A few months ago, HUD and its Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report identifying the top management challenges facing the Department in 2020 and beyond. One of the broad categories identified was ensuring the availability of affordable housing that’s decent, safe, sanitary, and...
HUD is in the process of overhauling its Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) physical inspection protocol. Last year, HUD drastically reduced the notice it would give managers of public and subsidized rental housing before REAC inspections to 14 calendar days. And HUD will eventually replace...
Applicant and tenant file records are important pieces of source documentation that’s used as evidence to support determinations and conclusions in all areas of occupancy. It’s important for a manager to ensure that all tenant application and occupancy files are maintained in...
In 2016, President Obama signed into law the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA). HOTMA touched upon a broad range of topics. The housing law was enacted to expand housing providers’ ability to develop housing for extremely low-income households and streamline operational...
Recently, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said that he’s “extremely grateful” that Tropical Depression Barry didn’t cause the devastating floods that had been projected. According to the National Weather Service, Barry was briefly a Category 1 hurricane, but the system...
In November 2018, HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) sent a letter to public housing agency (PHA) executive directors notifying them of their intent to reduce HUD’s public housing stock. Because Congress had failed to provide adequate funding for the public housing...
HUD recently issued joint notice PIH 2019-06, H 2019-05, OLHCHH 2019-01, regarding the installation of carbon monoxide (CO) detectors in HUD-assisted housing. Carbon monoxide is a byproduct of fuel-fired combustion appliances such as furnaces and water heaters. If not properly vented, this...
The Deputy Assistant Secretary for HUD’s multifamily housing programs recently issued a memorandum entitled “Approving the Delay of a Physical Inspection Beyond the New Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) Inspection Notification Timelines.” It provides guidance on when a field...
If your site has a housing assistance payments (HAP) contract, you may have gotten a late payment from HUD at one time or another. Late assistance payments can cause serious problems at your site. For example, if your site doesn’t have large reserves, it may not be able to make mortgage...
HUD occupancy regulations require all households living at Section 8 sites to pay a monthly rent of at least $25, unless the household qualifies for an exemption [HUD Handbook 4350.3, par. 5-26(D)]. This minimum rent doesn’t apply to Section 202 PAC, Section 202 PRAC, Section 811 PRAC, RAP...
HUD recently posted the Utility Allowance Adjustment Factors (UAFs) for 2019. HUD permits owners to use the UAFs to adjust baseline utility allowances prepared in accordance with Housing Notice 2015-04. The factors are effective for any site with an anniversary date on or after Feb. 11, 2019....
HUD recently released RHIIP Listserv #416, which explains that, due to technical difficulties, the New Hires, Employment, and Unemployment information in the Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system won’t be updated in November 2018 and in December 2018.
