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Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) recently reintroduced legislation requiring tenant surveys by HUD in response to what they call “deplorable living conditions at several subsidized-housing properties in Florida.”

The bill would require HUD Project-Based Contract Administrators to survey tenants at sites with Housing Assistance Payment contracts twice a year about site conditions and management in order to identify consistent or persistent problems with the physical condition of the structure or the performance of the manager of the structure.

Earlier this month the Insider conducted an informal reader survey to find out what changes assisted housing professionals expect with the new administration. We received 188 responses. A PDF showing the full results in chart and table form is available here. Highlights are:

The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee recently held a hearing to consider the nomination of Dr. Ben Carson to serve as HUD secretary. In his testimony, Dr. Carson spoke about his experience living in poverty in Detroit and Boston. “I grew up in inner city Detroit with a single mother who had a third grade education, but who worked numerous jobs to keep a roof over our heads and to put food on our table. I understand housing insecurity,” he said in his written testimony.

On the same day as Dr. Ben Carson’s confirmation hearings, Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ) introduced H.R. 482 and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced a companion bill, S. 103. Both bills are titled the “Local Zoning Decisions Protection Act of 2017.” The bills would nullify the new Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation and the Assessment Tools associated with the rule.

The New York City Commission on Human Rights kicked off the New Year by charging five large landlords and brokerage firms with repeatedly discriminating against prospects based on their lawful source of income, a violation of the city’s Human Rights Law. Together, the landlords and brokerage firms control approximately 20,000 units citywide, according to the commission.

The Senate recently approved a House-passed continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government funded through April 28, 2017, and sent it to President Obama’s desk for signature. The CR was approved by a vote of 63 to 36 in the Senate and 326 to 96 in the House.

HUD recently released the Community Assessment Reporting Tool (CART). CART is a reference and mapping tool created to help answer the question, "How is HUD investing in my community?" CART uses geospatial technology to show the wide variety of HUD investments by city, state, county, metropolitan area, or congressional district. It also provides an interactive mapping interface that allows users to explore HUD investments within their community and see property- and grant-level detail at a variety of geographies.

To help low-income youth and their families apply for federal student aid for college and other post-secondary educational opportunities, HUD recently awarded approximately $2.5 million to nine public housing authorities (PHAs) to hire "Education Navigators" to guide them through the application process.

HUD recently issued a memorandum to promote the use of homeless preferences at HUD-assisted sites. Multifamily Regional Centers or Satellite Offices may now approve both a special and an add-on management fee to cover eligible staff time expenses incurred by owners when establishing and managing a homeless preference.

HUD recently finalized a new method to establish the Fair Market Rents (FMRs) upon which rental subsidies are based in a manner that would expand neighborhood options for households living in particularly challenging housing markets. This was done to address the limited choices for suitable affordable rental housing for families who depend upon the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program in some metropolitan areas of the country.