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HUD recently announced a voluntary compliance agreement with the Medina Metropolitan Housing Authority in Medina, Ohio, resolving allegations the housing authority discriminated against African Americans in the administration of its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act.
HUD recently announced a conciliation agreement with the Housing Authority of the City of Hazleton, Pa., settling allegations the housing authority discriminated against Hispanic households. The agreement resolves claims that the housing authority violated the housing rights of Spanish-speaking applicants and tenants by requiring them to supply interpreters in order to communicate with housing authority staff and by denying them limited English proficiency services.
On May 1, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Financial Services, introduced H.R. 2231, the “Public Housing Tenant Protections and Reinvestment Act of 2015.” The bill would authorize full funding of the public housing program and seeks to provide additional funds to address the significant backlog of capital needs. The bill would require that, when public housing must be demolished or sold, the units affected would have to be replaced on a one-for-one basis, reinstating a provision that Congress eliminated in 1995.
HUD recently released its Housing Choice Voucher Administrative Fee Study. Congress directed HUD to gather comprehensive and detailed data on the administrative costs associated with operating the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. The HCV program is administered by approximately 2,300 local, regional, and state PHAs. The funding these PHAs receive for running the HCV program includes the housing subsidy itself, plus administrative fees to cover the costs of running the program. This study is the first time that HUD has collected such empirical data.
The Davis–Bacon Act of 1931 is a U.S. federal law that sets the requirement for paying the local prevailing wages on public works projects for laborers and mechanics. It applies to “contractors and subcontractors performing on federally funded or assisted contracts in excess of $2,000 for the construction, alteration, or repair (including painting and decorating) of public buildings or public works.”
On March 31, HUD published a notice in the Federal Register establishing the terms and conditions by which HUD will approve an owner’s request to transfer the project-based rental assistance, statutorily required income-based use restrictions, and debt held or insured by HUD at a multifamily project that is obsolete or not economically viable to another property that is in better physical or financial condition.
On Feb. 9, 2015, a Notice of the Revised Contract Rent Annual Adjustment Factors (AAFs) for 2015 was published. AAFs established by this notice are used to adjust contract rents for units assisted in certain Section 8 housing assistance payment programs during the initial (that is, pre-renewal) term of the HAP contract and for all units in the Project-Based Certificate program. There are three categories of Section 8 programs that use the AAFs:
On March 6, 2015, HUD released the FY 2015 income limits and FY 2015 median family income estimates. These income limits are used to determine income eligibility for HUD’s assisted housing programs, including public housing, Section 8, Section 202, and Section 811. Participating owners must use these limits when processing move-ins and initial certifications (when applicable) effective March 6, 2015, or later. The newly issued income limits and further information regarding the income limits can be found at www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/il/il15/index.html.
HUD recently announced that it had reached a Conciliation Agreement with the city of Berlin, N.H. The agreement settles allegations that the municipality violated the Fair Housing Act when it enacted an ordinance requiring owners to evict tenants cited three or more times for “disorderly action,” including domestic violence incidents. The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to evict an individual because of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, or familial status.
HUD Secretary Julían Castro announced in a Feb. 27 letter to HUD employees that he was appointing Lourdes Castro Ramírez to be Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Public and Indian Housing (PIH).
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