New RAD Resources and Webinar

~ Tushar Gurjal

In its “RADBlast!” email, HUD announced the availability of two Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) resources:

  1. Initial Year Funding Instructions – a document that describes the calculation of funding during the initial year and provides instructions on how to access the funds; and
  2. Initial Year Funding Tool – a revised and simplified version of the prior tool that “allows PHAs and Project Owners to calculate the amount of revenue that will be available to the project in the Initial Year and ensures that all parties have an accurate understanding of these amounts.”

To access these resources, and others, please go to HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration Resource Desk (www.radresource.net) after logging-in and click on the “Document Library” link under “Main Menu Selections.”

Additionally, HUD will hold a live question-and-answer webinar to walk through the revised tool and answer questions that participants may have. The webinar will be held on July 13, 2016 between 3 pm and 4 pm (EST). Registration for the webinar can be found here.

CBPP Publishes Chart Book on the Benefits of Federal Rental Assistance

~ Tushar Gurjal

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) has published a Chart Book titled “Rental Assistance Reduces Hardship, Promotes Children’s Long-Term Success.” It has some great charts that help to illustrate why rental assistance is so crucial.

Here’s one taken from page 6 of the chart book PDF that illustrates the benefits of the HUD-VASH program.

Homelessness Among Veterans Fell as Targeted Voucher Program Expanded

The Center’s web-based chart book can be found here.

The Center’s PDF of the chart book can be found here.

Additional New Proposed Administrative Fee Links

~ Tushar Gurjal

On July 6, in an email to Public Housing Agency (PHA) Executive Directors, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Castro Ramirez announced a proposed administrative fee HUD webpage that consolidates information on the new proposed administrative fee formula.

The page includes the following resources:

HUD’s page on the new proposed rule administrative fee formula can be read here.

New Administrative Fee Formula Data Analysis Tool Posted

~ Tushar Gurjal

As we mentioned and summarized in our earlier post, HUD has published a revised version of the new administrative fee formula for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program. The proposed revision to the new administrative fee formula has now been officially posted to the Federal Register. Comments on the revision to the new administrative fee will be due on October 4, 2016.

HUD has also posted a new administrative fee formula data tool. By entering your PHA code, you can compare how much you would have been eligible for under the new formula to the actual amount you received in 2015. You can also adjust the proration for 2015 to create a more apples-to-apples comparison (i.e., compare full eligibility under the current formula to full eligibility under the revised new formula in Calendar Year 2015).

NAHRO will continue to analyze the new formula and bring you the latest analysis and updates.

You can find the new revision to the proposed administrative fee formula here.

You can find HUD’s PHA Admin Fee Tool 2015 here.

[Edit: We have now sent a Direct News item on the new proposed administrative fee formula (members only).]

HUD Publishes Revised New Administrative Fee Formula

~ Tushar Gurjal

HUD has published its revision of the new administrative fee formula for the Housing Choice Voucher Program. The new formula would calculate administrative fees on the basis of six variables:

  1. Program size;
  2. Wage rates;
  3. Benefit load;
  4. Percent of households with earned income;
  5. New admissions rate; and
  6. Percent of assisted households that live a significant distance from the PHA’s headquarters.

The PHA’s fees would be calculated yearly and then have a revised inflation factor applied to the calculated fee.

HUD has made three major changes to the prior formula:

  1. For PHAs in metropolitan areas, the wage index formula variable is based on the average local government wage rate for the PHA’s metropolitan Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA), rather than that average local government wage rate for all of the metropolitan counties in the PHA’s state;
  2. The health insurance cost index formula has been replaced with a new “benefit load” formula variable, which is designed to measure the variation in costs for all benefits that are paid for HCV employees, not just health insurance costs [In NAHRO’s comments we wrote the health insurance cost index metric does not “accurately (capture) all benefit costs” and recommended “(a) proxy that measures and takes into account these higher PHA costs”]; and
  3. The small area rent ratio (SARR) variable has been removed from the proposed formula [In NAHRO’s comments, we stated that “the small area rent ratio does not appropriately measure the actual costs of helping voucher holders to access high opportunity neighborhoods”].

NAHRO is still in the preliminary stages of analyzing the formula. Additional details and analysis will be forthcoming.

The full notice can be read here.

NAHRO’s comments on the previous formula can be read here.

HUD Awards $5 Million in Extraordinary Administrative Fees for HUD-VASH Program

~ Tushar Gurjal

Today, HUD published a list of forty-two PHAs that received a combined total of $5 million in extraordinary administrative fees for their HUD-VASH programs. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Lourdes Castro-Ramirez for Public and Indian Housing stated that “[t]hese housing authorities are going above and beyond in the movement to end veteran homelessness.”

The funds were awarded to agencies that are taking aggressive efforts in housing veterans. Activities that these agencies are performing and will continue to perform with these funds include marketing campaigns to recruit landlords; hiring temporary staff to provide housing search assistance; expediting document processing; inspecting units; issuing vouchers; and executing leases.

Read HUD’s full press release here.

HUD Opens FY 2016 Continuum of Care Competition

~ Jenny Hsu

Yesterday, HUD published the FY 2016 Continuum of Care (CoC) Program Competition Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA), making $1.9 billion available in funds available for continuums across the nation. For this competition, the total amount of funding available may not cover all anticipated eligible renewal projects and HUD continues to require CoCs to rank their projects into two tiers (Tier 1 and Tier 2). The submission deadline for this competition is Wednesday, September 14, 2016.

A few notable changes to this year’s NOFA include:

  • Changes to Tiers: Funding for Tier 1 this year is equal to 93 percent of the CoC’s Annual Renewal Demand (ARD). This is an increase from 85 percent last year, which means CoCs will have a the better opportunity to protect those higher priority projects and fewer projects will be in jeopardy of cut funds.
  • New Policy Priority: Creating a systematic response to homelessness is a new policy priority this year. According to a recent CoC Competition Focus message from HUD, having a systemic response to homelessness requires establishing a coordinated entry system, cohesive planning by the entire community, making assistance appealing and accessible, and using system performance measures.
  • Additional Points: System performance and reallocation will be worth more points in this NOFA. Beginning this year, CoCs are now required to report their system performance measures into HUD’s Homeless Data Exchange (HDX) by August 1, 2016. For this competition, a CoC could receive up to 10 points for attaching their system performance measures report to it’s application.

HUD’s announcement for the competition also included a message encouraging CoCs to reallocate funds from lower performing transitional housing projects serving households fleeing domestic violence to other types of projects serving people fleeing domestic violence. This would “ensure that CoC-funded projects serving people fleeing domestic violence are as effective as possible.” HUD will soon release further guidance on this issue.

NAHRO meets with HUD on Smoke-Free Rule and MTW Expansion; Briefing on SAFMRs

~ Tushar Gurjal

On June 29 and 30, NAHRO staff met with HUD staff to discuss the Moving to Work (MTW) Expansion that was included in the FY 2016 Omnibus and the upcoming smoke-free final rule. HUD also hosted a Small Area Fair Market Rent (SAFMR) proposed rule briefing.

Although HUD is still finalizing the MTW Expansion, they recently unveiled their MTW Expansion website, which contains information on the expansion process. HUD has also posted a MTW Expansion Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document.

According to HUD, a PIH notice should be published in the fall of 2016 soliciting applications for the initial cohort of new MTW PHAs. Additional cohorts of MTW PHAs will be added through separate notices through 2020 or until a total of 100 new MTW PHAs have been added. HUD has yet to determine the number of cohorts that will be included in the expansion nor specific policies to be tested through the expansion. The Secretary will weigh the advice of the MTW expansion advisory committee before determining both of these matters. For each cohort of new MTW PHAs, the specific policy proposals and methods of research and evaluation will be described in the PIH notice to be published in the fall of 2016. NAHRO’s policy proposals and recommended research evaluation methods for HUD regarding the MTW expansion can be found here (members only).

HUD plans to release the Instituting Smoke-Free Final Rule late summer or early fall. Although the rule is still undergoing the rule making process, NAHRO staff has learned HUD plans to submit the final rule to the Office of Management and Budget shortly. NAHRO was able to provide HUD staff with input on members concerns regarding the proposed rule. NAHRO’s comments on HUD’s proposed rule can be found here (members only).

HUD also hosted a briefing on the proposed SAFMR rule. The briefing went over the basics of the proposed rule and reviewed specific areas on which HUD was seeking comment. Comments and questions posed at the briefing from industry and advocacy groups included a question about the variability of all Fair Market Rents (FMRS) (to which HUD responded that they are working on a new methodology for FY 2017 FMRs); the current status of the SAFMR demonstration (it’s still going); and whether tenants who receive a subsidy cut in certain zip codes because of the SAFMR rule will be able to find housing in other zip codes because there are not enough available units or because landlords are not accepting vouchers (HUD does not know how to deal with this problem). Read our coverage of the proposed SAFMR rule here (members only).

 

Additional Information on Proposed Small Area FMR Rule from HUD

~ Tushar Gurjal

HUD has posted additional information on its new Small Area FMR rule titled “Establishing a More Effective Fair Market Rent (FMR) System; Using Small Area Fair Market Rents in Housing Choice Voucher Program Instead of the Current 50th Percentile FMRs.” HUD has posted a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and a one page fact sheet.

Here’s an excerpt from the FAQ about HUD’s anticipated timeline:

What is the timeline for the Proposed Rule?
The federal rulemaking process is complex and seeking public input takes time. Hence, timing is not easy to predict. HUD’s hope would be to issue a final rule in 2016. The Proposed Rule is currently open for public comment.
Read the full FAQ here.
Read the fact sheet here.

HUD to Conduct Webcast on Small Area FMRs

~ Tushar Gurjal

HUD will conduct a webcast on its new proposed rule titled “Establishing a More Effective Fair Market Rent (FMR) System; Using Small Area Fair Market Rents in Housing Choice Voucher Program Instead of the Current 50th Percentile FMRs.” The briefing will take place on Thursday, June 30 2016, from 11 am to 12:30 pm EST. Previously, NAHRO has voiced concerns about the impact of SAFMRs on tenants, some of whom will have lower payment standards; on landlord participation rates; and on the administrative costs, among other concerns.

To register for the event, please click here.

NAHRO’s prior coverage of this rule can be found here. (Members only.)