[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 83 (Friday, April 30, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23344-23345]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-10733]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR-4434-N-02]
Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998; Update on
Initial Guidance and Clarification and Technical Corrections
AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian
Housing, HUD.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: On February 18, 1999, HUD published a Notice of Initial
Guidance on the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998.
This new statute, part of HUD's fiscal year 1999 HUD Appropriations
Act, embodies many of the reforms of the HUD 2020 Management Reform
Plan that are directed at revitalizing and improving HUD's public
housing and Section 8 assistance programs. The February 18, 1999 Notice
advised the public of those public and assisted housing statutory
provisions that are effective immediately and action that may or should
be taken immediately. The February 18, 1999 Notice also provided
guidance on certain other provisions in the FY 1999 HUD Appropriations
Act that impact public housing programs and Section 8 assistance.
This second Notice provides clarification and corrections for
certain guidance provided in the February 18, 1999 Notice, and provides
guidance on a statutory provision not addressed in the February 18,
1999 Notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information regarding
public housing and the Section 8 certificate, voucher and moderate
rehabilitation programs contact Rod Solomon, Deputy Assistant Secretary
for Policy, Program and Legislative Initiatives, Office of Public and
Indian Housing, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451
Seventh Street, SW, Room 4116, Washington, DC, 20410; telephone (202)
708-0713 (this is not a toll-free number). For further information
regarding other Section 8 programs contact Willie Spearmon, Director,
Office of Multifamily Business Products; telephone (202) 708-3000.
Persons with hearing or speech impairments may access that number via
TTY by calling the Federal Information Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
Program specialists for more specific HUD program areas are listed on
the HUD web page at http://hudweb.hud.gov/offices.html.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Quality Housing and Work Responsibility
Act of 1998 (title V of the FY 1999 HUD Appropriations Act; Pub. L.
105-276, 112 Stat. 2461, approved October 21, 1999) (QHWRA)) enacts
landmark measures that include transforming public housing,
deconcentrating poverty, creating additional housing assistance
vouchers, merging the Section 8 certificate and voucher programs, and
enabling more families to obtain FHA mortgages to become homeowners.
Although the QHWRA makes significant and numerous amendments to the
United States Housing Act of 1937 (USHA), the USHA remains in effect
except as amended by the QHWRA.
On February 18, 1999 (64 FR 8192), HUD published a Notice of
Initial Guidance on the QHWRA. The purpose of the February 18, 1999
Notice was to advise HUD's public housing and Section 8 program
partners, as well as members of the public, of certain provisions of
the QHWRA that are effective immediately and to provide guidance with
respect to actions that may now be taken or should be taken by PHAs and
owners of Section 8 assisted projects. The February 18, 1999 Notice,
however, did not provide guidance on all QHWRA sections. The February
18, 1999 Notice addressed those key statutory sections that are
effective immediately, and which HUD believed would be helpful to PHAs
and others to receive early guidance.
This second Notice provides clarification on and corrections to
certain provisions in the February 18, 1999 Notice, and provides
guidance on a QHWRA statutory provision not addressed in the February
18, 1999 Notice.
Section I. Corrections and Clarifications to the February 18, 1999
Notice
Section 507--Minimum Rent for Public Housing and Section 8 Assistance
Section 507 amends section 3(a) of the USHA which addresses minimum
rents for public housing and section 8 assistance. In the guidance
provided for section 507 at page 8197 (last column), HUD advised that
as soon as practicable, the PHA must notify all families of the right
to request a minimum rent hardship exemption under the law, and that
determinations are subject to the grievance procedure.
Clarification. This Notice clarifies that the notification to be
provided to families regarding hardship exemptions (which should have
occurred already) can be to families subject to minimum rents or
subject to minimum rents at some time since enactment of the QHWRA, but
not literally to ``all'' families as stated in the February 18, 1999
Notice. Families who become subject to minimum rents also must receive
this notification. In addition, the title ``Action Guidance for Section
8 Certificate, Voucher and Moderate Rehabilitation Programs'' is
revised to read: ``Action Guidance for the Section 8 Programs'' to
correct an inadvertent error. The minimum rent guidance applicable to
the tenant-based and moderate rehabilitation programs also applies to
all the other Section 8 programs.
[[Page 23345]]
Section 513--Public Housing Income Targeting
Section 513 amends section 16 of the USHA to establish, among other
things, public housing deconcentration requirements, annual
requirements for admitting families with incomes below thirty percent
(30%) of area median income, and related income targeting requirements.
The guidance for this section was provided at pages 8199 to 8200.
In the guidance provided for Section 513, HUD noted in paragraph
(1)(b) on page 8200 (first column) that there are three further
limitations on a PHA's use of fungibility with respect to income
targeting for public housing. (``Fungibility'' refers to the fact that
to a certain extent, the PHA can credit section 8 tenant-based
admissions above the minimum targeting requirements to satisfy its
public housing targeting requirements.) The February 18, 1999 guidance
provided that fungibility ``credits'' only can be used to drop the
annual requirement for housing very poor families, as described above,
below 40 percent of newly available units in public housing, by the
lowest of three amounts. These three amounts were described in the
notice at page 8200, under paragraphs designated (1)(a), (b) and (c).
The amount provided by paragraph (1)(b) was the number of units that
(i) are in projects located in census tracts having a poverty rate of
30% or more, and (ii) are made available for occupancy by and actually
occupied by very poor families.
Correction. Paragraph (1)(b) in the first column of page 8200
should have read as follows:
(b) The number of public housing units that (i) are in public
housing projects located in census tracts having a poverty rate of
30% or more, and (ii) are made available for occupancy by, and
actually occupied in that year by, families other than very poor
families.
Section 514--Repeal of Federal Preferences in the Public Housing and
Section 8 Programs
Section 514 provides for the permanent repeal of Federal
preferences, including the permanent repeal of the right of certain
public housing residents to retain federal preference status on the
Section 8 certificate and voucher waiting list; and also authorizes
local preferences. (The elimination of the previous statutory
preference for the admission of elderly, disabled and displaced persons
before other single persons in the public housing and Section 8
programs was accomplished by section 506 rather than section 514.)
In the guidance for this section on page 8201 (first column) HUD
advised, among other things, that because there is no indication in the
QHWRA that Congress intended to disrupt existing local preferences,
existing local preferences may remain without further immediate PHA
action or may be altered in the manner authorized before enactment of
the QHWRA.
Clarification. HUD wishes to clarify that with respect to the
manner in which existing local preferences were authorized to be
altered before the enactment of QHWRA, HUD is referring to the manner
authorized under prior HUD appropriations acts. For the purposes of
selecting families from the waiting list, prior HUD appropriations acts
provided that a PHA may establish, after public notice and an
opportunity for public comment, a written system of preferences for
selection that is not inconsistent with the comprehensive housing
affordability strategy (consolidated plan) of either the State or local
general government of the PHA's jurisdiction.
Section 535--Demolition, Site Revitalization, Replacement Housing, and
Tenant-Based Assistance Grants for Public Housing Projects
Section 535 amends section 24 of the USHA and provides the
continued authority for the HOPE VI program, and establishes
application selection and grant requirements.
In the guidance for this section on page 8204 (first column), HUD
noted the exemption from the requirements of section 18 of the USHA for
severely distressed public housing that is demolished in accordance
with a revitalization plan.
Clarification. HUD wishes to clarify that where HOPE VI funds are
awarded for demolition only, no revitalization plan is required, and
therefore there is no exemption from the requirements of section 18 of
the USHA.
Section II--New Guidance
Section 564--Public Housing Management Assessment Program
Section 564 makes several amendments to section 6(j) of the USHA.
One of these amendments excludes small PHAs (PHAs with less than 250
units) from an independent assessment that otherwise would be required
once a small PHA has been designated as troubled. Section 6(j)(2)(B)(i)
limits this independent assessment to PHAs with more than 250 units.
Action Guidance. Section 6(j)(2)(B)(i) is effective immediately
Section III--Future Guidance
As HUD noted in the February 18, 1999 Notice, the QHWRA makes
significant changes to HUD's public housing and Section 8 programs.
With many of the changes immediately effective, substantial
responsibility is placed on PHAs and Section 8 owners to implement
these changes promptly. HUD remains committed to working closely with
its public housing and Section 8 partners to make the changes in its
public housing and Section 8 programs a success. HUD will continue to
provide any additional guidance that may be needed through direct
notices to PHAs and Section 8 owners, additional Federal Register
notices, or through other means that may be determined appropriate.
Dated: April 22, 1999.
Harold Lucas,
Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing.
[FR Doc. 99-10733 Filed 4-29-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-33-P