HUD

HUD’s Office of Housing updated its COVID-19 Q&As on August 9 to reflect the CDC’s new eviction moratorium order announced August 3 temporarily halting evictions in counties with heightened levels of transmission.

Last week, HUD published the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Fair Market Rents (FMRs). The new rents will become effective on October 1, 2021 for the Housing Choice Voucher program and Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy program, unless HUD receives a valid request for reevaluation of specific area Fair Market Rents (FMRs).

HUD updated its Multifamily Q&A for COVID-19 on July 29. The updated questions and answers pertain to which payments are to be included in tenant income calculations for HUD-assisted Multifamily housing and the Child Tax Credit.

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs will hold a nomination hearing to consider Julia Gordon to be Federal Housing Administration commissioner and assistant secretary for Housing at HUD at 10 a.m. ET on August 5. NH&RA sent a letter to the committee supporting Gordon’s nomination.

HUD published Housing Notice 2021-03 Forbearance Relief and Associated Tenant Protections for FHA-Insured, Section 202, HUD-held, and Risk Share Multifamily Loans, which details tenant protections during Multifamily forbearance.

HUD’s Office of Affordable Housing Programs (OAHP) is hosting a webinar series to assist communities in planning for their allocation of HOME-American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding in advance of HUD publishing an implementing notice for the program. 

On Friday, the full House Appropriations Committee approved FY 2022 funding for HUD with a 33-24 vote. The bill includes $56.5 billion in HUD funding, a $6.8 billion (12 percent) increase over FY 2021. If enacted in its current form, several programs would see substantial increases over FY 2021 levels. This includes $500 million in additional funding for the HOME program, a $545 million for project-based rental assistance contracts (sufficient to renew all PBRA contracts), $3.4 billion in additional tenant-based rental assistance ($1 billion of which would be set aside for new vouchers) and $1.2 billion in additional funding for CDBG. 

On Monday, the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee approved FY 2022 funding for HUD. The bill includes $56.5 billion in HUD funding, a $6.8 billion (12 percent) increase over FY 2021. If enacted in its current form, several programs would see substantial increases over FY 2021 levels.

A new proposed rule from HUD, Reinstatement of HUD’s Discriminatory Effects Standard, would rescind the Department’s 2020 disparate impact rule and restore the 2013 discriminatory effects rule. Comments are due by August 24.  

NH&RA sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs supporting the nomination of Julia Gordon as Federal Housing commissioner/assistant secretary for housing at HUD. The committee will consider Gordon’s nomination after they return from the Independence Day recess next week.  

HUD published a notice in the Federal Register extending the period by 180 days for which certain 2019 and 2020 qualified census tracts (QCTs) and difficult development areas (DDAs) are effective for purposes of the LIHTC. The notice, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and presidentially declared emergency, extends the eligibility period from 730 days to 910 days for properties in QCTs and DDAs that are not on subsequent lists of QCTs and DDAs and that submitted applications while the area was a 2019 or 2020 QCT or DDA.

HUD published a list of all the waiver requests it granted in the first quarter of 2021 for the offices of Community Planning and Development, Office of Housing and Office of Public and Indian Affairs. For further information about the regulatory waivers, please see the name of the contact person that immediately follows the description of the waiver granted.