In May 2022, NYU researchers Ingrid Gould Ellen, Katherine O’Regan, and Katharine WH Harwood published “Advancing Choice in the Housing Choice Voucher Program: Source of Income Protections and Locational Outcomes”. This blog post summarizes the key findings from their paper, which explores how source of income (SOI) laws impact locational outcomes for housing choice voucher (HCV) holders.
Continue readingSenate Holds Hearings on the Housing Crisis
This article was written by Richa Goel, NAHRO’s Legislative Affairs Intern.
Affordable housing is becoming increasingly scarce in the United States. Last week, the Senate held three hearings discussing drivers and solutions to homelessness and the affordable housing crisis. On July 19th, the Housing, Transportation, and Community Development Subcommittee held a hearing addressing homelessness. The Finance Committee held a hearing on July 20th discussing the importance of tax incentives in affordable housing. On July 21st, the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee held a hearing about rising costs in both the homebuying and rental markets.
Continue readingHouse Holds Hearing on the Affordable Housing Crisis
This article was written by Richa Goel, NAHRO’s Legislative Affairs Intern
Housing is a basic necessity, but many Americans struggle to find affordable housing, both in the rental and homeownership markets. On July 13th, The Ways and Means Committee held a hearing about the affordable housing crisis and its impacts on communities across the country.
Chairman Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) opened the hearing by discussing the impacts of affordable housing shortages on minority and low-income communities:
“The housing affordability crisis has deepened the already wide racial, wealth, and homeownership gaps. Today’s racial disparities in housing and wealth grow out of a long legacy of discrimination and unequal access.”
Continue readingHUD Proposes Changes to FMR Calculation Methodology
Earlier today, HUD published in the Federal Register proposed changes to the methodology for calculating fair market rents (FMRs). The notice is titled “Proposed Changes to the Methodology Used for Calculating Fair Market Rents.” Fair market rents are used to determine payment standards for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program and also impact certain other federal programs.
Currently, HUD calculates FMRs through a seven-step process. First, HUD establishes a two-bedroom base rent from American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year data. HUD then updates this base rent with a “recent mover adjustment factor” based on one-year ACS data. This adjusted data is then inflated by a “gross rent adjustment factor” and then trended forward through the use of a “trend factor.” HUD then adjusts the rents for other unit sizes by applying “bedroom ratios” calculated from the relationships between different size units in the five-year ACS data. There is also a regulatory limit to how much HUD will allow an FMR to decline from one year to the next (i.e., an FMR cannot fall below this percentage “floor” in the span of one year). Finally, HUD also calculates minimum FMRs for each state based on the median FMR for non-metropolitan portions of each state.
The Department is proposing certain changes to the calculation of FMRs—primarily the use of private sector data in two steps during the calculation process in certain instances. First, due to the pandemic, there is a lack of ACS 1-year data. To correct for this, there is a special tabulation of the five-year ACS data for 2020 of rents paid by people who moved in 2020 or 2019. This special tabulation will be updated by private data sources in certain situations where the data sources are accurate and there are three private data sources. HUD would like to estimate the “recent mover adjustment factor” from these sources. When one-year ACS data becomes available again, HUD would like to use it again, while still considering augmenting it with private sector data. Second, HUD would like to use private data sources along with its standard Consumer Price Index (CPI) data in calculating the average gross rent inflation factor in certain instances. These changes would impact the calculation of Small Area FMRs also.
The Department is seeking comment on the appropriateness of using these private sector data sources. Additionally, HUD is seeking comment on whether HUD should continue to use these private rent data sources for FMR calculation after fiscal year 2023.
Comments are due Aug. 12, 2022.
The full Federal Register notice can be found here.
NOFO Deadline for ROSS Program is Fastly Approaching While FSS NOFO is Set to Be Announced
The deadline for the Resident Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency – Service Coordinator (ROSS-SC) Program Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is approaching as applications are set to close by July 18, 2022. The grant program will provide funds to hire a Service Coordinator with the goal of assisting residents of Public and Indian Housing through economic improvements and housing self-sufficiency. Funding flexibility will also be given for grantees to provide direct services to ROSS participants. Approximately 125 awards are set to be granted with available funds totaling to $35 million.
In addition, the Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) Program announced on July 12, 2022 that their NOFO is set to be released this summer. Potential applicants should make sure their SAM.gov registration and Unique Entity ID (UEI) is up to date in preparation for the upcoming grant application. Guidance on how to ensure up to date information for your future grants can be found here.
More information regarding the ROSS FY2022 NOFO will be found in our next addition of The Monitor.
HUD Announces Public Housing Capital Fund Guidebook Webinars
Trainings begin on July 11th
HUD’s Office of Capital Improvements will provide six webinars on the Public Housing Capital Fund requirements. These trainings will each cover different important program elements and provide an update of recent changes to the program. Though the trainings will provide background on the Capital Fund program, participants who are unfamiliar with it should view short background “vignettes” prior to attending the trainings, available here. Participants must register in advance to attend the trainings and the separate question-and-answer session for participants that will follow each.
The link to register for the July 11th training is available here. The webpage with information and registration for the remaining five trainings is available here.
Advancing Equity through the American Rescue Plan
In May, the White House released a report titled Advancing Equity through the American Rescue Plan (ARP). The report explores 32 different ARP programs– each with a roadmap on how to improve their policy design and better serve historically marginalized communities. This blog post summarizes the sections of the report on the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program, the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program, and the Homeowner Assistance Fund.
Emergency Rental Assistance Program
The ERA program provides $46.5 billion in federal funds to state, local, Tribal governments, and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to support low-income households impacted by the economic consequences of the pandemic. The program also provides housing stability services, including access to legal counsel for eviction prevention.
Continue readingCongress Holds Hearings on Homeownership
This article was written by Richa Goel, NAHRO’s Legislative Affairs Intern
With housing prices and rents skyrocketing, homeownership has become out of reach for many Americans, especially low-income and minority populations. On June 28th, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing analyzing the impact of institutional investors on individual homeownership and rent prices.
Chairman Rep. Al Green (D-TX) opened the hearing by discussing predatory purchasing practices: “Private equity companies have bought up hundreds of thousands of single family homes and placed them on the rental market…these homes tend to be located in communities with significantly more families of color than the national average.”
Five expert witnesses testified in front of the subcommittee, including:
- Jim Baker, Executive Director, Private Equity Shareholder Project
- Shad Bogany, Agent, Better Homes and Gardens
- Sofia Lopez, Deputy Campaign Director of Housing, Action Center on Race and the Economy
- Elora Lee Raymond, Assistant Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Jenny Schuetz, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institute
Baker, Lopez, and Raymond discussed the relationship between institutional investors acquiring single-family homes and increased rents and eviction filings. Bogany spoke about institutional investors targeting minority communities, charging high rent prices, and diminishing minority chances of homeownership. Schuetz highlighted the increasingly tight housing market, asserting that local zoning policies and regulations have hindered home building and driven high housing costs.
Democrats and Republicans disagreed on the causes and remedies for high housing costs. Ranking Member Rep. Tom Emmer and Rep. William Timmons (R-SC) emphasized inflation, accusing Democrats of using institutional investors as a scapegoat for policy and spending mistakes. In contrast, Rep. Nikema Williams (D-GA) and Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver (D-MO) emphasized the impact of institutional investment on minority communities. They advocated for closing the gap between investors and individuals in the homebuying process.
Continue readingUpcoming EHV Landlord Engagement Webinar Series
HUD will continue its Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) Landlord Engagement webinar series beginning Tuesday, June 28. The series is designed to address utilization challenges in competitive rental markets. The Zoom link along with a schedule for the series are listed below:
Zoom link for each webinar session
Landlord Financial Incentives
Tuesday, June 28, at 3 pm EDT
This webinar will focus on creating financial and other incentives to encourage private market landlords to lease their units to EHV households.
Marketing, Outreach, and Retention Strategies
Tuesday, July 12, at 3 pm EDT
This webinar will focus on landlord engagement and retention strategies and best practices for CoCs, PHAs, and other community partners.
Landlord Engagement and Unit Identification Webinar Wildcard (Office Hours Session)
Tuesday, July 26, at 3 pm EDT
During the webinar series and office hours, participants can let HUD know what they would like to see in the final webinar regarding EHV landlord engagement and unit identification.
Previously recorded webinars from the EHV Landlord Engagement series can be found here.
Housing Bills Move Forward in Committee
Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) held a markup for several housing-related bills. The House Financial Services Committee offered amendments to bills that will move forward once approved by a committee vote. Chair Waters opened the markup, saying, “The bills we are marking up today will benefit working families all across this country… by reducing the cost of housing…”
Two bills, the “Housing Temperature Safety Act of 2022” and the “Public and Federally Assisted Housing Fire Safety Act of 2022,” address the issue of fire safety in federal housing. The members who introduced the bills both represent cities where tragic fires occurred earlier this year – Philadelphia and the Bronx in New York City. After hearing comments from the bill sponsors, the committee voted to pass both bills.
The committee considered three other housing bills, including:
- HR 68, the “Housing Fairness Act of 2021” (Passed 28-24)
- HR 3111, the “Grandfamily Housing Act of 2021” (Passed 29-24)
- HR 4495, the “Downpayment Toward Equity Act of 2021” (28-23)
The bills would provide additional funding for fairness in homeownership and housing support for grandparents raising children. Committee members expressed greater disagreement on these bills. Republican members said they would not vote for additional funding until inflation subsides, while Democrat members said the bills address long-standing issues that deserve timely action. The committee voted to pass all three bills along party lines.
In addition to housing, the committee heard bills related to the banking industry and small businesses. The full markup and all bill texts are available on the House Financial Services Committee website.
The NAHRO Blog: Legislative & Policy Updates from Washington, DC 