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The Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) contract is a written agreement between a public housing agency (PHA) and the owner of a unit occupied by a Housing Choice Voucher program participant. The HAP contract must be in the form prescribed by HUD. Under the HAP contract, the PHA agrees to make housing assistance payments to the owner on behalf of a specific family leasing a specific unit.

HUD recently released a new version of HUD Form 92006. This new form has an expiration date of Feb. 28, 2019. A copy of HUD Form 92006 must be attached to application/pre-applications. Owners should discard any unused version of the form with an expiration date of Nov. 13, 2015, and replace unused forms with this new version. HUD Forms 92006 that have already been completed by applicants and residents don’t have to be replaced.

HUD recently released a new version of HUD Form 9834—Management Review for Multifamily Housing Projects. Form HUD-9834 is used by performance-based contract administrators (PBCAs) for management reviews of assigned Section 8 contracts. The new form fixes typos and provides a new expiration date. This new form has an expiration date of April 30, 2018.

All Management and Occupancy Reviews conducted from May 17, 2016, must use this new version of the form. All ...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Act, 2014, made several changes to the United States Housing Act of 1937. Five streamlining changes were implemented through a Federal Register notice on June 25, 2014. And on Jan. 6, 2015, HUD issued a proposed rule codifying these changes and proposing additional changes to streamline existing regulatory requirements.

HUD is amending the inspection protocol requirements to be followed by all Uniform Physical Condition Standards (UPCS) inspectors who conduct physical inspections of HUD-assisted and -insured properties. In 2010, HUD issued Inspector Notice 2010-01 establishing requirements when an inspector is informed of bed bugs at a site that is being inspected. Those requirements addressed reporting of bed bugs and the conduct of inspections. The new notice amends the requirements ...

HUD recently issued a new notice regarding the passbook savings rate, effective Feb. 1, 2016. The passbook savings rate hasn’t changed since 2014. The passbook savings rate to be used for all move-in, initial, annual, and interim recertification when a family has net assets over $5,000 is .06 percent. This .06 percent rate must be used until HUD publishes and makes effective a new passbook savings rate.

On Oct. 13, HUD published the Operational Cost Adjustment Factors (OCAFs) that will go into effect nationwide for eligible multifamily housing projects having an anniversary date on or after on Feb. 11, 2016. These factors are used for adjusting or establishing Section 8 rents under the Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and Affordability Act of 1997 (MAHRA), as amended, for projects assisted with Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments.

In August, HUD issued the long-awaited update to the Section 8 Renewal Policy Guidebook. This document applies to project-based Section 8 contracts, referred to as HAPs or PBRA contracts, and is important in establishing rents for the bulk of the existing subsidized housing portfolio. The last full guide was issued in 2008.

Like most sites, you communicate in writing with the public, applicants, and residents nearly every day. For example, you probably send out applications, leases, 50059 certification forms, letters, notices, brochures, and flyers. But did you know that HUD requires each of these written communications to contain specific language saying that your site doesn’t discriminate against individuals with disabilities [HUD Handbook 4350.3, par. 2-29(C)(3)]?

In HUD multifamily sites where the residents pay either all or a portion of their own utility expenses, HUD provides a utility allowance in addition to the subsidy for each unit. This utility allowance is based on an estimate of the average monthly utility costs for each unit size.