Housing Choice Vouchers

Yesterday, HUD released PIH Notice 2021-15, which outlines the requirements for PHAs to operate the $5 billion for Emergency Housing Vouchers that was included in the American Rescue Plan Act. HUD will be allocating approximately 70,000 vouchers to PHAs and have until May 10 to notify them of their allocation. PHAs will then have 14 days to accept or decline the award.

HUD is expected to announce a webinar shortly in which staff will cover the details of the notice for PHAs. CLPHA will also review the notice during our next member call on Monday, May 10 from 1-2 PM ET.

Notable requirements for the vouchers include:

Allocation and Reallocation 

• The allocation formula is based on capacity as measured by the PHA’s leasing potential, local homeless need as measured by HUD’s January 2020 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count, and local at-risk of homelessness need based on American Community Survey data from 2013-2017 of rental households with incomes less than 30% of Area Median Income (AMI). 

• There is a minimum voucher allocation of 25 vouchers, with additional adjustments for rural areas. 

• Initial allocation will be based on the PHA’s per unit cost (PUC), adjusted for inflation and taking into consideration that the initial funding term is through December 31, 2022. PHAs will want to consider whether HUD’s initial funding amount includes sufficient funding to cover HAP through December 31, 2022. 

• HUD will monitor EHV leasing but will evaluate leasing progress for the purposes of reallocation no sooner than one year after the effective date of the PHA’s EHV funding increment.  A separate HUD notice will detail the process HUD will use to evaluate and reallocate unissued vouchers and will be published at least four months before leasing performance is evaluated. 

Fees 

• The EHV fee structure includes: 

• A one-time preliminary fee of $400 per EHV that is allocated to the PHA for start-up costs related to planning and development for the new vouchers. 

• A placement fee to cover expenses related to initial lease-up, and expedited issuance fees that vary based on how quickly the PHA leases the voucher. 

• Ongoing administrative fees similar to HCV admin fees, which will be allocated for each EHV under HAP contract as of the first day of the month. 

• Service fees that are one-time and amount to $3,500 per voucher allocated, and can be used for services including housing search assistance, security and utility deposits, holding fees, owner recruitment and outreach, owner incentive or retention payments, moving expenses, tenant readiness services such as credit repair, essential household items, and renter’s insurance if required by the landlord. There is no HAP/service fee fungibility. 

Eligibility and Waiting Lists 

• To be eligible for EHV, the individual or family must meet one of four eligibility categories: 

• Homeless  

• At risk of homelessness 

• Fleeing, or attempting to flee, domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking, or human trafficking 

• Recently homeless and for whom providing rental assistance will prevent the family’s homelessness or having high risk of housing instability 

• HUD is requiring PHAs receiving EHVs to enter into an MOU with their Continuum of Care (CoC). The CoC will be responsible for making direct referrals to PHAs of qualifying individuals or families for EHV. PHAs cannot select families from their HCV waiting list and instead must inform any eligible families on their waiting list about EHV and advise them to contact their CoC for a program referral. 

• In addition to referrals from the CoC, PHAs can use EHVs to as part of an emergency transfer in accordance with the PHA’s VAWA Emergency Transfer Plan. 

• HUD has provided a waiver for PHAs to maintain a separate EHV waiting list to manage program referrals and is waiving the requirement that PHAs give public notice when opening and closing the EHV waiting list. 

• While HUD’s mandatory prohibitions for denial of assistance to an applicant still apply to EHV, HUD is limiting the permissive prohibitions allowed under EHV to avoid excluding households with a history of substance abuse that is a root cause of their homelessness.  

Waivers 

• HUD is making several waivers available for PHAs to administer EHVs, many of which are currently in use as part of the response to COVID-19. These include self-certification of income and identity, self-certification for initial and interim inspections, waiving the oral briefing requirement, modifying the initial lease term, and changes to the Admin Plan without board approval. 

Porting and Payment Standards 

• HUD is limiting the PHA’s ability to restrict porting for EHV families and the receiving PHA cannot refuse to assist an incoming EHV family regardless of whether it does not currently administer any EHVs. 

• PHAs may establish separate higher payment standards for EHV and establish a payment standard between 90-120% of FMR without HUD approval. 

Project-Basing 

• Project-basing of vouchers is not permitted. 

MTW Agencies 

• MTW agencies must request approval from HUD to administer EHVs in accordance with any flexibilities provided to them under the MTW Standard Agreement or Operations Notice 

• EHV funding is not eligible for MTW fungibility. 

Termination of Vouchers Upon Turnover 

• Per the statute, PHAs may not reissue EHVs when an assisted family leaves the program after September 30, 2023. 

Data Collection and Reporting 

• PHAs will not enter EHV tenant information into PIC but will instead use a new reporting system, PIC-NG, that HUD has developed as part of MTW expansion.