CARH’S BROADCAST E-MAIL – Regulatory Update

September 1, 2017

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 2018 and Adoption of Methodology Changes for Estimating Fair Market Rents.

The Housing Opportunities Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA) 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 2 unless HUD receives a request of re-evaluation of a specific area. Comments and/or requests for re-evaluation are due by October 1, 2017.

Today’s Notice also adopts the final changes to the methodology for estimating FMRs that was proposed by HUD in its May 26 Federal Register Notice. Those changes are provided in detail in today’s Notice.

These FMRs are used for several purposes. Specifically, the FMRs in this 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.

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