The White House posted a fact sheet on February 29 focused on a variety of actions pertaining to housing. Among other actions, the fact sheet highlights instances in which landlords cannot evict tenants or threaten eviction, provides information regarding existing policies prohibiting non-rent fees at HUD-assisted housing, and discusses actions to preserve and rehabilitate manufactured home communities and simplify the process of purchasing manufactured homes.
Regarding fees, HUD released three new charts detailing existing policies about non-rent fees for Public Housing, Housing Choice Vouchers, and Multifamily Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance. In general, HUD programs prohibit fees for applications, credit reports, criminal background checks, and physical inspections. HUD programs typically allow security deposits, charges for damages, late payment fees, and pet fees or deposits (except for assistance animals).
Separately, HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs (MFH) circulated an email seeking feedback regarding its existing policy on non-rent fees. MFH is requesting comments regarding existing guidance related to each type of fee or charge contained in the MFH chart. In addition, MFH is interested in input from owners and tenants on whether there exist fees that are not addressed in current guidance. Comments should be entered on an MFH “drafting table” worksheet and emailed to [email protected] by March 29.
Regarding evictions from any housing, whether HUD-assisted or not, HUD published “No Good Cause for Discrimination: Some Evictions Are Never Allowed.” This fact sheet states that landlords may not evict or threaten to evict someone on the grounds that they:
- Belong to one of the Fair Housing Act’s “protected classes” (which include race, color, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation or gender identity), familial status (e.g. families with children), and religion).
- Head a household with children of a certain age or are pregnant.
- Refuse sexual advances.
- Report a crime or an emergency.
- Need an assistance animal.
- Request a “reasonable accommodation” due to their disability.
- Report a fair housing right violation.
The fact sheet provides examples of each of the situations listed above.
A separate HUD paper, “Policy & Practice: State and Local Eviction Prevention Actions,” offers policies that local and state governments can adopt to reduce eviction filings, such as requiring good cause for evictions, increasing access to legal services, improving access to courtrooms, using data to identify at-risk households, sharing data across sectors, offering financial assistance, and providing housing navigators who can assist with connecting tenants to supportive services.
Regarding manufactured housing, the White House Fact Sheet announces three steps intended to preserve and rehabilitate existing manufactured home communities and make it easier for households to buy a manufactured home.
- Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) competitive grants administered by HUD totaling $225 million are now available to applicants to support the preservation and rehabilitation of manufactured home communities. These grants can be used to replace dilapidated homes, assist homeowners to make repairs and accessibility modifications, make mitigation and resilience upgrades, improve infrastructure such as stormwater systems or utilities, and provide housing services, including eviction prevention. Ten million dollars is set aside for Indian tribes or Tribally Designated Housing Entities and Tribal organizations.
- HUD’s Federal Housing Administration is publishing a draft Mortgagee Letter that, once finalized, will create a new program to preserve affordability for existing residents of manufactured housing communities. Resident cooperatives and other mission-oriented borrowers will be allowed to use FHA 223(f) multifamily loans to acquire or refinance communities. Designed to complement the PRICE grant program, a PRICE recipient could use this program to purchase a community from its current owner, preserving its long-term affordability and use PRICE funds for critical infrastructure improvements and home repairs. However, eligibility for this program will not be limited to PRICE awardees.
- Loan limits for the Title I Manufactured Housing program were increased through a final rule published on February 28. Title I insures loans to finance acquisition or refinancing of manufactured homes that are titled as “personal property.”
Read the White House Fact Sheet at: https://tinyurl.com/2e63y9ry
Information about Public Housing, Housing Choice Vouchers, and Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance is available in NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.
Information about Manufactured Homes is on page 6-21 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.