HUD Expands Funds for PHAs to Fight COVID-19

HUD recently announced the allocation of $380 million in supplemental administrative fee funding to all public housing authorities (PHA), including Moving to Work (MTW) PHAs. The two months of additional funding may be used for traditional administrative fees as well as for new costs related to protecting assisted families and employees throughout this coronavirus pandemic. The funding, made available by the CARES Act, will be awarded to PHAs across the nation.

The new eligible coronavirus-related activities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Procuring cleaning supplies and/or services to maintain safe and sanitary HCV units, including common areas of PHA-owned Project Based Voucher (PBV) projects.
• Relocating participating families to health units or other designated units for testing, hospitalization, or quarantine, or transportation to these locations to limit the exposure that could be caused by using mass transportation.
• Covering additional costs of supportive services vendors incurred due to coronavirus.
• Covering costs of retaining or increasing owner participation in the HCV program, such as incentive or retention costs (such as when the PHA offers an owner an incentive payment to participate in recognition of added difficulties of making units available for HCV families to rent while stay-at-home orders or social distancing practices are in effect).
• Covering costs of providing childcare for the children of PHA staff that would not have otherwise been incurred (for example, because children are at home due to school closings, PHA staff are working outside of regular work schedules, etc.).