Managers Have Until Nov. 15 to Comment on Proposed Changes to Section 8 Renewal Policy Guide Book

This is a reminder that there is less than two weeks left to submit your comments on HUD’s proposed revisions to the Section 8 Renewal Policy Guide Book (see http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/mfh/mfhsec8.cfm). Several chapters in the Policy Guide Book have been revised completely. Included in the proposed changes are:

• Modifications to Chapter 7 of Handbook 4350.1 concerning budget-based rent increases for MAHRA contracts, including no longer allowing a 2 percent contingency reserve for projects owned by nonprofits or those projects once owned by nonprofits but sold to limited dividend partnerships and allowing nonprofit-owned projects with 100 percent Section 8 to include a vacancy rate of 5 percent in the budget.
• Clarify that Section 245 tenant notifications are not required for OCAF rent adjustments, but are required for budget-based rent adjustments.
• Remove the requirement in Chapter 3 that comparable rents should be reduced by the interest subsidy adjustment factor for Section 236, 221(d)(3) and 515 properties.
• Only permit the rent adjustments in a multiyear contract using a budget basis if the proposed rents do not exceed the market rents.
• Add language to the sample “One-Year Notification Letter Owner Intends to Renew,” which informs residents that they will receive a one-year notification should the owner decide not to renew the Section 8 contract.
• Add language that instructs project managers or contract administrators to notify the owner/purchaser of the new post-rehabilitation rents after receipt of the owner submission.
• Eliminate the requirement formerly found in Section 15-13.A. that a property must receive at least a 30 REAC score to participate in capital repairs under Chapter 15.