HUD has announced a series of proposals to ensure that its core housing programs are open to all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Although there are no national assessments of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) housing discrimination, there are state and local studies that have shown this sort of bias. For example, Michigan's Fair Housing Centers recently found that nearly 30 percent of same-sex couples were treated differently when attempting to buy or rent a home.
HUD is strongly encouraging owners and managers of HUD-subsidized housing sites to take a zero-tolerance approach to ensuring that lifetime sex offenders are prevented from receiving federal housing assistance. The Notice, issued on Sept. 9, 2009, reiterates the current regulatory requirements whereby site owners and managers must perform necessary criminal history background checks to determine whether an applicant, or a member of the applicant's household, is subject to a lifetime registration requirement under a state sex offender registration program.
HUD charged a Wichita Falls, Texas, landlord with violating the Fair Housing Act (FHA) by publishing advertisements that discriminate against families with children. HUD alleges that the landlord posted a classified ad in a local real estate paper that read: “No drugs, no pets, no children.”
HUD has issued a new tool for site and leasing management to use in training staff who conduct tenant interviews. A Guide to Interviewing for Owners of HUD-Subsidized Multifamily Projects offers useful tips for the interview process, such as using the C.A.V.E. methodology to remember the important purposes of an interview:Collection of information;Analysis of the information to determine verification requirements and to resolve discrepancies;Verification of information; and
State housing credit agencies will be given more time todisburse funds they receive from the Treasury Department to subawardees that are acquiring or rehabilitating low-income tax credit housing sites. Under a new interim final rule, effective August 31, 2009, agencies receiving funds under section 1602 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 […]
HUD has announced the availability of $113 million in funding for its HOPE VI program, which converts distressed public housing into mixed-income sites.
The U.S. Department of Transportation, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Environmental Protection Agency have joined forces to create an interagency Partnership for Sustainable Communities to help improve access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment in communities nationwide.The partnership has outlined six “livability principles” that will act as a foundation for interagency coordination:
A household in Minnesota lived in a tax credit unit under a one-year lease that stated the lease could be terminated upon 60 days' written notice. Before the end of the lease term, the management company sent a notice saying it would not renew the lease, but did not provide any explanation why. When the household didn't move out when the lease expired, the management company evicted it. The household appealed its eviction, claiming the notice was invalid because it didn't specify “good cause” for nonrenewal.
Although the number of swine flu cases is likely to drop this summer, it is expected to resurface in the fall and winter, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To help site owners and managers develop or update their business continuity planning and emergency preparedness plans, the National Multi-Housing Council (NMHC) has created an online Pandemic Flu Resource Center at http://www.nmhc.org/goto/flu.
