Public Housing

Vera Creates “Looking Beyond Conviction History” Fact Sheet

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

The Vera Institute of Justice has created a fact sheet titled “Looking Beyond Conviction History.” The fact sheet was created by Vera collaborating with multiple PHAs across the country. It provides eight recommendations for PHAs that want to rethink their admission policies for people with criminal conviction histories. While the full fact sheet offers additional details and rationales, the recommendations are the following:

  • Shorten the lookback period to three years or less;
  • Screen for a limited number of convictions and not for arrests;
  • Conduct an individualized assessment of applicants’ conviction histories;
  • Discontinue the use of “one-strike” policies and adopt a case-by-case decision-making approach;
  • Allow people on probation or parole to live in public housing;
  • Limit the use of past evictions to determine successful tenancy in public housing;
  • Specify and limit denials connected to illegal drug use; and
  • Include absence as a result of incarceration as a permitted temporary absence and allow people to stay housed while completing diversion or alternative-to-incarceration programs.

The website hosting the fact sheet can be found here.

The full fact sheet can be found here.

Federal Judge Vacates CDC Eviction Moratorium

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

A federal judge has set aside and vacated the eviction moratorium put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). On May 5, Judge Dabney Friedrich of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia issued an opinion that was narrowly focused on one question, “Does the Public Health Service Act grant the CDC the legal authority to impose a nationwide eviction moratorium?” Judge Friedrich answered the question, “It does not” and further explains that the CDC and the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services exceeded the authority granted to them by the Public Health Service Act by issuing a nationwide eviction moratorium.

Judge Friedrich’s opinion can be found here. PHAs must continue to follow all local (state, county, city) eviction moratoriums and local landlord tenant laws. NAHRO will continue to follow this case and share additional information as it becomes available.

UPDATE (5/5/2021, 2:26pm ET) – The US Justice Department is appealing to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit the US District Court’s order vacating the CDC eviction moratorium.

UPDATE (5/5/2021, 3:31pm ET) – The US Justice Department has issued a statement respectfully disagreeing with the District Court’s decision and confirming that they have filed a notice of appeal of the decision. The statement is available here.

UPDATE (5/6/2021, 8:48am ET) – Judge Friedrich has issued an administrative stay putting her order vacating the CDC eviction moratorium on hold. The court will allow both parties to submit briefs against and in support of the stay and will then make a further decision on to keep the stay in place or not. As of this update, the CDC eviction moratorium remains in effect.

HUD Restarts Inspections in June

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

On April 23, HUD announced that the department plans to begin inspections for public housing and project-based rental assistance (PBRA) properties starting June 1. HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge noted that HUD “must take steps to ensure the whole health and well-being of the households we serve—including the conditions and quality of housing. We look forward to working with residents to ensure safe and successful inspections.”.

HUD will focus on properties that are considered “high priority” – those that have not been inspected for a significant amount of time or those that have failed their last inspection. Most of the PHA properties on HUD’s high priority inspection list have inspection scores below 60. HUD will also begin inspecting agencies participating in the National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) Demonstration. HUD will inform PHAs if any of their properties fall on the list of targeted inspections for 2021 on Monday, April 26. HUD will further provide notice to PHAs and owners 28 days before any inspection takes place at a property. HUD inspections will include enhanced safety protocols as established by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and HUD has entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to allow contracted inspectors to access COVID-19 vaccinations through the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, if they inspector so chooses.

If a resident does not feel comfortable with an inspector entering their unit, the resident may opt out from the inspection. In those instances, another unit will be selected for an inspection.

HUD will not be issuing inspection scores to PHAs in 2021 unless the agency specifically asks for one. Rather, inspectors will only be looking for life threatening deficiencies on the property. Life threatening deficiencies must be fixed within 24 hours of the inspection. HUD will be relying on NSPIRE standards to determine what constitutes a life-threatening deficiency. HUD recently posted an NSPIRE Life-Threatening Deficiencies fact sheet here. Multifamily properties will be inspected using UPCS and the inspections will be scored.

HUD will no longer be using the heat-map created last fall to determine which coronavirus hot-spots in the country to avoid. Rather, HUD will be inspecting units in all parts of the country, although attention will be paid to places that are seeing upticks in their COVID-19 case numbers.

HUD’s announcement can be found here.

CDC Eviction Moratorium Ruled Unconstitutional, Still in Effect

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

Late on Feb. 25, 2021, Judge J. Campbell Barker of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas ruled, in a 21-page order, that the eviction moratorium issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is unconstitutional.  Meaning the Federal government does not have the constitutional authority to issue the CDC eviction moratorium. The US Justice Department, attorneys for the CDC, argued that the federal government did have the authority to enact an eviction moratorium through Article 1 of the US Constitution’s power to enact laws necessary and proper to regulate interstate commerce. The Court was not convinced by this argument and ruled against the federal government. The Court did acknowledge that landlord-tenant relationship can be regulated by state law. 

Even though the CDC Eviction Moratorium was ruled unconstitutional, Judge Barker did not issue an injunction stopping the effect of the eviction moratorium. Therefore, the CDC Eviction Moratorium is still in place and effective at the time of this writing. The Justice Department released a statement on Saturday, February 27, 2021 “respectfully” disagreeing with the Court’s decision and further stating that “the [Justice] Department has appealed that decision.”  

NAHRO will continue to monitor the court activity surrounding the CDC Eviction Moratorium and will provide additional updates as warranted. 

New, Updated Emergency Rental Assistance Guidance Issued

~ Georgi Banna ~ Leave a comment

The U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury) has released new and updated frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) that was created by the December 27, 2020 omnibus appropriations act. These new February 22, 2021 dated FAQs replace in their entirety the previously issued January 19, 2021 FAQs.

NAHRO commends Treasury for the new FAQs, as they provide much-needed clear and reasonable guidance on the ERAP. NAHRO has been in contact with Treasury on numerous occasions to ensure that PHAs and their residents are served by the ERAP. On January 25, 2021, NAHRO sent a letter to the Treasury and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development outlining our concerns with the January 19, 2021 FAQs, and the new FAQs address many of NAHRO’s concerns. These new FAQs are a major step forward for PHAs in meeting their COVID-19 housing needs of HUD-assisted residents.  

Below are a number of the key guidance points provided by the February 22, 2021 FAQs:

  • Federally assisted tenants (Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher, & Project-Based Rental Assistance) are eligible for ERAP assistance for the tenant-owed portion of rent and utilities that are not subsidized. 
  • Tenants may document their financial hardship due to COVID-19 (unemployment benefits, reduction of income, significant costs, or other COVID-19 financial hardship) by written attestation signed by the tenant that one or more household members meet this eligibility criteria. 
  • Tenant household income is defined by using either HUD’s “annual income” definition in 24 CFR 5.609 or adjusted gross income reported on an Internal Revenue Service Form 1040 series. 
  • “Other expenses related to housing” examples are provided. The examples include but are not limited to: 
    • relocation expenses and rental fees (if a household has been temporarily or permanently displaced due to the COVID-19 outbreak);  
    • reasonable accrued late fees (if not included in rental or utility arrears and if incurred due to COVID-19); and  
    • Internet service provided to the rental unit. 
  • Outreach to landlords and utility providers must be done before providing the funds directly to the tenant. Outreach can be done using the following methods: 
    • a request for participation is sent in writing, by mail, to the landlord or utility provider, and the addressee does not respond to the request within 14 calendar days after mailing;  
    • the grantee has made at least three attempts by phone, text, or e-mail over a 10 calendar-day period to request the landlord or utility provider’s participation; or 
    • a landlord confirms in writing that the landlord does not wish to participate. 
  • PHAs, non-profit organizations, and local governments may operate ERAP programs through contractor, subrecipient, or intergovernmental cooperation agreements with the primary grantee at the state or local jurisdiction level. These agreements must meet monitoring and management requirements of 2 CFR 200.331-200.333 and procurement standards of 2 CFR 200.317-200.327. 

These are just a few of the answers in the new FAQs. The full FAQs are available on the NAHRO website’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program page. The Emergency Rental Assistance Program, including these FAQs, will be a focus of the 2021 NAHRO Online Washington Conference’s Treasury Affordable Housing Program and Washington Report sessions on March 2, 2021. Click here to register for the 2021 NAHRO Online Washington Conference. 

CARES Act Reporting FAQ Updated

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

In late-Jan., HUD updated the CARES Act Reporting Answers to Frequently Asked Questions for PHAs document. It has been updated to version 2. The document provides clarifications on CARES act fund usage, continuing to track COVID expenses after CARES act fund usage, reporting requirements, and other items.

The full document can be found here.

HHS Extends CDC Eviction Moratorium to March 31

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Earlier today, the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department made available a pre-publication copy of an order extending the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) eviction moratorium. The eviction moratorium has been extended to March 31, 2021. Additionally, the order now also applies to American Samoa–although it had not previously–because COVID-19 cases have now been reported there.

NAHRO members will receive additional information on this order.

A pre-publication copy of the order can be found here.

HUD Updates Demolition and Disposition Notice

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Earlier today, HUD published PIH 2021-07, titled “Demolition and/or disposition of public housing property, eligibility for tenant-protection vouchers, and associated requirements.” This notice updates PIH 2018-04, which was the prior demolition and disposition notice.

The new notice makes several non-substantive and substantive revisions to the prior notice. Non-substantive revisions include clarifying headings, adding spacing between paragraphs, re-numbering paragraphs, and correcting citations to regulatory provisions, which make for a clearer document. Substantive changes in this notice include the following:

  • HUD’s Special Applications Center (SAC) no longer claims to return a SAC application that is substantially incomplete or deficient, while informing a PHA of its deficiencies (previously, SAC would “return” the application by changing the status of the application to DRAFT in the Inventory Management System/PIH Information Center [IMS/PIC]);
  • The Department clarifies that PHAs must not just make resident consultation accessible, but rather that “PHAs must ensure that communications and materials are accessible to individuals with disabilities and take reasonable steps to provide meaningful access to persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP)”;
  • Use of proceeds is no longer a material term of the SAC application, so if a PHA’s plan on the use of proceeds changes after HUD approval of an application, a PHA would no longer have to request an amendment to the application;
  • Includes new RAD/Section 18 blends;
    • RAD/Section 18 Construction Blend – the percentage of units eligible for disposition is based on hard construction costs for new construction or rehabilitation of the covered project. Transactions that use the 9 percent Low-Income Housing Tax Credit are not eligible.
      • If hard construction costs equal 90 percent of the Housing Construction Costs (HCC) as published by HUD for a given market area, the PHA may dispose of up to 60 percent of the units of the converting project under Section 18;
        • For high-cost areas (HCC exceeds 120 percent of the national average), a PHA may dispose of up to 80 percent of the units of the converting project under Section 18;
      • If the hard construction costs equal or exceed 60 percent, but are less than 90 percent, of HCC, the a PHA may dispose of up to 40 percent of the units of the converting project under Section 18;
      • If the hard construction costs equal or exceed 30 percent, but are less than 60 percent, of HCC the PHA may dispose of up to 20 percent of the units of the converting project under Section 18;
    • RAD/Section 18 Small PHA Blend – for any PHA with 250 or fewer public housing units under its Annual Contributions Contract (ACC), up to 80 percent of the units in a converting project may be disposed of under Section 18;
  • The Department clarifies that tenant-protection voucher (TPV) requests first go to the field office for a threshold review before being sent to HUD’s Financial Management Division (FMD), while HUD’s Financial Management Center (FMC) notifies PHAs of the final TPV awards.

The full notice can be found here.

MTW Expansion Applications for Cohorts #3 and #4 Posted

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Earlier today, HUD published applications to apply for additional cohorts in the Moving to Work (MTW) Expansion. The Moving to Work program allows PHAs additional regulatory flexibilities to implement innovative strategies to house families. The MTW Expansion incorporates a research component with every new cohort of MTW agencies.

The applications can be found here:

NAHRO members will receive additional information about both applications in the coming days.

Assistant PIH Secretary Resigns from HUD

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Assistant Secretary of Public and Indian Housing Hunter Kurtz has resigned from his position, effective at the close of business today.

In an email to housing authority executive directors, Mr. Kurtz wrote: “Being the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing and working with you over the past 18 months has truly been the greatest honor and privilege of my life. During this time, we have done incredible work, in some of the most challenging times our industry has faced. Most importantly we helped the residents of our programs prepare for and respond to a virus, that disproportionately affected the people we serve.”

NAHRO has had a strong working relationship with Assistant Secretary Kurtz.

“He is a thoughtful leader who cares deeply for HUD programs, our public housing and Indian housing agencies, and the people who they serve,” said NAHRO CEO Adrianne Todman. “We are grateful for his work and wish him the best.”

Mr. Kurtz was confirmed on June 20, 2019. He has spent more than 10 years in federal service. He previously served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing, and also served in the White House as the Deputy Chief of Staff at the Council of Economic Advisers.

He was also previously the Deputy Director of Detroit’s Department of Housing and Revitalization, where he managed the department’s day-to-day operations, implemented programs that helped homeowners, and oversaw reform of the department’s contract and procurement processes.