HUD published a Final Rule in the Federal Register on July 24 to amend the Home Investment Partnerships (HOME) program regulations. The proposed rule had been issued in December 2011. The HOME program provides grant funding through formula allocation to states and local governments to...
On Aug. 5, HUD issued proposed fair market rents (FMRs) for fiscal year (FY) 2014. HUD is required by law to publish FMRs periodically, but not less than annually, adjusted to be effective on Oct. 1 of each year. Comments are due by Sept. 4, 2013. The notice can be found at https://...
HUD recently announced that it would hold a competition to attract talent and projects to help strengthen communities battered by Hurricane Sandy. The competition, Rebuild by Design, is part of the nearly $51 billion Sandy aid package approved by Congress in January.
HUD has recently selected a public housing authority located in Middletown, Ohio, for an on-site three-day Civil Rights Compliance Review. HUD, the Office of Fair and Equal Opportunity, and Columbus Fair Housing Center chose the Middletown Public Housing Agency for the review and will focus on...
HUD recently issued proposed rules intended to harmonize its pet deposit policies. Agents and owners of sites designated for the elderly or handicapped aren’t allowed to discriminate against residents or applicants that own or keep a common household pet [HUD Handbook 4350.1, Ch. 32, Sec....
A scathing audit released on June 3 by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Legislative Analyst has highlighted multiple problems within the San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA). The SFHA was the first public housing authority established in California and remains the 17th...
On April 30, HUD and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a joint statement concerning the Fair Housing Act requirement that multifamily housing be designed and constructed so as to be accessible to persons with disabilities. The new guidance aims to help design professionals, developers...
On May 22, HUD released Annual Adjustment Factors (AAFs) for the Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) program for fiscal year 2013. The AAFs, published annually by HUD in the Federal Register, are used to adjust contract rents for units during the initial term of the HAP contract...
HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan recently released details of the Obama administration’s proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 HUD budget. HUD’s proposed 2014 budget provides $47.6 billion, an increase of $4.2 billion or 9.7 percent above the 2012 enacted level, and a 6.7 percent increase over...
If you have residents who still receive a paper check for Social Security or other federal benefit payments, they were required by law to switch to an electronic payment method by March 1, 2013. In order to remain consistent with HUD regulations, benefits received through direct deposit or the...
On March 22, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in case filed by a housing authority against the United States, alleging that the government breached a low-income housing assistance payments contract by requiring the authority to submit rent comparability studies to receive...
In a memo to staff sent on Feb. 28, Deputy HUD Secretary Maurice Jones said “the impact of sequestration on HUD programs will be dramatic.” The Secretary has testified that over 200,000 people will lose their HUD-funded housing assistance and that HUD must also reduce its salaries...
