The FY2020 Appropriations Act made $20,000,000 available for competitive grants to public housing agencies to evaluate and reduce housing-related hazards including carbon monoxide and mold in public housing through the Housing-related Hazards Capital Fund Program. HUD released its Grants Notice for the program today.
Applications are due to HUD by May 25 and should be submitted here. There is an award floor of $10,000 and an award ceiling of $4,000,000.
On Tues., March 16th, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs held a virtual hearing called “Home = Life: The State of Housing in America”. The hearing covered a wide variety of housing topics, including affordable housing, housing finance, and access to homeownership.
Chairman Brown (D-OH) noted that it had been nine years since the committee held a hearing on housing for all Americans, especially, “homeowners looking to buy a lower cost home, seniors on a fixed income, and renters working a minimum wage job.”
Five witnesses spoke about the areas of housing within their expertise. Dr. Chris Herbert from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies explained how the public, private, and nonprofit sectors can work together to address major housing issues. Diane Yentel, President and CEO of the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) outlined the housing needs of extremely low-income households. She urged the committee to support the “Public Housing Emergency Response Act,” which would authorize $70 billion for the public housing capital needs backlog.
The remaining three witnesses covered affordable homeownership and housing finance. They included Nikitra Bailey from the Center for Responsible Lending, Edward J. Pinto from the AEI Housing Center, and Ed DeMarco from the Housing Policy Council.
After presenting their testimonies, each witness answered questions from committee Senators. Senator Ossoff (D-GA) asked about the best way to distribute emergency Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) in response to COVID-19. Ranking Member Toomey (R-PA) spoke to the last two witnesses about housing market reform, including changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Senator Smith (D-MN), chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development, asked Dr. Herbert about increasing the stock of affordable housing in rural communities.
Senator Warren (D-MA) discussed public housing with Diane Yentel, stating, “through decades of underinvestment and unnecessary restrictions, Congress has helped create this crisis – that means that Congress can help fix it by making serious investments in increasing the supply of affordable housing and expanding public housing for the first time in decades.”
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will consider several pieces of housing-related legislation in the upcoming months.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced they will no longer defend the 2019 Public Charge rule and have withdrawn their appeal of an Illinois court decision invalidating the 2019 Public Charge rule. The result of DHS’s action is that the court’s decision striking down the 2019 Public Charge rule will become final and the previous 1999 interim field guidance (the immediate past policy) will apply.
Under the 1999 interim field guidance, DHS will not consider a person’s receipt of Medicaid (except for Medicaid for long-term institutionalization), public housing, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits as part of the public charge inadmissibility determination. In addition, medical treatment or preventive services for COVID-19, including vaccines, will not be considered for public charge purposes.
DHS Statement on Litigation Related to the Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility, March 9, 2021
DHS has pre-published a final rule, Inadmissibility on Public Charge Grounds; Implementation of Vacatur, that removes the 2019 Public Charge rule text from the Federal Register. The rule will take affect when published which is scheduled for March 15, 2021.
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.
On February 23, HUD released $2.7 billion to public housing agencies through the Public Housing Capital Fund program, included in the FY 2021 Appropriations Act. FY2021 included $19 million more in Capital Fund formula grants than FY 2020. NAHRO was pleased with the increase in funding as the Capital Fund is critical to ensure PHAs are able to build, renovate, and/or modernize their public housing properties.
HUD’s press release can be found here.
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:
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.
NAHRO and the National League of Cities are teaming up to bring their members critical information on eviction prevention strategies and the Treasury Department’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). The complimentary webinar will take place on Thursday, Feb. 18 at 12:30 pm ET. Registration information can be found here.
The webinar will also discuss the upcoming reconciliation process the new COVID-19 relief package will take through Congress, as well as an overview of eviction prevention strategies cities and community partners are implementing in the midst of COVID-19, and highlights of resources to prevent housing instability.
Information on ERAP is changing rapidly, and it is important for PHAs that want to partner with their State and/or local jurisdiction to be up to date. Join the NAHRO and NLC teams to hear the latest information on ERAP, including information on family eligibility and eligible use, along with an update on how the new administration plans on implementing the program. We will also be joined by a PHA that will share how their housing authority has partnered with the local jurisdiction to provide local emergency rental assistance.
The NARHO and NLC teams look forward to sharing this important information! Register Now for the important webinar.
On February 11, HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) released a memo implementing President Biden’s Executive Order on preventing discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. The Executive Order directs federal agencies to assess agency actions taken under federal statutes that prohibit sex discrimination and fully enforce those statutes to include prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. As a result of the Executive Order, FHEO will begin accepting for filing and investigating all complaints of sex discrimination including sexual orientation and gender identity. FHEO will also conduct all other activities involving the application, interpretation, and enforcement of the Fair Housing Act’s prohibition on sex discrimination to include discrimination because of sexual orientation and gender identity. The memo also impacts state and local agencies that enter agreements with HUD under the Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) and the Fair Housing Initiative Program.
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.
In late-Jan., HUD published a notice titled “Financial Reporting Requirements for the Housing Choice Voucher and Mainstream Voucher Program Submitted through the Financial Assessment Subsystem for Public Housing (FASS-PH) and the Voucher Management System (VMS)” (PIH 2021-08). The notice details the requirement for submitting year-end financial information and submitting leasing and cost information through VMS.
There are certain entity-wide reporting requirements for entities with HCV programs and certain other financial reporting requirements. It states that for PHAs with both a public housing program and HCV program, entity-wide information should be submitted through the FASS-PH system. For PHAs that only have HCV programs, the notice provides alternative requirements, depending on whether the PHA with the HCV program is a stand-alone reporting entity; a part of a non-profit agency or non-general-purpose government entity; or part of a larger general-purpose government entity. Certain general-purpose government entities may also be required to procure independent public accountant services for financial and compliance procedures. The Department also requires that the financial data schedule (FDS) be issued as supplementary information to the financial statements.
Housing agencies with HCV programs are required to submit financial statements based on their fiscal year-end date. For those agencies that have a different fiscal year-end dated (based on the larger government entity’s or the larger non-profit’s fiscal year-end date), the notice provides information to align their organization’s fiscal year-end date with HUD’s systems.
The notice provides information on certain other topics. The notice provides information on the financial data schedule due dates depending on the agency’s fiscal year end. The notice also provides information on times when it is appropriate to request a FASS waiver or extension and the process to do so. There is also information on the programs that are required to reported in the financial data schedule (including CARES Act funding). There is also very basic information on the deadlines for VMS data entry. Finally, the notice provides information about non-compliance with HUD requirements and information on the possible administrative fee sanctions.
The full notice can be found here.
The NAHRO Blog: Legislative & Policy Updates from Washington, DC 