PIH Posts Implementation Guidance for HOTMA HCV and PBV Provisions
HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) recently released Notice PIH 2017-21, “Housing Opportunity through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA) – Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) and Project-Based Voucher (PBV) Provisions.” The 67-page notice provides guidance on changes to the HCV and PBV programs as implemented in a Federal Register notice on January 18, 2017, in addition to superseding and consolidating guidance from prior PBV-related PIH notices.
As you recall, the January 18 Federal Register notice and subsequent technical corrections amended the definition of units owned by the PHA, and addressed various implementation requirements for the statutory changes to the PBV program set forth under HOTMA. The notice is organized as a set of individual attachments and appendices dedicated to each of the requirements touched upon in the original implementation notice, summarizing and offering additional insight and guidance on:
- PHA-owned units
- PHA-owned units and independent entities
- Percentage limitation (program cap) and PHA submission requirements
- PBV percentage limitation (10 percent increase for eligible units)
- Income mixing requirement (project cap)
- Units not subject to the program cap or project cap
- PBV HAP contract initial term and extensions, including different scenarios
- Priority of PBV HAP contracts
- PBV biennial inspections
- Adding units to the PBV HAP contract without competition
- PBV HAP contract termination or expiration without extension
- Attaching PBVs to certain PHA-owned projects without following a competitive process
- Project-basing Family Unification Program (FUP) and HUD–Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) vouchers
- PBV program cap calculation instructions
- PHA plan, administrative plan, and other PBV topics
- Reporting
- HCV, homeownership, and PBV inspection requirements
As mentioned above, the notice also consolidates and supersedes a number of prior PBV-related PIH notices:
- Notice PIH 2002-22, which aligns with current PBV regulations and was written before such regulations existed, is rescinded due to no longer being necessary.
- Notice PIH 2006-16 is rescinded because PBV rents are no longer capped at the LIHTC rent as they once were, so “grandfathering” of PBV projects is no longer necessary.
- Notice PIH 2011-54 is superseded due to the definition of PHA-owned units and the proposal selection process being revised by HOTMA. Much of this notice is unchanged, however, and is included in as part of Appendix II of today’s notice.
- Notice PIH 2015-05 adopted with updates to VMS reporting to include the latest release of the VMS User’s Manual, and also amended where Sections II and III of that notice, on the maximum amount of PBV assistance and PHA-owned units, respectively, have been superseded by HOTMA.
- Notice PIH 2015-10, which covered project-basing HUD-VASH vouchers, is superseded in its entirety now that HOTMA authorizes project-basing VASH vouchers (and FUP vouchers for that matter) without prior approval.
Other HOTMA provisions related to the PBV program that were not implemented in the January 18 Federal Register notice are likewise not covered in Notice PIH 2017-21. You can access the notice on this page, at HUD’s website.
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