[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 38 (Friday, February 25, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10316-10372]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-4311]



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Part V





Department of Housing and Urban Development





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Annual Factors for Determining Public Housing Agency Ongoing 
Administrative Fees for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program 
and the Rental Certificate and Moderate Rehabilitation Programs; Notice

  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 38 / Friday, February 25, 2000 / 
Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-4455-N-02]


Notice of Annual Factors for Determining Public Housing Agency 
Ongoing Administrative Fees for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher 
Program and the Rental Certificate and Moderate Rehabilitation Programs

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian 
Housing, HUD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the monthly per unit fee amounts for use 
in determining the on-going administrative fee for public housing 
agencies (PHAs) administering the Section 8 housing choice voucher 
program, and the rental certificate and moderate rehabilitation 
programs (including Single Room Occupancy and Shelter Plus Care) during 
Federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2000.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This notice is effective upon publication. HUD will use 
the procedures in this Notice to approve year-end financial statements 
for PHA fiscal years ending on December 31, 1999; March 31, 2000; June 
30, 2000; and September 30, 2000. PHAs also must use these procedures 
to project earned administrative fees in the annual PHA budget. The 
procedures in this Notice apply to on-going administrative fees earned 
for that portion of the PHA fiscal year that falls in Federal FY 2000 
(i.e., from October 1, 1999, to September 30, 2000).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gerald J. Benoit, Director, Real 
Estate and Housing Performance Division, Office of Public and Assisted 
Housing Delivery, Office of Public and Indian Housing, Department of 
Housing and Urban Development, Room 4210, 451 Seventh Street, SW, 
Washington, DC 20410-8000; telephone number (202) 708-0477 (this is not 
a toll-free telephone number). Hearing or speech impaired individuals 
may access this number via TTY by calling the toll-free Federal 
Information Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Statutory Background

    HUD pays administrative fees to PHAs for the costs of administering 
the on-going Section 8 housing choice voucher program and the rental 
certificate and moderate rehabilitation programs, including the Single 
Room Occupancy and Shelter Plus care components. Section 202 of the 
Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and 
Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 1997 (Pub. L. 104-204, 110 
Stat. 2874, approved September 26, 1996) established the procedures for 
calculating these administrative fees before Federal FY 1999. The 
procedures were superseded by subsection 8(q) of the United States 
Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(q)), as amended by section 547 of 
the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-
276, 112 Stat. 2461, approved October 21, 1998) (QHWRA). Specifically, 
QHWRA raised the percentage (from 7.5 percent to 7.65 percent) of the 
``base amount'' used for calculating the administrative fees for the 
first 600 units in a PHA's Section 8 programs. The Department of 
Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development and Independent 
Agencies FY 2000 Appropriations Act (Pub. L. 106-74, Stat. 2684, 
approved October 20, 1999) provided that the administrative fee 
authorized under section 8(q) of United States Housing Act of 1937, as 
amended by QHWRA October 21, 1998, shall be as was in effect 
immediately before the enactment of the QHWRA of 1998. This reduced the 
percent used for calculating the administrative fees for the first 600 
units in a PHA's Section 8 program from 7.65 percent to 7.5 percent.
    This notice announces the monthly per unit fee amounts for use in 
determining the on-going administrative fee for PHAs administering the 
Section 8 housing choice voucher program and the rental certificate and 
moderate rehabilitation programs (including Single Room Occupancy and 
Shelter Plus Care) during FY 2000, and describes the methodology for 
calculating the administrative fees.
    A PHA may have its Section 8 on-going administrative fee reduced 
for failure to report the percent of its program participants to the 
Multifamily Tenant Characteristics System as required by HUD. PIH 
Notice 99-2(PHA), currently requires PHAs to report for 85 percent of 
its program participants at the end of June and December.

II. Calculating the On-Going Monthly Administrative Fee

    (a) Administrative Fee. A public housing agency is paid an on-going 
administrative fee for each unit month for which a dwelling unit is 
covered by a housing assistance payments contract. Under the system for 
FY 2000, the on-going monthly administrative fee is:
     7.5 percent of the ``base amount'' for the first 600 units 
in a PHA's housing choice voucher and rental certificate programs 
combined, and for the first 600 units in a PHA's moderate 
rehabilitation program.
     7.0 percent of the ``base amount'' for each additional 
housing choice voucher, rental certificate, or moderate rehabilitation 
unit above the 600-unit threshold.
     3.0 percent of the ``base amount'' will be allowed for 
PHA-owned units.
    (b) The Base Amount. The ``Base Amount'' is the higher of:
    1. The FY 1993 fair market rent for a two-bedroom unit in the PHA's 
market area; or
    2. The FY 1994 fair market rent for a two-bedroom unit, but not 
more than 103.5 percent of the FY 1993 fair market rent.

    Note: The base amount is adjusted annually to reflect average 
local government wages as measured by the most recent Bureau of 
Labor Statistics data on local government wages (the ES-202 series).

    (c) Special Fees.
    1. Preliminary Fees. HUD may pay preliminary fees up to $500 per 
unit for preliminary expenses to PHAs only in the first year the PHA 
administers a tenant-based assistance program, and only if the first 
year of administering the Section 8 program was begun prior to October 
21, 1998. Unless requested by HUD, the PHA is not required to submit 
its justification for claimed preliminary fees to HUD. The 
justifications for preliminary fees must be kept on file and must be 
available to the HUD Field Office upon request.
    2. Hard to House Fee. HUD may pay a special fee for costs incurred 
in assisting families who experience difficulty, as determined by the 
Secretary, in obtaining appropriate housing under the Section 8 
programs.
    3. Fee for Extraordinary Costs. HUD may pay a special one time fee 
for extraordinary costs incurred by the PHA in the operation of the 
Section 8 program, as approved by the Secretary.
    4. Housing Conversion Actions. HUD may pay a special fee for costs 
incurred by the PHA for housing conversion actions associated with the 
administration of certain types of ``special purpose'' tenant-based 
assistance. The amount of such fee cannot exceed $250. The following 
are housing conversion actions: (a) preservation; (b) mortgage 
prepayment or voluntary termination actions; (c) opt-out; (d) HUD 
enforcement action; and (e) HUD property disposition actions. (See PIH 
Notice 99-40 for information on the availability of the new special fee 
to reimburse PHAs for housing conversion action costs incurred.)

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III. Published Fee Amounts

    HUD has attached a schedule of monthly per unit fee amounts for use 
by HUD and PHAs when preparing and approving PHA budgets and fiscal 
year-end financial statements. The tables are organized by the HUD-
established fair market rent areas and show the monthly fee amounts a 
PHA will earn for each unit under a housing assistance payments 
contract on the first day of the applicable month.
    (a) Column A: Fees for 600 Units or Less. The amount in column A is 
the monthly per unit fee amount to be applied for up to the first 600 
units (or 7,200 unit months) in FY 2000 in a PHA's rental certificate 
and housing choice voucher programs combined (not including any PHA-
owned units). The 7,200 unit month figure is determined by multiplying 
600 (the maximum number of units) by 12 (the number of months in one 
year). The amount in column A is also used for the first 7,200 unit 
months in FY 2000 in a PHA's moderate rehabilitation program, including 
the moderate rehabilitation single room occupancy program and the 
shelter plus care single room occupancy program (not including any PHA-
owned units).
    The monthly per unit fee is computed by multiplying the number of 
unit months that were under a housing assistance payments contract 
during FY 2000 by the monthly per unit fee amount in column A (up to a 
maximum of 7,200 unit months during FY 2000). The maximum number of 
unit months for which the column A fee amount may be used depends on 
the PHA fiscal year end. Based on the applicable fiscal year end, a PHA 
must use the following number of unit months to calculate its ongoing 
administrative fee for FY 2000:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               Maximum number of unit
            PHA fiscal year end                        months
------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 31, 1999.........................  Up to 1,800 unit months.
March 31, 2000............................  Up to 3,600 unit months.
June 30, 2000.............................  Up to 5,400 unit months.
September 30, 2000........................  Up to 7,200 unit months.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (b) Column B: Fees for Unit Months in Excess of the Column A Unit 
Months. Column B must be used to determine the monthly per unit fee 
amount for any unit months in FY 2000 in excess of the number of unit 
months specified in the above matrix, depending on the PHA's fiscal 
year end (not including any PHA-owned units). The excess unit months, 
based on the PHA's fiscal year end and the number of housing choice 
voucher, rental certificate and moderate rehabilitation units under 
housing assistance payment contracts during FY 2000, are multiplied by 
the monthly per unit fee amount in column B.
    (c) Column C: Fees for PHA-Owned Units. The monthly per unit fee 
amount in column C will be multiplied by the number of unit months 
available for the housing choice voucher, rental certificate, and 
moderate rehabilitation units owned by the HA and that are under 
housing assistance payments contracts during FY 2000. Column A and 
column B fee amounts are not used for PHA-owned units.
    (d) Fees for Unit Under Portability. The on-going fee amounts used 
for reimbursing receiving PHAs for all portable units will be 
determined by using the monthly per unit on-going administrative fee 
amounts in column B for the initial PHA.
    (e) Future year publication date. For subsequent fiscal years, HUD 
will publish an annual notice in the Federal Register establishing the 
monthly per unit fee amounts for use in determining the on-going 
administrative fees for PHAs operating the housing choice voucher 
program and the rental certificate and moderate rehabilitation programs 
in each metropolitan and each non-metropolitan fair market rent area 
for that Federal fiscal year. The annual change in the per-unit-month 
fee amounts will be based on changes in wage data or other objectively 
measurable data, as determined by HUD, that reflect the costs of 
administering the program.
    The amounts shown on the attached schedule do not reflect the 
authority given to HUD to increase the fee if necessary to reflect 
extraordinary expenses such as the higher costs of administering small 
programs and programs operating over large geographic areas or expenses 
incurred because of difficulties some categories of families are having 
in finding appropriate housing. HUD will consider HA requests for such 
increased administrative fees. Furthermore, the amounts shown do not 
include preliminary fees.

IV. Findings and Certifications

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

    The information collection requirements contained in this notice 
have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), and have 
been assigned OMB control number 2577-0149. An agency may not conduct 
or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of 
information unless the collection displays a valid control number.

Environmental Impact

    In accordance with 24 CFR 50.19(c)(6) of the HUD regulations, the 
policies and procedures contained in this notice set forth rate 
determinations and related external administrative requirements and 
procedures which do not constitute a development decision that affects 
the physical condition of specific project areas or building sites, and 
therefore are categorically excluded from the requirements of the 
national Environmental Policy Act.

Executive Order 13132, Federalism

    The General Counsel, as the Designated Official under section 6(a) 
of Executive Order 13132, Federalism, has determined that the policies 
contained in this notice will not have substantial direct effects on 
States or their political subdivisions, or the relationship between the 
Federal government and the States, or on the distribution of power and 
responsibilities among the various levels of government. As a result, 
the notice is not subject to review under the Order. This notice 
pertains to the determination of administrative fees for HAs 
administering the housing choice voucher program and the rental 
certificate and moderate rehabilitation programs during FY 1999, and 
does not substantially alter the established roles of the Department, 
the States, and local governments.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number

    The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number for this program 
is 14.850.

    Dated: February 11, 2000.
Harold Lucas,
Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing.
BILLING CODE 4210-33-P

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[FR Doc. 00-4311 Filed 2-24-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-33-C