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HUD announced the implementation of federal disaster assistance for areas of Louisiana affected by Hurricane Ida. The president’s declaration of these places as disaster areas allows HUD to aid impacted families living in identified parishes. As part of the assistance, HUD has issued a package of 27 regulatory waivers to make it easier for communities to respond quickly in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida.
HUD has published the fiscal year 2022 Fair Market Rents (FMRs). The FMRs are effective Oct. 1. FMRs are used to determine payment standards for HUD’s various housing programs. In general, the FMR for an area is the amount that a tenant would need to pay the gross rent (shelter rent plus utilities) of privately owned, decent, and safe rental housing of a modest nature; HUD’s housing assistance payments for residents are limited by FMRs for different geographic areas, including Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs).
FCC Acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel recently announced that over four million households have enrolled in the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, the nation’s largest broadband affordability program to date. The $3.2 billion subsidy program initiated by Congress provides a temporary $50 to $75 discount on eligible households’ Internet bills during the duration of the pandemic.
Recommendations include processes to address lead paint hazards.
On July 6, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) updated its April 2020 list of priority recommendations for HUD. The earlier list outlined 17 “priority open” recommendations—those that warrant priority attention from heads of key departments or agencies because their implementation could:
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report on a review the office made on HUD’s efforts to address lead paint hazards. HUD has primary responsibility for identifying lead paint hazards in housing receiving HUD assistance, including private rental units in the voucher program. Some members of Congress have raised questions about whether the voucher program should change from visual assessments to a stricter lead evaluation method.
HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge and Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently testified in a joint hearing on the American Jobs Plan for the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. The infrastructure plan seeks to expand affordable housing, and the joint hearing focused on how housing and transit work together to support communities and jobs, and the importance of housing as infrastructure.
HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge and U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra recently announced a joint-agency effort to increase access to COVID-19 prevention and treatment services, including testing and vaccines, among disproportionately affected communities, including among HUD-assisted households and people experiencing homelessness.
On May 5, 2021, a federal judge in the District of Columbia set aside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) nationwide moratorium on residential evictions, which the CDC had recently extended beyond its congressionally approved expiration date of March 31 to June 30, 2021 [Alabama Association of Realtors, et al. v. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services].
On March 31, the White House released an outline of a $2 trillion plan to rebuild U.S. infrastructure, with a focus on stimulating the long-term recovery of the American economy, combating climate change, and addressing persistent racial injustice. The framework, called the American Jobs Plan, calls for boosting federal investment in a range of infrastructure systems, including housing, transportation, schools, broadband, electric grid, and drinking water systems.
A recent study sought to glean lessons from the state and local rental assistance programs launched in 2020 before the emergency rental assistance programs funded by the coronavirus relief package signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020, ramps up. The difficult task of administering these funds will fall to state and local governments, many of which have never provided direct rental assistance, or will need to scale up their 2020 efforts significantly.
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