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HUD recently published in the Federal Register the initial implementation guidance for the Housing Opportunity through Modernization Act (HOTMA). HOTMA, which President Obama signed into law in July, makes several modifications to housing assistance programs. The programs included in HOTMA include public housing, Housing Choice Vouchers, moderate rehabilitation, HOME investment partnership, Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS, and other programs.
HUD recently announced that it is charging the Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority in Warren, Ohio, with violating the Fair Housing Act by denying the reasonable accommodation requests of a family that includes a father and daughter with severe disabilities. The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing providers from denying or limiting housing to persons with disabilities, or from refusing to make reasonable accommodations in policies or practices for people with disabilities.
HUD recently published a notice that establishes operating cost adjustment factors (OCAFs) for Section 8 project-based rental assistance contracts with an anniversary date on or after Feb. 11, 2017. OCAFs are annual factors used primarily to adjust the rents for contracts renewed under Section 515 or Section 524 of Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and Affordability Act of 1997 (MAHRA).
On Sept. 29, 2016, President Obama signed into law H.R.5325 – Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act. This legislation, referred to as the short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, will keep the government agencies and programs funded through Dec. 9. The resolution will require lawmakers to return to Washington after the November elections to pass full-year appropriations for 11 of 12 of the normal appropriations bills.
HUD’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently reported that PHAs participating in the Moving to Work (MTW) demonstration have significantly higher costs for legal services than PHAs that are not part of the demonstration. The OIG also asserts that HUD didn’t provide adequate oversight of the MTW agencies to ensure that their legal costs were reasonable and necessary.
HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs recently issued Notice H2016-10 that reminds owners and management agents of HUD-assisted sites that they must maintain lead-based paint risk assessment and inspection records and lead disclosure forms as required by HUD’s Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention regulations at 24 CFR Part 35.
HUD recently issued two notices regarding energy benchmarking reporting, one for HUD-assisted or HUD-insured private multifamily housing, and one for public housing. Utility benchmarking involves tracking the utility consumption of a development on an ongoing basis, calculating the energy and water efficiency of the development, and comparing its efficiency to similar developments.
On Sept. 27, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) introduced the HUD Inspection Process and Enforcement Reform Act of 2016. This bill aims to protect low-income residents from dangerous living conditions while holding HUD accountable for prosecuting negligent property owners.
This bill would require property owners to comply with maintenance deadlines and would establish independent audits of HUD inspections. Rubio believes auditing inspections are necessary for holding HUD accountable and will result in firing incompetent landlords and inspectors.
HUD recently finalized a new rule to protect the housing of survivors of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. On March 7, 2013, President Obama signed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013) into law. The law significantly expanded the housing protections to survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, across HUD’s core housing and homelessness programs.
On Aug. 26, HUD published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Fair Market Rents (FMRs). This year, the Housing Opportunities Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA) revised the procedure by which HUD publishes its annual FMRs. Specifically, HUD is no longer required to publish proposed FMRs for comment in the Federal Register. Instead, HUD may post the FMRs on HUD’s website and announce such posting by notice published in the Federal Register.
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