HUD has released the final fiscal year 2012 fair market rents (FMRs) to become effective October 1, 2011. The primary uses of FMRs are to determine payment standards for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, to determine renewal rents for expiring project based Section 8 contracts, to determine initial rents for housing assistance payment contracts in the Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy program, and to serve as rent ceilings in the HOME program.
Despite a call from several industry groups, including NH&RA, HUD declined to limit decreases in FMRs to no more than five percent and declined to freeze FMRs at FY2011 levels. This has led to some disproportionate changes in several areas with relatively small populations. For example, in Concho County, Texas, the FMRs increased by 64.7 percent, from $595 to $980 and in the East Aleutians, Alaska, FMRs declined by 48.9 percent, from $1,143 to $584. These year-to-year changes are much larger than usual and can have a strong impact on local PHAs, property owners and tenants.
HUD did state that it would determine how many Random Digit Dialing (RDD) surveys it could administer based on ongoing funding levels and would evaluate those results to see if they are statistically different from the FY2012 FMRs. If so, HUD plans to revise the final FMRs for those areas. In addition, HUD is planning, in the future, to propose to use floors and caps of five percent, subject to comment, when the new area definitions are incorporated.
For technical information on the methodology used to develop FMRs or a listing of all FMRs, please visit the HUD Website.
To read the proposed comments on the FY2012 FMRs from NH&RA and other industry groups, click here.
