On June 8, HUD issued Notice PIH 2023-13 titled “Guidance on housing individuals and families experiencing homelessness through the Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher Programs.” The Notice identifies strategies that PHAs can pursue to expand housing opportunities for individuals and families experiencing homelessness through the Public Housing and HCV programs. The notice revises the definition of homelessness for the purposes of reporting in IMS/PIC and outlines new guidance on how PHAs and CoCs can share data derived from IMS/PIC and the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). The notice also updates guidance on waitlist management and preferences, screening policies regarding criminal activity, substance use, and rental history, program termination and eviction policies, and information regarding pairing project-based vouchers with CoC Supportive Services to create Permanent Supportive Housing. The notice can be found here.
HUD Publishes Public Housing Capital Fund Notice of Funding Opportunity for PHAs in Receivership and Related Designations
Applications due August 21, 2023
PHAs who are in receivership or are considered substandard, troubled, or at-risk may apply for a new notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), and HUD intends to prioritize agencies in receivership. Agencies may submit one application for one asset management project in order to either address physical condition or management concerns using awards from this Capital Fund program. HUD expects to make five awards.
For more information, find the full grant announcement, which includes information about program requirements, application requirements, and eligibility information. Additionally, please see the grant description, the grants.gov webpage, and the June 15 edition of The NAHRO Monitor.
HUD Launches Initiative to Address LGBTQI+ Youth Homelessness
On June 8, HUD released the launch of a new initiative focused on better assisting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) youth experiencing homelessness. The initiative concentrates on partnering with stakeholders to address barriers to housing and access to shelters. The Department will work to encourage communities to develop solutions in meeting the needs of LGBTQI+ youth populations.
Technical assistance and recurrent training will be provided by HUD to shelters and service providers discussing resources and methods for better supporting LGBTQI+ youth. Additionally, listening sessions will be held by HUD with LGBTQI+ youth across the country in the near future.
Stakeholders should expect the release of a HUD toolkit focused on best practices in supporting LGBTQI+ youth and a FAQ about complying with the Equal Access Rule and Fair Housing Act in the coming months.
For new actions announced by the Biden-Harris Administration to protect LGBTQI+ communities, please see here.
HUD Publishes Notice on Form HUD-50058
Today, HUD published a notice titled “30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection: Family Report, MTW Family Report, MTW Expansion Family Report” in The Federal Register. The notice opens the 30-day comment period and requests public comments on proposed and additional changes on Form HUD-50058, Form HUD-50058 MTW, and Form HUD-50058 MTW Expansion Family Reports.
HUD is proposing several changes to the HUD-50058 Family Report and corresponding revisions to the HUD-50058 MTW and HUD-50058 MTW Expansion Reports for consistency. The data will be used to understand family profile, demographic, income, and housing information for all tenants in assisted housing nationwide. The revisions and changes will also allow HUD to collect information on the performance of programs and of the PHAs administering the programs.
Written comments and recommendations for the information collection can be sent here within 30 days of the notice publication date, until July 7, 2023.
More information on proposed changes will be detailed in the next edition of The Monitor.
HUD Announces More Than $43 Million in Stability Voucher Funding for PHAs and CoCs
On June 5, HUD announced that they will make $43,439,000 in funding available for 3,379 Stability Vouchers. The vouchers are targeted to address homelessness among people in unsheltered settings and in rural communities. The vouchers will be made available to 135 public housing authorities (PHAs) and partnering Continuum of Care (CoC) communities within 34 States.
Funding for the Stability Vouchers was made available through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which emphasizes the purpose of assisting families at risk of homelessness and those experiencing or attempting to flee domestic violence and sexual assault. A notice of interest (Notice PIH 2022-24) for the Stability Voucher Program, which explained procedures and requirements of the program, was published by HUD in August of 2022 and ended in October 2022.
All recipients of the awarded vouchers received at a minimum five vouchers. The range of vouchers received varied from five all the way to 377 vouchers to a single PHA.
For the full list of PHAs and partnering CoCs to receive funding please see here.
HUD Publishes HCV Mobility NOFO
On June 1, HUD published a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) titled “Housing Mobility-Related Services.” The NOFO makes available $25 million for PHAs with voucher programs to use for mobility purposes. The Department expects to make 11 awards with a minimum award of $750,000 and a maximum award of $5 million. The application deadline is 11:59:59 pm ET on Aug. 30, 2023.
Eligible housing agencies are those with Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) annual contributions contracts (ACC) with HUD. Housing agencies may apply jointly, but the grant lead will be the lead PHA. Additionally, HUD will only consider one funding application per PHA.
Funds will be available for five years, and housing agencies must serve at least 300 families with at least one child aged 17 or younger. A PHA’s average annual caseload must be between 50 and 200 families.
As a part of their application, PHAs will have to submit a detailed housing mobility plan. The plan should discuss mobility related services (including financial assistance), administrative policies, and a cost proposal. The Department estimates that the average cost per family will be between $2,500 and $4,500. Program funds will only be disbursed to the lead PHA.
After the award, PHAs will have six months for a planning phase. This phase can be extended to a full year. After the planning phase, HUD will review the housing mobility plan and detail required changes.
Housing agencies must provide certain minimum mobility-related services and enact certain policies. Minimum services provided must include pre-move services; housing search assistance; direct outreach to opportunity area (defined as census tracts with a family poverty rate of 10% or lower) landlords; lease-up assistance; security deposit assistance only for rental units in opportunity areas; flexible family financial assistance; salaries and benefits for qualified staff; and program participant engagement in designing the mobility plan. Housing agencies must also adopt certain policies including high payment standards (110% of the Fair Market Rent [FMR], Small Area FMR, or an explanation of the rationale for not having high payment standards); minimum voucher search time of 90 days with a 30 day extension; permitting non-resident applicants to participating in the mobility program to port. There are certain optional mobility related services that PHAs may allow too.
Finally, PHAs may use up to 15% of the award for reasonable administrative costs.
The full mobility NOFO may be found here.
2023 State Of Homelessness Report Released
The National Alliance to End Homelessness (the Alliance) released their 2023 State of Homelessness report on May 16. It provides an overview of homelessness within the U.S. in 2022 and uses data from HUD’s 2022 Homeless Assessment Report to Congress (AHAR) to analyze different trends.
According to their analysis, the Alliance estimates that 18 out of every 10,000 people experienced homelessness across the U.S. in 2022 based on the data taken from HUD. The report highlights rates of homelessness that have shown to rise since 2017 with a modest increase between 2020 and 2022 of nearly 2,000 people.
Most significantly, the report includes various charts and graphs highlighting the number of people experiencing homelessness by type, race/ethnicity, and gender. It also includes charts that display different data revolved around unsheltered homeless populations and rates/trends of homelessness by state.
For the full report, please see here.
The Three Cs of Small Agencies Webinar Series: Capacity
May 30 at 1:00pm ET
Join the NAHRO Small Agency Advisory Committee for a webinar focused on building capacity in two ways on May 30 from 1:00 to 1:30pm ET. First, Sean Gilbert, Executive Director of Tennessee Valley Housing Services, will discuss using strategic planning as a first step in pursuing agency goals. Second, Lashun Bland, Senior Director of Operations of the Lonoke County Housing Authority, will discuss maximizing the impact of each PHA staff member. Both will present actionable examples that attendees can use to increase their own agency’s capacity.
Registration Link: https://nahro-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_K_V_RtgQQPSqMbstaFdepQ
HUD Extends Period of Availability for ARP Act Adjustment Funding for the HCV and Mainstream Program
On May 16, HUD published a notice titled “Extension of Period of Availability for American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act – Adjustment Funding for Calendar Year 2021 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program and Mainstream Vouchers Renewal Funding.” Previously, under PIH Notice 2021-23, PHAs could request additional Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) funding as adjustments to calendar year (CY) 2021 HAP funding for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) and Mainstream programs. Among other things, the prior notice allowed PHAs to request additional HAP for increases in per unit costs (PUC), under the “extraordinary circumstances” category. The prior notice set the deadline for expenditure of funds awarded through this category on June 30, 2022. This notice extends the deadline to December 31, 2023 to report those funds.
Additionally, the notice provides guidance on appropriately reporting the funds in the Voucher Management System (VMS).
Funds that have not been expended by the new deadline will be reconciled and used in the Emergency Housing Voucher program (as they were initially taken from the appropriation for that program).
The full notice can be found here.
New Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Public and Indian Housing Appointed
On May 16, HUD announced that Richard Monocchio will begin as PIH Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) on May 22, 2023. In summarizing his experience with PIH programs, HUD emphasizes PDAS Monocchio’s focus on resident-centered programs. Based on his work on large scale housing projects in his most recent position as Housing Authority of Cook County Executive Director, in addition to his community goals, HUD expects PDAS Monocchio to impact PIH programs’ high-level needs. For additional information about PIH leadership, see the PIH Headquarters staff directory.
The NAHRO Blog: Legislative & Policy Updates from Washington, DC 