On July 12, the HUD Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing HUD’s intention to develop a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the Disabled and Low-Income Veterans Housing Rehabilitation and Modification Pilot Program (Program), which was authorized by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (Pub. L. 113–291, approved December 19, 2014), as amended. HUD is also seeking input from interested parties and stakeholders to inform the development of the NOFA so that the funds are “used efficiently and fulfill the statutory purpose.” Continue reading
HUD
HUD Publishes FY 2017 HCV Funding Implementation Notice
HUD has published a notice (PIH Notice 2017-07) titled “Implementation of the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2017 Funding Provisions for the Housing Choice Voucher Program.”
The notice lists the funding that the appropriations bill has allocated for tenant-based rental assistance:
- HAP Renewal Funding – $18.355 billion;
- Tenant Protection Vouchers – $110 million;
- Administrative Fees – $1.650 billion;
- Mainstream 5 Year Program – $120 million;
- Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing – $40 million; and
- Family Unification Program – $10 million.
The notice also notes how Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) are rebenchmarked using validated leasing and cost data for calendar year (CY) 2016. HUD states that that it will perform a “small offset” to prevent termination of rental assistance for families as the result of insufficient funding. Additionally, the $75 million set-aside in HAP funding provided by the budget, which is used to perform PHA allocation adjustments, will most likely be used only for shortfall funding. If there are any funds remaining after the set-aside, they will be distributed on a prorated basis to all agencies.
RAD Seminar in Washington, DC – August 16-18, 2017
NAHRO Professional Development with MARC-NAHRO are offering a special training opportunity – Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Seminar with Proficiency Test.
The seminar will be held in conjunction with MARC-NAHRO’s Annual Conference, August 16-18, 2017, in Washington, DC. See details below.
For additional information and to register, go to www.marcnahro.org. 
REAC adds Industry Days on the West Coast in late July
Following earlier industry days in Phoenix and Jacksonville, HUD’s Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) is adding two additional events in Los Angeles (July 25 and 26) and Portland (July 27 and 28). At these events, HUD would like to discuss the technical details of PIC-NG, VMS, and UPCS-V, while receiving technical feedback. Updated materials from previous industry days in Phoenix and Jacksonville will be presented.
At this time, the topics include the following:
- PIC-NG;
- Updated Schedule (vendors will be able to test sooner);
- Demonstration of future FRS tool (current VASH portal);
- Updated API;
- UPCS-V;
- Release of data collection software version 2.5 to fix bugs, improve reliability, enhance user experience, and incorporate protocol revisions;
- Soliciting feedback for revision 3;
- Incorporating PHAs to the Agile Development Teams; and
- HUD web services Agile Development Team formed and soliciting PHA suggestions to guide the UPCS-V program.
Registration for either the Los Angeles session (July 25 and 26) or the Portland session (July 27 and 28) can be done here.
New Link to HCV Forecasting Tool
HUD has changed the link to the Housing Choice Voucher Forecasting Tool and the Payment Standard tool. To use it, PHAs should make sure that they are logged into the Web Access Security System (WASS), then go to the webpage. If you have been unable to access the tool, it may be because you are trying to access it with the old link.
The forecasting tool now has 2017 set as the first year and has a likely-to-be-accurate estimate of the amount to be sent out to PHAs.
The HCV tools page can be accessed here.
HUD Re-Publishes CY 2017 Administrative Fee Rates
HUD has published the administrative fee rates for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program in the Federal Register in 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.” HUD had previously published these fee rates in February on the website of the Office of Housing Choice Vouchers. The rates remain the same as those published in February.
What has changed is that HUD has calculated a proration factor for administrative fees of 74% for January to March of this year. (This is not mentioned in the notice published in the Federal Register, but PHAs should have received notices informing them of this from HUD.) HUD hopes to raise that number as the year progresses by supplementing it with unobligated funds. NAHRO continues to stress the importance of the administrative fee to the proper running of the HCV program to appropriators in Congress.
Finally, it is not too late to apply for a blended administrative fee or a higher administrative fee as the deadline for applying to both has been extended to Friday, June 23.
The full notice can be read here.
NAHRO Submits Regulatory Reform Comments to HUD
On June 14, NAHRO submitted its comment letter to HUD’s request for comment on Reducing Regulatory Burden; Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda Under Executive Order 13777.
NAHRO identified many regulations that would make good candidates for streamlining. Each of the regulations met at least one of the following reasons for streamlining:
(a) The regulation results “in the elimination of jobs, or inhibits job creation”;
(b) The regulation is “outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective”;
(c) The regulation imposes “costs that exceed benefits”; or
(d) The regulation creates a “serious inconsistency or otherwise interferes with regulatory reform initiatives and policies.”
The regulations listed are non-exhaustive. NAHRO’s comment letter is a start of a conversation between the Department and NAHRO. Given the limited time to compile this list, NAHRO expects to identify additional avenues for further regulatory streamlining, which we will share with the HUD.
NAHRO’s comment letter is organized into three sections: Public Housing and Section 8 recommendations; Community Planning and Development; and recommendations on cross-cutting programs and initiatives. Within each major section are topic headers with NAHRO’s recommendation on each topic.
HUD REAC Publishes UPCS-V Version 2.5
HUD REAC’s Oversight and Evaluation Division (OED) has published Version 2.5 of the UPCS-V protocol. The UPCS-V protocol is an inspections protocol that HUD is developing as a successor to the current Housing Quality Standards (HQS) inspections protocol currently in use for the Housing Choice Voucher Program. HUD is developing the protocol in a Demonstration program with nearly 250 PHAs participating.
OED has posted both the protocol itself and a document listing all the changes from version 2.0 of the UPCS-V protocol. At this time, it looks like the majority of changes are language related for clarity or grammar, with a few technical changes.
The UPCS-V 2.5 protocol can be found here.
The document listing changes from the UPCS-V 2.0 protocol to the UPCS-V 2.5 protocol can be found here.
HUD Calculates Renewal Funding Inflation Factors for HCV Program
Tomorrow, June 8, HUD will publish a notice in the Federal Register titled “Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments Program-Fiscal year (FY) 2017 Inflation Factors for Public Housing Agency (PHA) Renewal Funding.” The notice outlines the methodology for calculating Renewal Funding Inflation Factors (RFIFs). These factors are applied to leasing and cost data to determine current year Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program eligibility (i.e., these factors determine how much additional money PHAs need to maintain the same number and quality of vouchers as the previous year). Tables showing RFIFs will be available from HUD here (when posted after this notice is published in the Federal Register). The pre-publication notice can be found here.
HUD calculates RFIFs with a three-step process. First, HUD forecasts a national inflation factor. Second, HUD calculates individual area inflation factors (using annual changes in the two-bedroom Fair Market Rent [FMR] for the area). Third, HUD scales the individual area inflation factors so that the weighted average equals the national average, but ensures that each area has an inflation factor of no less than one. This year, 2017, HUD has changed its methodology so that the first step uses forecasts to calculate per unit costs (PUCs) instead of relying on backward-looking historical data.
[6/8/17 Edit – The published notice can be found here.]
Click the link below to read a more detailed description of the methodology.
HUD to Investigate Perception of Small Area FMRs
Tomorrow, HUD will publish a notice in the Federal Register titled “30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collections: Small Area Fair Market Rent Demonstration Evaluation.” The notice announces an information collection to determine perception of the shift from regular Fair Market Rents (FMRs) to Small Area FMRs among voucher holders and landlords.
For voucher holders, HUD will investigate whether new and current voucher holders understood how shifting to Small Area FMRs changed their housing options, whether voucher holders who moved searched in new neighborhoods, and whether voucher holders moved at a different rate.[1]
For landlords, HUD will investigate whether landlords were aware of the shift to Small Area FMRs, whether this affected their willingness to rent to voucher holders, and the level at which they set their rents.[1]
To investigate, HUD will interview 70 tenants and 35 landlords. Both groups will be interviewed in the areas served by the PHAs in the Small Area FMR Demonstration. Incentive payments of $20 for tenants and $40 for landlords will be made.
HUD seeks comments on the following: 1) Is the information collection necessary and does it have practical utility; 2) the accuracy of the information collection burden; 3) ways to enhance the quality of the information collected; and 4) ways to minimize the burden of the information collected. Comments will be due 30 days after the notice is published. The pre-publication notice can be found here.
[6/2/17 Edit – The notice has been published in the Federal Register, and comments are due on July 3, 2017. The notice can be found here.]
The NAHRO Blog: Legislative & Policy Updates from Washington, DC 