Section 8

Mobility Demonstration PHAs selected

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

In a press release, HUD has selected PHAs to participate in its new mobility demonstration. The mobility demonstration serves as a research evaluation to demonstrate the efficacy of a bundle of mobility-related interventions (i.e., services offered to families that help remove barriers moving to areas of opportunity). Recent research has shown that moving to areas of opportunity has positive impacts on health and the future lifetime earnings of children.

Program participants will be divided into three groups: a control group; a treatment group which receives comprehensive mobility-related services; and a second treatment group which receives selected mobility related-services. The Department, PHAs, and researchers will then evaluate the efficacy and cost of the bundles of mobility-related services provided.

The PHAs selected for the demonstration can be found below.

PHA CodePHA NameTotal Mobility-related Services AwardTotal Vouchers AwardedTotal Voucher Funding Awarded
NY041Rochester Housing Authority$4,089,54074$724,106
NY110New York Housing Preservation and Development$4,013,10074$1,501,480
MN002Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (Lead PHA)$4,013,10037$637,341
MN163Metropolitan HRAPartner to MN00237$585,649
CA004Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles$4,013,10037$812,372
CA002Housing Authority of the County of Los AngelesPartner to CA00437$761,339
PA006Allegheny County Housing Authority$4,089,54056$565,805
PA001Housing Authority of PittsburghPartner to PA00618$249,419
OH003Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority$4,089,54074$881,419
LA001Housing Authority of New Orleans$4,089,54074$1,114,333
PA046Housing Authority of Chester County$3,461,85018$249,803
PA007Chester Housing AuthorityPartner to PA04656$803,120
TN005Metropolitan Housing and Redevelopment$4,013,10074$971,554
Total$35,872,410666$9,857,740
Taken from https://www.hud.gov/press/press_releases_media_advisories/HUD_No_21_076.

The Department’s full press release can be found here.

2021 HCV Implementation Webinar Added to Youtube

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has uploaded their 2021 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Implementation webinar. This presentation focuses on Notice PIH 2021-10 and discusses how the funding for the voucher program in 2021 will be implemented along with key deadlines for additional funding (e.g., housing assistance payment [HAP] set-aside funding and special administrative fees).

The video can be found here or below.

Landlord Strategy Guidebook for PHAs Updated

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has updated their Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Landlord Strategy Guidebook for PHAs. New chapters have been posted on monetary incentives and reimbursement funds, inspections, matching local rental markets, and partnerships. The guidebook provides suggestions and ideas for PHAs looking to recruit new landlords and retain current landlords to the HCV program.

The guidebook has the following chapters:

The Department’s HCV Landlord Resources webpage can be found here.

The full HCV Landlord Strategy Guidebook for PHAs can be found here.

HUD Updates HCV Dashboard

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

The Department has updated the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) dashboard. The HCV dashboard presents visualizations of HCV program statistics based on most recently available data taken from, among other places, the Voucher Management System (VMS). The updated dashboard now includes pages on leasing changes, percentages of HCV programs devoted to special purpose vouchers, leasing potential, project-based voucher portfolios, comparing budget and reserves between two programs, and comparing leasing and per unit cost (PUC) between two programs.

The dashboard shows data both in the national aggregate and by individual PHA.

In addition, the Department has also updated the “HCV Dashboard User Guide & Data Dictionary.”

Finally, the Department has posted a YouTube video discussing and explaining the expansion.

The HCV Data Dashboard can be found here.

HUD Posts CY 2021 Admin. Fee Rates

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Earlier today, HUD posted to its Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) website, the HCV administrative fee rates. These rates determine the amount of administrative fee a HCV program receives from HUD. There are two rates. The second rate applies after the first 7,200 unit months.

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.

$20 million NOFA for Competitive FUP Vouchers Published

~ Tushar Gurjal ~ Leave a comment

Yesterday, HUD released a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for $20 million of competitive funding for Family Unification Program (FUP) vouchers. These vouchers are for youth aging out of foster care. The appropriations acts of 2020 and 2021 each contained $10 million in competitive FUP funding for youths aging out of foster care. This notice would distribute the competitive FUP allocations for youth aging out of foster care for both of those years. The Department expects to make approximately 40 awards from the funds. No award will be for less than 3 vouchers, while the maximum award will vary depending on the size of the PHA’s program (25 vouchers for programs with fewer than 500 vouchers; 50 vouchers for programs between and including 500 and 1.999 vouchers; and 75 vouchers for programs with 2,000 or more vouchers). The application deadline is March 22, 2021.

The full NOFA can be found here.