HUD publishes capital fund guidebook
This week on HUDCLIPS, the Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) posted the newly published and highly anticipated Capital Fund Guidebook, Handbook 7600.1. The guidebook is meant to be taken along with the capital fund program final rule to ensure that the capital fund program is more efficiently and uniformly implemented by PHAs and managed more effectively by HUD field offices. The final rule was published on October 24, 2013, but until now the guidebook had yet to be issued.
The 188-page document consists of 12 chapters offering guidance for all areas of the program, including:
- Background and introductory information, such as an overview of the program and types of grants
- Eligible activities, ineligible activities, and cost limits
- Planning, annual submission, and distribution of funds
- Capital fund formula calculation
- Replacement Housing Factor (RHF) Grants, Demolition Disposition Transitional Funding (DDTF), and the transition from RHF to DDTF
- General program requirements and implementation, including wage rates, procurement and contract requirements and administration, and other requirements
- Obligation, budget revision, expenditure, and closeout
- Emergency, non-presidentially declared national disaster, and safety and security grants, covering eligible and ineligible uses of the latter
- Public housing development and methods of development, including funding sources, general program requirements, mixed finance, and site acquisition and development proposals
- Demonstration programs, such as the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) and Moving to Work (MTW) programs, including the procedure for RAD conversion
- Security interests and financing activities, including capital fund and operating fund financing programs, Section 30, CFCF, and capital financing not secured by the property
- Compliance, penalties, and sanctions
It is worth noting that the guidebook also contains useful exhibits at the end of several chapters with various examples, lists and checklists, model plans, and process overviews, in addition to appendices at the end of the guidebook consisting of definitions and an eligible activities chart. While the table of contents lists a third appendix for the capital fund final rule itself, it does not appear to be present or linked in the document.
HUD has scheduled several two-day training sessions on the new guidebook, the details of which can be found on the Office of Capital Improvements webpage. Upcoming sessions will be held in Detroit (2 classes), Denver, Atlanta (2 classes), St. Louis, San Francisco, New York, and Houston (2 classes). For more information and to register for the trainings, click here.
Got questions about RAD, MTW, and the capital fund? Don’t miss the 2015 NMA and GoSection8 Housing Conference, where NMA's Carrol Vaughan and other industry experts will address hot topics around those issues. Register online or email sales@nanmckay.com for more information.
