Message of The Month

The FY 2018 Income limits have been posted and are effective 4/1/18. Please make sure to update your income limits. You can find the new limits on the following website: https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/il.html

Please note that any Move In or Initial Certifications submitted, with an effective date of 4/1/18 or later, that has an incorrect income limit, will generate an Action 1 error that needs to be rectified with a correction within 45 days!

RHIIP Listserv Posting #407
March 15, 2018

On December 12, 2017, HUD published an interim final rule (https://goo.gl/h4Uipa) in the Federal Register that amends the regulatory language for PIH and Multifamily Housing rental assistance programs. This interim rule went into effect on March 12, 2018. The rule aligns the current regulatory flexibilities with those provided in the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. In addition, it extends two of the administrative streamlining changes that were adopted in 2016 for the Housing Choice Voucher and Public Housing programs to Multifamily programs.

The interim final rule implements FAST Act provisions that allow public housing agencies (PHAs) and multifamily housing owners to conduct full income recertification for families with 90 percent or more of their income from fixed-income sources every three years instead of annually. This interim final rule also aligns the current regulatory flexibilities with those provided in the FAST Act by modifying the earlier streamlining regulations. This makes the procedures for families meeting the fixed-income threshold as similar as possible to families who do not have 90 percent or more of their income from fixed sources, but still have some fixed income.

In addition to streamlining fixed income stipulations, the interim final rule also indicates that an owner may:

• Make utility reimbursements of $45 or less per quarter ($15 a month) on a quarterly basis.
• Accept family declaration of assets under $5,000. Third-party verification of all family assets will be required every 3 years.

Use of streamlined procedures authorized by the rule are all at the option of the owner and not required.

A FAQ file (https://goo.gl/FPtjJz) is available on HUD.gov. Additional FAQ’s and a supporting Housing Notice are currently being developed. Project owners are encouraged to submit any questions to their assigned Contract Administrator or local HUD office.

Interim Final Rule Document: https://goo.gl/h4Uipa FAST Act FAQ Document: https://goo.gl/FPtjJz

RHIIP Listserv Posting #406
March 8, 2018

The Office of Multifamily Housing Programs has released an updated Resident Rights and Responsibilities brochure today. It is available to download and print at:

https://goo.gl/cF5QwG

This document provides a summary of key resident rights and responsibilities for tenants living in Multifamily assisted housing along with resources and contact information for tenants needing assistance. Owners must provide applicants and tenants with a copy of the Resident Rights and Responsibilities brochure at move-in and annually at recertification. The Office of Multifamily Housing Programs encourages owners and management agents to distribute this brochure electronically, in addition to having printed copies available for tenants who prefer hardcopies. Translation of the updated brochure to other languages is currently pending and will be posted to HUD’s Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity website at https://goo.gl/N6EpXm, once complete.

Printed copies are not currently available from the Multifamily National Clearing House but may be available in limited quantities later this year.

The TRACS Release 2.0.3.A 4-month implementation schedule date was to begin February 1, 2018. This implementation date is being RESCHEDULED to the Fall of 2018 to accommodate:

• Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval of new and revised HUD forms and associated collection of information from the public; and
• HUD Office of Chief Information Officer (OCIO) TRACS upgrade project to allow currently unsupported Cool:Gen v6.5 software development tools to be upgraded to the current vendor supported release CA Gen v8.6.

MFH will publish a final 4-month implementation schedule once TRACS has completed: [i] User Acceptance Testing (UAT) of TRACS software upgrade with industry software vendors and [ii] OMB approval of HUD’s new and/or revised forms for the collection of information.

Testing requirements, the final TRACS Release 2.0.3.A Implementation Schedule, and stakeholders’ notifications will be posted on the TRACS documents page: https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/mfh/trx/trxdocs

*****TRACS 2.0.3.A Fall 2018 Implementation Schedule at https://goo.gl/YsVHeT*****
*****TRACS 2.0.3.A Final Industry Specification Documents (1/30/2018) at https://goo.gl/YHY91E*****
****TRACS 2.0.3.A PowerPoint Presentation with Notes, by EPS, Inc. is now available for download at https://goo.gl/JuiFu6****