HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) posted Notice PIH 2024-34, a handy summary of Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) provisions otherwise scattered throughout various regulations, Notices, and the Housing Choice Voucher Program Guidebook. The 28-page Notice also includes recent regulatory and policy guidance updates, including those implementing the “Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016” (HOTMA), and provides basic information about the HCV program in easy-to-understand language. Residents and advocates will likely find the Notice to be a useful resource.
The Notice begins with an overview of Fair Market Rents (FMRs) and Small Area FMRs (SAFMRs) on page 2, noting differences that apply to Project-Based Vouchers (PBVs). Next, the Notice explains voucher “payment standards,” “payment standard areas,” and the payment standard “basic range.” An entire section (Section IV, page 8) delves into SAFMRs, explaining their potential benefits, and clarifying the distinction between “Mandatory SAFMRs” and “Opt-in SAFMRs” (also called “voluntary SAFMRs”).
An important section (Section V, page 11) discusses “exception payment standards,” which can come into play when FMR or SAFMR payment standards are not high enough to enable households to successfully rent a home with a voucher. The Notice goes into detail about each of the four exception payment standard options. The text becomes somewhat more technical when elaborating on situations not likely to arise in most localities (though making such information available could be beneficial for some or future readers). Advocates may consider noting Section IX (page 18), which describes when a public housing agency (PHA) should apply an increase to the payment standard, as well as Section X (page 19), which addresses applying a decrease to the payment standard. Advocates may also want to make sure their PHA decides to use a “hold harmless” provision when there is a decrease in the payment standard; doing so is essential to prevent households who are already living in a home with an HCV from experiencing a rent increase.
The fourth exception payment standard, a “reasonable accommodation” for a person with a disability, is explained at Section XI (page 20). Advocates have noted that many PHAs do not inform households about the reasonable accommodation exception payment standard, and some PHAs often deny a reasonable accommodation even though a household should be eligible.
Project-Based Vouchers (PBV) are discussed in detail in Section XII (page 21), which goes into detail about how SAFMRs work in tandem with PBVs and the PBV maximum rent and its relationship to exception payment standards. The text becomes more technical in this section as well.
Read Notice PIH 2024-34 at: https://tinyurl.com/5db6n7mr
More information about Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs) including HOTMA provisions is on page 4-1 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about Project-Based Vouchers (PBVs) including HOTMA provisions is on page 4-11 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.