HUD Awards $472M to PHAs to Help Keep Residents Housed

HUD recently announced $472 million in CARES Act funding to help low-income families during the coronavirus pandemic. This funding can be used by public housing authorities (PHAs) to help families assisted by Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) and mainstream vouchers prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus. The funding is made available by the CARES Act legislation President Trump signed into law on March 27, 2020.

The 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.
• Relocation of 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.
• Additional costs to supportive services vendors incurred due to coronavirus.
• Costs to retain or increase owner participation in the HCV program, such as incentive or retention costs (for example, 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).
• Costs for providing childcare for the children of PHA staff that would not have otherwise been incurred (for example, children are at home due to school closings, PHA staff are working outside of regular work schedules, etc.).