.

HUD has made three major changes to the prior formula:

  1. For PHAs in metropolitan areas, the wage index formula variable is based on the average local government wage rate for the PHA’s metropolitan Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA), rather than that average local government wage rate for all of the metropolitan counties in the PHA’s state;
  2. The health insurance cost index formula has been replaced with a new “benefit load” formula variable, which is designed to measure the variation in costs for all benefits that are paid for HCV employees, not just health insurance costs [In NAHRO’s comments we wrote the health insurance cost index metric does not “accurately (capture) all benefit costs” and recommended “(a) proxy that measures and takes into account these higher PHA costs”]; and
  3. The small area rent ratio (SARR) variable has been removed from the proposed formula [In NAHRO’s comments, we stated that “the small area rent ratio does not appropriately measure the actual costs of helping voucher holders to access high opportunity neighborhoods”].

NAHRO is still in the preliminary stages of analyzing the formula. Additional details and analysis will be forthcoming.

The full notice can be read here.

NAHRO’s comments on the previous formula can be read here.