HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) issued Notice PIH 2023-23, adding two new activities that may be funded with Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) service fees. The Notice also expands the descriptions of several existing eligible activities, providing additional uses for the service fees. The EHV program provides a public housing agency (PHA) with a one-time fee equal to $3,500 for each EHV allocated to it. The new Notice amends Notice PIH 2021-15, which provides the overall operating requirements for PHAs that administer the EHV program (see Memo 5/10/21). Notice PIH 2023-23 repeats the provisions of the EHV service fee-eligible activities in Notice PIH 2021-15 Section 6(d), with the revisions shown in red italic text.
The “American Rescue Plan Act of 2021” (ARPA) appropriated $5 billion for new incremental EHVs, their renewal, and fees for the cost of administering EHVs and other eligible expenses to prevent, prepare, and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic to facilitate leasing of the emergency vouchers, such as security deposit assistance and other costs related to retention and support of participating property owners.
One of the new eligible uses of the EHV service fee is to pay a landlord all or some of the rental arrears of a household applying for EHV – but only if the arrears create a barrier to leasing the EHV unit. Another new eligible use is to reduce barriers that households face in keeping their unit with an EHV, for example by providing a household with case management, wrap-around services, or financial stability training, or by preventing eviction by paying for property damage.
A revision under the “pre-tenancy services” category of existing eligible uses allows a PHA to use the EHV service fee to cover landlord application fees or to pay fees for a household to obtain vital documents needed to establish their eligibility for the program, such as the cost of obtaining a birth certificate.
As part of housing search assistance, a PHA may provide housing mobility services to encourage households to move to high opportunity neighborhoods. As part of owner incentives, a PHA may use the fee to provide an incentive payment to an owner who has an accessible unit or to an owner who will make a unit accessible to a person with a disability. As part of moving expenses, the EHV service fee may be used to pay for storage expenses and lock change fees. And, as part of essential household items, the Notice adds furniture, toiletries, and cleaning supplies.
Read Notice PIH 2023-23 at: https://tinyurl.com/5ym5n4ew
Find the PIH EHV website at: https://www.hud.gov/ehv