HUD Implements FAST Act, Authorizes Triennial Reexams

On Dec. 4, 2015, President Obama signed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) into law. The main housing feature of the law includes language giving housing authorities (HAs) and owners/managers the discretionary authority to conduct full income recertifications every three years for households with 90 percent or more of their unadjusted income from fixed-income, instead of annually.

HUD recently published an “interim final rule” in the Federal Register implementing the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act), which authorizes triennial reexams for some assisted families. As noted in the rule’s summary, similar options for verifying income from fixed sources were included in the streamlining final rule and were implemented in 2016. Under the recently issued interim rule, when at least 90 percent of a family’s income is from fixed-income sources, PHAs using streamlined income verification may, but are not required to, adjust the non-fixed income. For families with at least one source of fixed income, but for whom less than 90 percent of the family’s income is from fixed sources, PHAs and owners must verify and adjust non-fixed sources annually.

The notice also extends some streamlining options to multifamily programs including project-based rental assistance (PBRA). The options include triennial verification of assets (when total assets do not exceed $5,000) and quarterly payment of utility reimbursements when the quarterly total is $45 or less.