Public and Indian housing: Update; clarification and technical corrections,

[Federal Register: April 30, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 83)]

[Notices]

[Page 23344-23345]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr30ap99-110]

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.

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. 99-10733Filed4-29-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4210-33-P