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Public housing agencies (PHAs) were required to implement smoke-free policies by July 31. The no-smoking policy applies to all public housing units, interior areas (including but not limited to hallways, rental and administrative offices, community centers, day care centers, laundry centers, and similar locations), and outdoor areas within 25 feet of public housing and administrative office buildings.
HUD recently approved a Voluntary Compliance Agreement (VCA) between the Hawaii Disability Rights Center and the Hawaii Public Housing Authority (HPHA). The HPHA has agreed to upgrade living units to meet accessibility standards, resolving a federal investigation that unearthed hundreds of violations last year. HUD had investigated HPHA in response to a complaint filed two years ago by the head of the Hawaii Disability Rights Center.
Cityscape, a journal of policy development and research, recently published “Work Requirements and Well-Being in Public Housing.” The study examined how implementation of a work requirement paired with supportive services by Charlotte Housing Authority has impacted residents’ overall well-being.
The House of Representatives recently passed the Housing Choice Voucher Mobility Demonstration Act of 2018. It aims to help more Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) households move to communities of their choice, such as communities with high-performing schools, safe neighborhoods, and jobs. The demonstration would allow PHAs to provide housing mobility services, including pre- and post-move support, such as financial coaching for voucher holders who want to move to a high-opportunity area, outreach to landlords to recruit more of them to participate, and housing search assistance.
HUD recently issued a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for its Housing Counseling Grant program for fiscal year (FY) 2018. All HUD-approved counseling entities, including state HFAs, are eligible to apply.
HUD expects to award $47 million in housing counseling grants to around 300 different recipients in FY 2018. For FY 2017, HUD awarded $47 million in grant funding to 255 different housing counseling agencies, including just over $7.8 million combined to 19 state HFAs.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson was recently in Sarasota, Fla., to join the Sarasota Housing Authority and local police for their annual book distribution event. HUD partners with local housing authorities, the National Book Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, the Urban Libraries Council, and the National Center for Families Learning on the Book Rich Environments initiative, which aims to promote literacy and improve educational outcomes by providing books to children living in public housing.
HUD recently published PIH 2018-12, “Process for Public Housing Agency Volunteer Transfers and Consolidations of Housing Choice Vouchers and Project-Based Vouchers.” The notice can be found at https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/PIH/documents/pih2018-12.pdf.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted on June 7 to approve draft legislation to largely boost or maintain spending on housing programs. A similar bill was approved last month by the House appropriations panel. The Senate’s $71.4 billion measure increases spending on programs by more than $1 billion over 2018 levels. The bill now heads to the Senate floor.
HUD effectively suspended the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, a 2015 regulation that required any community receiving HUD development block-grant funding to routinely identify instances of racial segregation and provide solutions to counter them. Those local governments were required to submit a summary of their findings and goals to HUD for approval.
On May 24, President Trump signed the Family Self-Sufficiency Act into law. The Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Act permanently reauthorizes the program; combines the FSS programs for Housing Choice Vouchers and public housing, which are currently run separately; and expands eligibility to include families in privately owned properties subsidized with HUD project-based rental assistance. The program also offers new services for financial literacy and educational attainment.
RSS