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The 2021 Appropriations Act tasked HUD with studying the feasibility of creating a national evictions database. The database would collect information on three types of evictions: formal court-ordered evictions, extra-legal evictions (unlawful or self-evictions), and administrative evictions (PHA evictions of public housing residents). HUD’s Office of Public Policy Development and Research recently issued the feasibility report.

On Nov. 19, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act. The passed 220-213 and is now in the Senate for consideration. In a recent letter, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer told lawmakers to prepare for a busy remainder of the year. He has set a Christmas deadline for passing the Build Back Better Act. The timing is significant, since the proposal extends a key aid program, the expanded monthly child tax credit, that’s set to expire at...

In an Oct. 27 webinar presented by HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research, HUD announced the results of a Census Bureau Household Pulse survey that gathered data of COVID-19 vaccine status among persons living in public and assisted housing. The Household Pulse Survey is designed to quickly and efficiently deploy data collected on how people’s lives have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. HUD cross-checked the survey data with its own admini...

On Nov. 3, the House Rules Committee released amended text for the Build Back Better Act. The amended text includes $150 billion in funding for affordable housing and community development. If enacted, this bill would provide historic levels of funding for housing.

Recently, more than 20 major federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and HUD came out with new climate adaptation plans. The plans started from an executive order from President Biden calling for a whole-of-government approach to addressing climate change. The idea is to “embed adaptation and resilience planning and implementation” throughout agencies’ programs and operations, and to continually update those plans.

On Sept. 28, HUD published a Federal Register notice announcing the extension of the National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate and Associated Protocols (NSPIRE) to April 30, 2023. The NSPIRE demonstration is a part of HUD's efforts to test the overhaul of 20-year-old inspection protocols. The program tests new approaches for making certain thousands of public housing authorities and private owners provide housing that’s safe and livable.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury released updated Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) spending data through Aug. 31. The data shows that state and local ERA programs have distributed more than 1.4 million payments to households, totaling more than $7.7 billion to support the housing stability of vulnerable renters.

On Sept. 1, the White House released a fact sheet on the Biden administration’s efforts to increase the affordable housing supply. The plan is to create 100,000 additional affordable homes for homeowners and renters over the next three years, with an emphasis on the lower and middle segments of the market.

HUD announced the implementation of federal disaster assistance for areas of Louisiana affected by Hurricane Ida. The president’s declaration of these places as disaster areas allows HUD to aid impacted families living in identified parishes. As part of the assistance, HUD has issued a package of 27 regulatory waivers to make it easier for communities to respond quickly in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.

HUD has published the fiscal year 2022 Fair Market Rents (FMRs). The FMRs are effective Oct. 1. FMRs are used to determine payment standards for HUD’s various housing programs. In general, the FMR for an area is the amount that a tenant would need to pay the gross rent (shelter rent plus utilities) of privately owned, decent, and safe rental housing of a modest nature; HUD’s housing assistance payments for residents are limited by FMRs for different geograph...