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An individual needs to earn $18.92 an hour to afford a two-bedroom rental at HUD-estimated Fair Market Rent, says a recently released report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC). This figure is referred to as the “Housing Wage.” This wage allows the individual to spend no more than 30 percent of income on housing costs. The report finds that today’s national average Housing Wage is more than two-and-a-half times the federal minimum wage...
On March 4, the Obama administration sent Congress its fiscal year (FY) 2015 budget, which proposed funding for federal programs. Despite the limited overall discretionary spending caps set by the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) for FY 2015, the budget request increases the gross Budget Authority by 2.6 percent over FY 2014 levels, and by 10.1 percent over FY 2013 sequestration levels, to $46.66 billion. It also increases investments in several key programs, including Tenan...
On Feb. 28, HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs posted the draft revised Section 8 Renewal Policy Guide for public comment. The Section 8 Renewal Policy Guide is HUD’s comprehensive guidance for renewing expiring Section 8 contracts. Like the recent changes to HUD Handbook 4350.3, the changes are set off with asterisks, and the eight-page transmittal lists all of the 90 proposed changes.
Currently, the use of residual receipts at the end of a project’s contract term is governed by regulatory use agreements and is restricted to a small number of uses related to the project itself and to uses that benefit tenants. A bill reintroduced by Representative Erik Paulsen (R-MN) would expand the use of residual receipts by amending the Low Income Housing Preservation and Resident Homeownership Act to allow use of the funds for potentially non-preservation p...
On Feb. 4, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced that, starting Oct. 1, 2014, it will no longer offer benefit verification letters at field offices. This announcement comes at a time when the SSA's budget has been significantly cut over the past three years.
HUD recently announced that the city of Hammond, Ind., and the Hammond Housing Authority (HHA) agreed to pay Maria Becerra, the former executive director of HHA, $200,000 to settle allegations that the city and HHA terminated her employment because she administered a HUD-funded rental assistance program that helped minority families move into predominantly white neighborhoods. In addition, HHA agreed to reopen its Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program waiting list and in...
On Jan. 17, President Obama signed a $1.1 trillion bill to finance the U.S. government through Sept. 30. The FY 2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 3547) is an omnibus spending bill that packages several appropriation bills together in one larger bill. It sets the final appropriations levels and funds all federally funded agencies, including HUD, through the end of FY 2014.
EIV system update 9.6 was released on Dec. 8, 2013. Some of the changes are applicable only to HUD internal users. The ones applicable to owners and managers are the following:
Property ID (Search Option): EIV has added the ability to obtain data by utilizing a Property ID search option along with Contract or Project numbers for HQ User Administrator, Helpdesk Personnel, HUD Field Office, Contract Administrator Coordinator, and Contract Administra...
The Office of Housing has authorized a global 30-day extension to all owners with fiscal years that ended Dec. 31, 2013. This extension is being offered to allow owners and auditors additional time to adapt to the requirements of Housing Notice H 2013-23, and the Financial Assessment Subsystem (FASSUB) release on Dec. 6, 2013, which implemented revisions to the HUD Consolidated Audit Guide, Handbook 2000.04. The new filing deadline is now April 30, 2014.
In Section 236 multifamily housing, HUD subsidizes the interest on an owner’s mortgage. In exchange, HUD sets a basic rent, and the tenant must pay either the basic rent or 30 percent of his income, whichever is higher. A Section 236 site may also receive other forms of rent subsidy under the rent supplement, Section 236 RAP, or Section 8 project-based assistance programs.
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