CARH’S BROADCAST E-MAIL – Regulatory Update

August 31, 2018

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published a Notice in today’s Federal Register on the Fair Market Rents for the Housing Choice Voucher Program, Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy Program, and Other Programs Fiscal Year 2019.

The Housing Opportunities Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA) requires the Secretary to publish Fair Market Rents (FMRs) not less than annually, adjusted to be effective on October 1 of each year. The Notice describes the methods used to calculate the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 FMRs and enumerates the procedures for Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) and other interested parties to request reevaluations of their FMRs, as required by HOTMA.  HOTMA also revised the procedure by which HUD publishes its annual FMRs. Specifically; HUD is no longer required to publish proposed Fair Market Rents (FMRs) for comment in the Federal Register. Instead, HUD may post the FMRs on HUD’s website and announce such posting by notice published in the Federal Register. Today’s Notice provides that announcement. Click here to go directly to the FMRs. The FMRs are effective October 1, 2018, unless HUD receives a request of re-evaluation of a specific area. Comments and/or requests for re-evaluation are due by October 1, 2018.

These FMRs are used for several purposes. Specifically, the FMRs in the Notice are used to determine: (i) the payment standard amounts for the Housing Choice Voucher program; (ii) initial renewal rents for some expiring project-based Section 8 contracts; (iii) initial rents for housing assistance payment contracts in the Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy program; and (iv) to serve as a rent ceiling in the HOME program. FMRs are also used in calculating flat rents in Public Housing units.

To help inform PHAs’ decisions concerning reevaluation requests, the Notice briefly addresses HUD’s May 30, 2018 Notice regarding the use of FMR surveys in the calculation of Renewal Funding Inflation Factors.

If you have any questions, please contact the CARH national office at carh@carh.org or 703-837-9001.