Policy

Regulatory Freeze Memo Issued

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

On January 20, the Trump Administration issued a “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review” memo that applies to all Federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This memo is similar to memos issued by previous administrations as they come into office, and NAHRO had expected this regulatory freeze.

Generally, the regulatory freeze requires agencies to withdraw any regulations that have not yet been published in the Federal Register and to extend the effective date by 60 days of any regulations that have not become effective as of January 20, 2017. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) can issue exceptions to the regulatory freeze in emergency situations and to address urgent health, safety, financial, or national security issues.

The regulatory review not only applies to regulations but also any “guidance document.” A “guidance document” is any substantive action or an agency statement that states a policy on a statutory, regulatory, or technical issue that is normally published in the Federal Register.

NAHRO will continue to monitor the effects of the regulatory freeze and has reached out to HUD staff on how this regulatory freeze will affect specific regulations. As more information becomes, available NAHRO will share it with our members through The NAHRO Blog and the Monitor.

For any specific questions or concerns, please contact Georgi Banna, NAHRO’s Director of Policy and Program Development, at gbanna@nahro.org. As always for the most up-to-date information of the affordable housing and community development regulations and legislation, follow The NAHRO Blog and check the NAHRO website.

Court Rules in Favor of Plaintiffs in Operating Reserves Litigation

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

PHADA and NAHRO are pleased to announce that on January 18th the U.S. Court of Federal Claims found in favor of nearly 350 public housing authorities that brought a lawsuit against the federal government challenging HUD’s reduction of their FY 2012 operating fund subsidies based on the amount of Plaintiffs’ so-called “excess” operating reserves. The President’s FY 2012 budget proposal included an Operating Fund request of just $3,961,850 which was $1 billion short of the amount needed to pay the aggregate estimated operating subsidy eligibility amount. HUD devised an “allocation adjustment” based on the level of savings agencies had accumulated in their operating fund reserves. As proposed, this allocation adjustment would have offset the aggregate amount of operating fund subsidies to which PHAs were entitled in 2012 by the amount of the PHAs’ “excess” operating reserves up to $1 billion. At the Department’s behest, Congress approved the plan, changing the aggregate amount of reserves that could be used as an offset to $750 million.

With PHADA and NAHRO as the lead Plaintiffs, a lawsuit was filed on January 3, 2013. Collaborating with PHADA and NAHRO, Coan & Lyons, a Washington, DC law firm, prepared the case based on the claim that HUD’s offset breached the Annual Contributions Contract (ACC of the PHA Plaintiffs in 2012 when “rather than reducing their subsidy payments by a uniform percentage (pro-rata basis), it first offset each PHA’s payment by a figure that varied from one PHA to another – the amount of its excess operating reserves.”

Judge Elaine D. Kaplan stated in her decision that HUD “breached its [contractual] obligations under the ACCs when it applied the [excess] operating [reserves] offset in response to the 2012 Appropriations Act, rather than the pro rata reduction prescribed by” HUD’s regulations. As noted by Judge Kaplan, the plaintiffs requested compensatory damages of almost $136 million.

The Court has ordered the attorneys to file a status report by February 17, suggesting how the Court should proceed. Carl Coan, III, Plaintiffs’ lead attorney, believes that the next logical step will be to calculate the exact damages to which the Plaintiffs are entitled and submit them to the Court for approval. Assuming the parties can agree on the amount of damages, the Court will enter a final judgment and order awarding Plaintiffs their damages.

Tim Kaiser, PHADA Executive Director said, “We appreciate the Court’s decision. We tried to dissuade HUD from implementing this unfair and damaging plan as soon as we heard about it. HUD decided to go ahead and it left us with no alternative but to organize a legal action to enforce the existing contract between HUD and its many PHA partners.”

John Bohm, Acting Chief Executive Officer of NAHRO stated “NAHRO applauds the Court’s ruling on this matter. This responsible decision addresses the critical concerns raised by housing authorities across the country, and we hope that it will serve as a benchmark for future decision-making on these matters.”

The Court’s ruling may be accessed here.

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For any specific questions or concerns, please contact Georgi Banna, NAHRO’s Director of Policy and Program Development, at gbanna@nahro.org. As always for the most up-to-date information of the affordable housing and community development regulations and legislation, follow The NAHRO Blog and check the NAHRO website.

PIH Notice on VAWA Self-Petitioner Verification Procedures

~ Jenny Hsu ~ Leave a comment

Today, HUD’s Office of Pubic and Indian Housing (PIH) published a notice (PIH 2017-02 (HA)) titled, “Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Self-Petitioner Verification Procedures.” This notice explains the procedures that public housing agencies (PHAs) must follow when an applicant or resident/tenant requests admission or continued residency as a result of being a VAWA self-petitioner, defined as those who claim to be victims of “battery or extreme cruelty” (i.e., domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking). This notice applies to HUD’s public housing, housing choice voucher assistance (including project-based vouchers), and Section 8 Mod Rehab programs.

HUD Publishes Interim Guidance on AFFH

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Earlier this January, HUD published Interim Guidance on the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) tools. The Interim Guidance gives the status of the Assessment of Fair Housing tools (AFHs) (reproduced below) and gives general guidance for program participants.

  • Local and Government and Joint / Regional Tool – Final tool available.
  • PHA and PHA-only collaboration – Final tool available. HUD will issue another Notice specifying PHAs’ new submission date.
  • Qualified PHA (QPHA) – Tool still under development. Not publicly available.
  • State and Insular Area Tool – Tool still under development. Still going through the notice-and-comment process.

The guidance also provides a table to help choose tools and understand appropriate AFH deadline dates.

The full AFFH Interim Guidance can be read here.

HUD Publishes MTW Expansion Application

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

HUD has posted pre-publication versions of the Moving To Work (MTW) Expansion Application and the MTW Expansion Operations Document. There will be multiple cohorts to the expansion with each cohort testing a different policy to be researched. The first cohort will test the overall impact of MTW flexibility. The cohorts will test the following (in no particular order, except for the first, which will test the overall impact of MTW flexibility):

  • Overall Impact of MTW Flexibility – the overall effects of the MTW “bundle” will be tested.
  • Rent Reform – PHAs will test different rent reform models, including “flat rents, tiered rents, and stepped-up rents.” PHAs “may also evaluate the interaction of these rent reform models with or without work requirements or time limits.”
  • Work Requirements – this will be a work requirements only cohort (i.e., additional rent reforms or time limits will not be evaluated). PHAs will provide supportive services.
  • Landlord Incentives – this cohort will investigate various landlord incentives (e.g., participation payments, vacancy payments, alternate inspection schedules and other methods).

The first cohort will include 30 PHAs with “1,000 or fewer aggregate public housing and HCV units.” To select applicants HUD will make sure each applicant meets eligibility requirements and certain geographic diversity requirements. Each potential cohort participant will then be selected via a lottery. These PHAs will then be randomly assigned to a treatment group (receiving MTW designation) or a control group (not receiving MTW designation). HUD will research the cost effectiveness, ability to create self-sufficiency, and ability to provide housing choice for this first cohort.

The application due date will be revealed, when the notice is formally posted in the Federal Register. NAHRO will continue to have more detailed coverage on both of these documents and the perspectives of the new administration in the coming days and weeks.

The pre-publication MTW Expansion Application can be found here.

The pre-publication MTW Expansion Operations document can be found here.

HUD to Publish HOTMA Section 8 Voucher Provision Implementation Notice

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Tomorrow, January 18, 2017, HUD will publish in the Federal Register a notice implementing certain Section 8 provisions of the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA) titled “Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016: Implementation of Various Section 8 Voucher Provisions.” These provisions include the following:

  • “certain inspection requirements for both HCV tenant-based and PBV assistance [including provisions regarding occupancy prior to meeting HQS and alternative inspections],”
  • “changes to the PBV program [including changes to calculating the PBV cap, raises to the cap in certain scenarios, and changes to the PBV income-mixing cap among other things],” and
  • “guidance . . . [for] the statutory change to the HCV housing assistance payment (HAP) calculation for families who own manufactured housing and are renting the manufactured home space.”

HUD is also soliciting information regarding the implementation of many of the provisions. NAHRO is still reading through the notice, but will provide more detailed coverage in the coming days to our members.

The provisions in the notice will take effect 90 days after tomorrow’s publication. [1/18/17 Edit – April 18, 2017.]

The comment deadline for the provisions will occur 60 days after tomorrow’s publication. [1/18/17 Edit – March 20, 2017.]

The pre-publication notice can be found here.

[1/18/17 Edit – The published notice can be found here.]

 

HUD to Publish Lead-Free Final Rule and additional AFH Tools

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Tomorrow, January 13, 2017, HUD will publish in the Federal Register the lead-free final rule and additional Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) tools. The final 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” adopts a revised definition of “elevated blood lead level” (EBLL) in children under the age of 6 to track the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance. The rule will become effective 30 days after publication and compliance will be required by 6 months after publication. NAHRO will provide additional coverage of the final rule in the next few days.

The Department also released two additional AFH tools:

  1. A Revised Local Government Tool: This tool is meant for use by CDBG, HOME, ESG or HOPWA recipients. One of the major changes to the tool is an insert for use by PHAs with 1,250 of fewer units that choose to collaborate with their local governments. NAHRO is pleased that HUD increased number of PHAs that can use this insert, making collaboration easier.
  2. A Final PHA Tool: The notice states that this tool has been approved, but “the Notice does not trigger the obligation of PHAs to conduct and submit an AFH . . . as HUD has not yet provided PHAs with the data they will need.” Again, one of the major changes from the proposed tool includes increasing the threshold for the Qualified PHA insert to 1,250 units.

NAHRO will continue to look through these tools and will provide additional coverage to our members in the coming days.

The Lead-Free final rule can be found here.

The Local Government AFH Tool can be found here.

The PHA AFH Tool can be found here.

Reminder!! Dr. Carson Confirmation Hearing for HUD Today!

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

The United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs  will hold a confirmation hearing for HUD Secretary-Designate Carson at 10 am ET on Thursday, January 12, 2017. The hearing will be held at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Room 538.

The confirmation hearing will be webcast live on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs hearing website. Dr. Carson’s written testimony is also posted, here, on the Senate Banking Committee website.

John Bohm, NAHRO Acting CEO, is attending the hearing and additional coverage of the confirmation hearing will be available for members in the January 15 Monitor.

HUD Housing Counseling Final Rule Conference Call

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently published a final rule implementing statutory requirements on housing counselor certification.  Among other things, it provides that housing counseling required by HUD or provided in connection with any HUD program must be delivered by a HUD certified counselor working for a HUD-approved housing counseling agency.

HUD’s Office of Housing Counseling will hold a conference call for housing counseling funders and service providers to explain this new rule and help you determine if your housing counseling program may be covered under this final rule.  This informative session is open to the public.  Please note that if you attended the call on December 19 for stakeholders who participate in HUD’s Housing Counseling Program you do not need to attend this call.

Please register for this Stakeholders Conference Call on the Final Rule on Housing Counseling Certification on January 13, 2017 2:00 PM EST at:  https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8027531475293201155.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

For more information on HUD’s Final Rule for Housing Counseling Certification including the press release, final rule, and frequently asked questions, please visit:  https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/housing-counseling/certification/.

HUD Secretary-Designate Carson to Have Confirmation Hearing on 1/12/17

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

The United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs  will hold a confirmation hearing for HUD Secretary-Designate Carson at 10 am ET on Thursday, January 12, 2017. The hearing will be held at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Room 538.

The confirmation hearing will be webcast live on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs hearing website.

NAHRO will cover this hearing and other HUD-related transition events in the coming weeks.