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In April, HUD observed Fair Housing Month by initiating a campaign against sexual harassment. This year's theme focused on protecting individuals from harassment by property owners, managers, maintenance workers, or other residents, and helped educate the public about what behaviors and actions constitute sexual harassment and resources HUD offers to those who experience harassment.

HUD recently published the income limits for HUD programs. These new income limits are effective as of April 1, 2020. HUD sets income limits that determine eligibility for assisted housing programs including:

On March 18, HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing held a national conference call updating stakeholders on their COVID-19 response and operations. HUD staff who spoke on the conference call included Deputy Assistant Secretary Lamar Seats, Assistant Deputy Assistant Secretary Jeff Little, Deputy Director of the Office of Multifamily Production Tom Bernaciak, Director of Office of Asset Management Toby Halliday, and Senior Advisor Robert Iber.

In line with its ongoing process of increasing quality control procedures on REAC inspections, HUD recently implemented a new Quality Assurance Inspection (QAI) process, which may be done within five days of the REAC inspection. Generally, within two business days of the contract inspection, a federal inspector may assess the certified inspector’s performance using the same inspection protocol and same sample used by the certified inspector.

HUD recently issued new guidelines relating to assistance animals under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). Notice FHEO-2020-01, referred to as the “Assistance Animals Notice,” replaces prior HUD guidelines from 2013 and can be found at www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/PA/documents/HUDAsstAnimalNC1-28-2020.pdf.

A few months ago, HUD and its Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report identifying the top management challenges facing the Department in 2020 and beyond. One of the broad categories identified was ensuring the availability of affordable housing that’s decent, safe, sanitary, and in good repair. Within this category, HUD says its most noteworthy safe housing challenges include addressing lead paint hazards and hazardous waste in public housing.

HUD is in the process of overhauling its Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) physical inspection protocol. Last year, HUD drastically reduced the notice it would give managers of public and subsidized rental housing before REAC inspections to 14 calendar days. And HUD will eventually replace REAC inspections with a new physical inspection protocol known as the National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE), which will feature new standards, prot...

Applicant and tenant file records are important pieces of source documentation that’s used as evidence to support determinations and conclusions in all areas of occupancy. It’s important for a manager to ensure that all tenant application and occupancy files are maintained in accordance HUD rules and with an owner’s standard operating procedures. These files are subject to inspection by HUD to assure compliance with funding requirements and fair housin...

In 2016, President Obama signed into law the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA). HOTMA touched upon a broad range of topics. The housing law was enacted to expand housing providers’ ability to develop housing for extremely low-income households and streamline operational functions for housing providers.

Recently, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said that he’s “extremely grateful” that Tropical Depression Barry didn’t cause the devastating floods that had been projected. According to the National Weather Service, Barry was briefly a Category 1 hurricane, but the system weakened to a tropical storm and eventually became a tropical depression as a result of weakening winds. Still, after reaching land, the National Weather Service warned of ongoing ...