Compliance

RSS

As a result of President Trump signing a new HUD appropriations bill in early May, the rules that govern what happens when a site fails its REAC inspection have changed. The appropriations bill included Section 223, which details changes to the required provisions for properties that score 59 or lower on an inspection. The changes underscore the growing scrutiny on physical inspection compliance at HUD assets.

HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing recently issued Notice PIH-2017-08, which provides guidance on complying with the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA 2013). The notice is directed to PHAs and owners of private housing who accept Housing Choice Vouchers.

An applicant or household member may claim to get no income from any source. In these situations, it’s important to be skeptical. HUD management reviewers and auditors scrutinize these claims to keep HUD from overpaying assistance to household members. If it turns out that a household member made a mistake or even lied to you about having no income—and you did nothing to verify the claim—HUD could require your site to reimburse the agency for the excess assistance it paid to the household member based on the claim of no income.

HUD recently published Notice PIH-2017-03, which provides guidance to public housing agencies (PHAs) regarding the implementation and enforcement of smoke-free policies as required by HUD’s final rule prohibiting smoking in public housing. The effective date of the rule is Feb. 3, 2017, and PHAs will have 18 months to implement their smoke-free policies.

HUD recently issued a Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) notice relating to noncitizen self-petitioner procedures under VAWA. This notice applies to public housing, Housing Choice Voucher assistance (including project-based vouchers), and Section 8 Mod Rehab.

HUD’s final rule implementing the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA) of 2013 was published in November 2016. The final rule details the requirements for HUD-covered programs and became effective on Dec. 16, 2016.

VAWA 2013 maintains protections for public housing, Section 8 vouchers, and project-based Section 8, and also expands the housing protections from VAWA 2005 to include the following programs (which includes HUD’s Homeless Assistance programs):

HUD recently published a notice in the Federal Register updating the list of items that public housing agencies and owners and managers of assisted sites are required to verify to determine whether a student’s income alone should be used to determine eligibility for Section 8 assistance. The updated items make HUD’s definition of “independent student” consistent with that used by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) since 2007.

HUD recently released HUD Housing Notice 2016-09, Streamlining Administrative Regulations for Multifamily Housing Programs. The notice provides guidance regarding the implementation of the Streamlining Final Rule. According to HUD, the Streamlining Rule will allow for improvements in program operations that reduce costs and enhance efficiency while maintaining HUD’s core program oversight functions. There are 16 programmatic changes found in this final rule, four of which apply to Multifamily Housing programs. The final streamlining rule was issued in March 2016.

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 requires jurisdictions receiving federal funds for housing and urban development to affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH). The Fair Housing Act not only makes it unlawful for jurisdictions to discriminate, but also requires jurisdictions to take actions to undo historic patterns of segregation and other types of discrimination, as well as to take actions to promote fair housing choice and to foster inclusive communities.

The news coming out of Flint, Mich., this year has brought much attention to the harmful effects lead poisoning can have on young children. According to calculations from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, switching to the Flint River as the city’s primary water source in an attempt to save around $5 million over the course of two years has, instead, cost $458 million. Only $58 million of that is expenditure by the state on medical care and unleaded water.