Policy

Housing Organization and Education Partnerships Survey

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

As part of NAHRO’s work to improve the educational outcomes of the children that your agencies serve and as part of NAHRO’s ongoing partnership with the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC), we ask for your participation in an education partnership survey. Below are the details.

The work our HAs and housing partners do expands well beyond just providing stable housing. We know that connecting the housing sector to other areas like education can create the impact necessary to improve life outcomes. In order to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the landscape of housing organizations involved in this critical work, we have partnered with PAHRC and Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF) to collect data.

You may have already received a brief survey from PAHRC, but we would like to remind you to add your housing organization’s story by answering this brief five to nine question survey.  All data will be aggregated and no single organization’s data will be identifiable or shared. If the survey does not appear, you can copy this link and paste it into your web browser http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/2715688/f0550dd524bf

The survey asks about education services and related programs you provide directly to your residents or provide through partnerships with other organizations. It also inquires about the challenges related to providing these services or why they might be too difficult for your housing organization to provide at all. Even if you do not currently provide education services, we still encourage you to take the survey. If you are a public housing authority that administers multiple housing authorities, please note in the comments which services are provided for each housing authority.

This survey is part of a larger research project being conducted by PAHRC, a HAI Group company; the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA); and Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF) to build knowledge on how housing organizations are working to improve education outcomes for residents and the tools used in the most successful programs. The initiative is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

We know you may have received other surveys regarding your education efforts and want you to know that we are working with the industry groups and partner non-profit organizations to coordinate our efforts. It is exciting that there has been a growing interest in this work and how we can better it, and we greatly appreciate you assisting in the effort to highlight your work and contribute to the field at large.

Thank you for your time! We appreciate your help in improving knowledge about the many services housing agencies provide to their community. Please contact kstater@housingcenter.com or kmelwain@housingcenter.com with any questions.

HUD to Publish Technical Corrections to Certain HOTMA Voucher Provisions

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Tomorrow, June 14, HUD will publish in the Federal Register a notice titled “Housing Opportunity through Modernization Act of 2016: Implementation of Various Section 8 Voucher Provisions; Corrections.” This notice makes technical corrections to the prior notice published by HUD implementing certain HOTMA voucher provisions. The effective date for the original notice and the corrections remains April 18, 2017.

Corrections in this notice include the following:

  • Clarifies that in the “Units Owned by a PHA” section, the threshold for control should be “more than 50 percent” rather than “50 percent or more”;
  • Units receiving assistance under section 201 of the Housing and Community Development Amendments of 1978 (the Flexible Subsidy program) are now excepted (i.e., not counted towards the limitation) from the Project-based voucher (PBV) general cap and income-mixing cap;
  • For PBV new construction units that qualify as replacement housing for covered units and are exempt from the general cap, one of the requirements should read “site of the original development” instead of “site of the original public housing development”;
  • Clarifies that PHAs may not rely solely on a supportive services program that would require a family to engage in the supportive services once the family enrolls (e.g., Family Self-Sufficiency), for the unit to meet the supportive services exception (which excepts families eligible for supportive services, instead of receiving supportive services from the PBV income-mixing cap);
  • Clarifies that projects in a census tract with a poverty rate of 20 percent or less are subject to a alternative income mixing requirement of the greater of 25 units or 40 percent of the units (the original notice implied that these projects were completely excluded from the income-mixing cap);
  • Corrects an incorrect definition of new construction units that qualify for the exception as replacement housing for the income-mixing PBV cap–the definition in C.3.D(2)(b) (describing projects not subject to the income-mixing cap) is supposed to match the definition in section C.2.C(2)(b);
  • Clarifies that in those instances where a PHA is engaged in an initiative to improve, develop, or replace a public housing property or site to attach PBVs to projects that a PHA has an ownership or controlling interest without following a competitive process, the requirement that rehabilitation or construction on the project must have a minimum of $25,000 per unit in hard costs is not applicable in a situation where the PHA is replacing a public housing property or site with existing housing owned or controlled by the PHA; and
  • Makes numerous typographical corrections.

The pre-publication notice making corrections can be found here.

The original notice implementing certain HOTMA voucher provisions can be found here.

NAHRO’s prior blog post on the effective date of these certain HOTMA voucher provisions can be found here.

Free Smoking Cessation Webinar – July 20 at 1pm ET

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

The Smoking Cessation Leadership Center (SCLC), in collaboration with the CDC Tips From Former Smokers™ Campaign, the National Center for Health in Public Housing (NCHPH), and the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) are pleased to invite you to this free webinar, “Comprehensive Tobacco Cessation in Public Housing Community Health Centers : Beyond Policy Adoption and Implementation” on Thursday, July 20, 2017, at 1:00pm EDT (90 minutes).

We are honored to have the following speakers presenting on this topic for us:

  • Bill Blatt, MPH, National Director of Tobacco Programs, American Lung Association
  • Elizabeth A. Davis, MD, Chief of Adult Medicine, Medical Director of Addiction Medicine, South End Community Health Center
  • John Kane, Senior Project Coordinator, Boston Housing Authority
  • Jose Leon, MD, Chief Medical Officer, National Center for Health in Public Housing

Webinar Objectives:

  1. Review tobacco use disorders data in public housing primary care
  2. Discuss key components of successful implementation of the non-smoking policy in public housing
  3. Describe the smoking cessation interventions provided by South End Community Health Center
  4. Learn how to talk to multi-unit housing residents about quitting smoking, including why they should quit, and learn about locally available programs and resources to help them

REGISTER HERE:

https://cc.readytalk.com/r/7ombg8t9bo76&eom

HUD Publishes FY 2017 HCV Funding Implementation Notice

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

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.

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RAD Seminar in Washington, DC – August 16-18, 2017

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

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. RAD Flyer

 

 

REAC adds Industry Days on the West Coast in late July

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

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.

HUD Re-Publishes CY 2017 Administrative Fee Rates

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

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

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

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.

NAHRO, CAP Offer Free Webinar on PHA-CAA Partnerships

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

Does your Public Housing Authority (PHA) want to provide necessary non-housing services to your residents, such as access to case management, transportation services, food security, or the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)? Is your Community Action Agency (CAA) looking for better ways to partner with your local PHA to help your clients find safe, secure, affordable housing? If so, please join the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO) and the Community Action Partnership (CAP) for a free webinar to learn about how PHAs and CAAs work hand-in-hand to help address poverty in communities across the nation.

On June 20, from 1:30-3:00 p.m. EDT, NAHRO Senior Director of Congressional Relations John Bohm, CAP CEO Denise Harlow, and NAHRO and CAP staff will discuss the results of a recent survey conducted by NAHRO and CAP, provide examples of established working relationships between PHAs and CAAs, and examine the results achieved by these partnerships.

Nationally, PHAs help over 4.8 million families and individuals by providing safe, decent, affordable housing for families in need. Community Action Agencies provide critical programs to more than 15 million people with low incomes every year. Collaboration increases the capacity of both PHAs and CAAs, and making the CAA programs and services available to public housing residents puts communities are in a far better position to combat poverty. Join us for this free webinar to learn how to build and strengthen these collaborations.

Register Now Button

HUD Calculates Renewal Funding Inflation Factors for HCV Program

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

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.

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