HUD PIH Notice § 2011-32

                                       U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development
                                           Public and Indian Housing
_________________________________________________________________________
Special Attention of:                                    Notice PIH 2011-32
(HA)
Directors of HUD Regional and Field
Offices of Public Housing;                   Issued:  6/14/11
Agencies that Administer the
Housing Choice Voucher Program                     Expires:  Effective
                                       until amended,    superseded, or
                                       rescinded

                                  _______________________________
                                             Cross References:  PIH Letter
2007-1
                                                                PIH Notice
2006-21
                                                                PIH Notice
2005-5
_________________________________________________________________________
Subject:  Policies and Procedures for Special Purpose Housing Choice
Vouchers for Non-Elderly Disabled Families and Other Special Populations


1.    Purpose   The purpose of this notice is to establish policies and
procedures for issuing, tracking and monitoring Housing Choice Vouchers
(HCV) that were awarded under a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) to
provide rental assistance specifically for non-elderly disabled (NED)
families.  These policies and procedures will address initial issuance, re-
issuance and maintenance of these NED HCVs, tracking them in the Public and
Indian Housing Information Center (PIC) and the Voucher Management System
(VMS) and issues related to reasonable accommodation. The Family
Unification Program (FUP) and HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing
(VASH) programs will be addressed in section 5.f. only as they relate to
shortfalls in HCV funding.

2.  Background.  Since 1997, HCVs for NED families have been awarded under
various special purpose HCV programs:  Rental Assistance for Non-Elderly
Persons with Disabilities in Support of Designated Housing Plans
(Designated Housing); Rental Assistance for Non-Elderly Persons with
Disabilities Related to Certain Types of Section 8 Project-Based
Developments (Certain Developments); One-Year Mainstream Housing
Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities and the Project Access Pilot
Program (formerly Access Housing 2000).  However, issues regarding the
issuance and tracking of these special purpose vouchers have not been
clearly addressed in one notice.

      The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2004 provided that incremental
vouchers previously made available under this heading (Housing Certificate
Fund) for NED families shall, to the extent practicable, continue to be
provided to NED families upon turnover.  This requirement applies to all
NED special purpose vouchers awarded since 1997.  In addition, the 2008
Appropriations Act stated that amounts available under this Act or previous
appropriations acts for tenant-based rental assistance and used for NED
families shall, to the extent practicable, remain available for its purpose
upon turnover.  The 2009 Appropriations Act removed the words, “to the
extent practicable” and stated that assistance made available under the Act
shall continue to remain available for NED families upon turnover.  In
accordance with section 6 of PIH Notice, 2005-5 (further extended by PIH
Letter 2007-1) , to the “extent practicable,” meant that PHAs were required
to issue turnover vouchers to NED families on their waiting lists, and
conduct outreach efforts specifically to NED families to obtain eligible
applicants if there were none on the waiting list.

      In addition, Section 2(a)(4)(C) of the Frank Melville Supportive
Housing Investment Act of 2010, states that upon turnover, all HCVs for NED
families received pursuant to appropriation Acts for fiscal years 1997
through 2002, or any other subsequent appropriations, remain with NED
families to the maximum extent possible.

3.  Applicability.  The policies and procedures listed below are applicable
to all public housing agencies (PHA) that were awarded or administer
through portability any type of NED HCV as described in paragraph 2 of this
notice.

4.  Effective Date.  This notice is effective upon publication.

5.  Policies and Procedures.

        a. Maintenance of Baseline Number of  NED HCVs.  Based on the
        number of NED families throughout the country, the ability of any
        PHA to open its waiting list to NED families without any other
        limitations, and the variety of outreach media, it is extremely
        unlikely a PHA could legitimately claim that it was not
        “practicable” to reach eligible NED families to apply to its
        waiting list.  Therefore, for the purpose of determining the
        baseline number of NED HCVs, HUD’s assumption is that PHAs will be
        responsible for assisting the number of NED HCVs awarded since
        1997.  The Financial Management Center (FMC) will notify affected
        PHAs of the total number of NED HCVs that have been awarded to the
        PHA since 1997.  A PHA that believes it is not practicable to
        assist NED families during any period of time following the
        turnover of NED HCVs must contact Phyllis Smelkinson at
        Phyllis.Smelkinson@hud.gov or Susannah Still at
        Susannah.W.Still@hud.gov in the Office of Housing Voucher Program
        Management and Operations Division if it wishes to contest the
        established baseline.  Please note that all NED vouchers should be
        affirmatively marketed to a diverse population of NED-eligible
        families to attract protected classes least likely to apply.


        b. Reestablishing NED HCVs.  To expedite the process of identifying
        NED HCVs, and ensuring that the minimum number of targeted families
        remain assisted, HUD has determined that PHAs may code the vouchers
        of current participants that meet the definition of a NED family as
        a NED voucher.  This must be accomplished no later than one year
        from the date of this notice and can be done at the time of the
        family’s next re-examination.  However, under no circumstances may
        a PHA designate a NED HCV awarded to the PHA in 2008 or later to an
        existing family if that voucher was never initially leased by a NED
        family from the waiting list.  See sections 5g and 5h of this
        notice on tracking these NED HCVs.  With this expedited process
        available, the Department expects a leasing rate of NED vouchers of
        95 percent within one year of the issuance date of this notice


        c. Leasing of New Increments.  All new increments of HCV NED
        vouchers must be initially leased by the target population stated
        in the NOFA.   For instance, HCVs awarded for Designated Housing in
        2009 must first be issued to the identified public housing families
        that would have been housed had it not been for the designation
        unless the families cannot be located or are already receiving
        rental assistance.  In such cases, any remaining vouchers would be
        issued to NED families on the PHA’s HCV waiting list.  The same
        provisions apply to Certain Developments.


        Category 2 HCVs awarded in 2011 under HUD’s Fiscal Year 2009 Rental
        Assistance for Non-Elderly Persons with Disabilities must be leased
        by NED persons transitioning from nursing homes and other
        healthcare institutions into the community.  If the initial
        issuance of a Category 2 voucher does not result in a lease-up, the
        PHA must re-issue the HCV to another Category 2 family.  For each
        Category 2 family, there must be documentation (e.g., a copy of a
        referral letter from the partnering or referring agency) in the
        tenant file identifying the institution where the family lived at
        the time of voucher issuance.


        d. Reissuance of Turnover Vouchers.  All NED turnover HCVs must be
        reissued to the next NED family on the PHA’s waiting list with the
        following exception:  A Category 2 HCV must be issued to another
        Category 2 family upon turnover if a Category 2 family is on the
        PHA’s waiting list.  If there are no Category 2 families on the
        PHA’s waiting list, the PHA must contact its partnering agency as
        well as conduct outreach through appropriate social service
        agencies and qualifying institutions to identify potentially
        eligible individuals.  Only after all means of outreach have been
        taken to reach Category 2 families can the PHA re-issue the HCV to
        a NED family on the PHA’s waiting list.  Any subsequent turnover of
        that voucher must again be used for a Category 2 family on the
        PHA’s waiting list, and the PHA would be under the same obligation
        to conduct outreach to Category 2 families if no such families are
        on the PHA’s waiting list.


        For PHAs that received both Category 1 and Category 2 HCVs, if at
        any time the PHA is serving fewer Category 2 families than the
        number of Category 2 HCVs awarded under the NOFA, when a Category 2
        family applies to the waiting list and is found eligible, the PHA
        must issue the next NED voucher to that family.  HUD will closely
        monitor the initial leasing and reissuance of Category 2 HCVs.
        These vouchers may be recaptured and reassigned if not leased
        properly and in a timely manner.


        e. Waiting List Maintenance.  Regardless of the number of NED
        families the PHA is required to serve, the next family on the
        waiting list must be served in accordance with the PHA’s
        administrative plan policies.  Therefore, the PHA cannot skip over
        a NED family just because it is currently serving the required
        number of NED families as explained in section 3a.  For example, if
        the PHA has leased 100 percent of its NED vouchers, but is ready to
        issue five regular vouchers, and the next five families on the PHAs
        waiting list are non-elderly disabled families, the regular
        vouchers would be issued to the next five families on the waiting
        list, which in this case would be five non-elderly disabled
        families. However, note that this action does not increase the NED
        baseline for the PHA, which is solely determined by the number of
        special purpose vouchers targeted specifically for NED families
        that were allocated to the PHA.  In addition, those five families
        would not be coded NED in PIC.


        f. Funding Shortfalls.  PHAs that experience funding shortfalls in
        a given calendar year generally stop issuing vouchers and some may
        recall vouchers from families that are searching for units.  If the
        PHA is not assisting the required number of special purpose
        vouchers (NED families, HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing
        (VASH) families, and Family Unification Program (FUP) families),
        when it resumes issuing vouchers, it must issue vouchers first to
        these special purpose voucher categories of families on its waiting
        list until the PHA is assisting its required number of special
        purpose vouchers.  A PHA must establish policies in its
        administrative plan regarding selection of special purpose voucher
        families once the PHA resumes issuing vouchers after a funding
        shortfall. Should the PHA have to terminate families from its HCV
        program due to a funding shortfall, NED, HUD-VASH and FUP families
        that comprise the required number of families served must be last
        to be terminated.  An administrative policy must also address
        terminating special purpose voucher families should termination be
        necessary.


        g. PIC Reporting.  Effective with this Notice, all NED families,
        except as noted below, will be coded on line 2n of the Family
        Report (form HUD-50058) and on line 2p of the MTW Family Report as
        NED.  Category 2 families (those transitioning from nursing homes
        and other health care institutions into the community) awarded
        under the NOFA for HUD’s  Fiscal Year 2009 Rental Assistance for
        Non-Elderly Persons with Disabilities will be coded as NHT in
        accordance with the instructions in section VI.C. of the
        aforementioned NOFA.  There will be no further reporting of any
        other codes for NED families in PIC (MS1, PHDES, MFDES, and PA).
        Five-Year Mainstream vouchers will still be coded as MS5.  In cases
        of portability, the initial PHA must include NED or NHT, as
        applicable, on the Family Report sent to the receiving PHA.
        Receiving PHAs must maintain the NED or NHT code on their Family
        Reports for the duration of the family’s participation in the HCV
        program.  Once NED codes are reestablished in accordance with
        Section 5.b. of this notice, NED families that are being served
        with regular vouchers (those not awarded specifically under a NOFA
        for NED families) must not be coded as such on the Family Report or
        MTW Family Report.  All coding for participant families must be
        completed no later than at the family’s next reexamination. The PHA
        should not code more families than the number of vouchers awarded
        for NEDs that will be provided to the PHA by the FMC noted in
        section 5.a.


        h.VMS Reporting.  All NED families (which include those previously
        reported under the One-Year Mainstream category) will be reported
        under the NED column including Category 2 families described above.
         Five-Year Mainstream vouchers will still be reported separately.
        Until the VMS form is updated, please ignore the years 2008 and
        2009 that appear in the NED column as the number of vouchers in the
        NED column will no longer be limited to those funded under 2008 and
        2009 appropriations.  As with PIC reporting, do not report more NED
        families than were awarded to the PHA.  NED vouchers that have been
        ported and are being billed to the initial PHA must be reported
        under the appropriate special purpose voucher category (i.e. NED).
        NED and other special purpose vouchers must be reported in their
        special purpose voucher field rather than under the Port Vouchers
        Paid category.  Therefore, if the PHA has NED vouchers that fall
        under both the NED and Port Vouchers Paid categories it must report
        them under the NED column.  Then, the PHA must use the NED comments
        field to specify that xyz NED units and HAP could also be applied
        to the Port Vouchers Paid category.


        i. Renewal Funding.  Regardless of HCV renewal funding in any
        calendar year, the PHA is always responsible for serving its
        baseline number of NED vouchers.  For example, a downward proration
        of HCV renewal funding does not reduce the PHA’s baseline number of
        NED vouchers.


6.  Reasonable Accommodations and Related Issues.  A family may always
request a reasonable accommodation to permit program participation by
individuals with disabilities.

      a. Exception Payment Standards.  On a case-by-case basis, as a
      reasonable accommodation, a PHA may approve a payment standard amount
      up to 110 percent of the published fair market rent (FMR) if its
      payment standards are set below 110 percent of the FMR.  Higher
      payment standards must be requested by the family and subsequently
      approved, as necessary, by the PHA after a family with a disabled
      person or an individual person with disabilities locates a unit.  The
      HUD Field Office Public Housing Director can approve exception payment
      standards above 110 percent to 120 percent of the FMR.  HUD
      Headquarters must waive 24 CFR § 982.505(d) to allow the PHA to
      approve any exception payment standards higher than 120 percent of the
      FMR.  Please reference Notice PIH 2010-11, Requests for Exception
      Payment standards for Persons with Disabilities as a Reasonable
      Accommodation.


      b. Exceptions to Subsidy Standards.  A family’s composition or
      circumstances may warrant the provision of an additional bedroom to
      permit disability related overnight care and allow the family equal
      use and enjoyment of the unit.  Such limited exceptions to the
      established subsidy standards are permitted under 24 CFR §
      982.402(b)(8).  The PHA must consider requests for an exception to the
      established subsidy standards on a case-by-case basis and provide an
      exception, where necessary, as a reasonable accommodation.  Please
      reference Notice PIH-2010-51, Oversubsidization in the Housing Choice
      Voucher Program.


      c. Voucher Term.  PHAs are encouraged to be generous in establishing
      reasonable initial search terms and subsequent extensions for families
      with a disabled person.  Sixty days is the minimum voucher term.
      However, there is no maximum term established by program regulations.
      A PHA may approve a longer term in accordance with its administrative
      plan.  In setting its policy concerning the length of the voucher
      term, a PHA may wish to contact agencies that work with families with
      a disabled person for advice on reasonable search terms.   While HUD
      encourages search terms that maximize the family’s opportunity to find
      suitable housing, the term may not be indefinite.


      d. Referral Services.  In addition to providing families with a
      disabled person a list of accessible units known to the PHA, PHAs are
      encouraged to provide a list of local supportive service and
      disability organizations that may provide such assistance as
      counseling services and funding for moving expenses or security
      deposits in the information packet given to voucher applicants at the
      briefing session.  These organizations include state protection and
      advocacy agencies, Centers for Independent Living, State Medicaid
      agencies, and disability advocacy groups that represent individuals
      with a variety of disabilities.


      e. Housing Search Assistance.  PHAs are encouraged to offer
      specialized housing search assistance to families with a disabled
      person to locate accessible units if requested.  Trained PHA staff or
      a local supportive service or disability organization may be able to
      provide this service.


      f. Cooperative Efforts With Other Governmental Agencies.  In
      conjunction with the PHA Plan process, PHAs are encouraged to work
      with other local governmental agencies serving the disabled in setting
      policies and sharing resources.  PHAs may provide a preference or a
      set-aside (limiting the number of families on a waiting list eligible
      for certain preferences) for admission of families with a disabled
      person.  However, a PHA may not provide a preference or set aside for
      a specific disability.  Other governmental or non-governmental
      agencies may provide available resources for such assistance as
      housing search counseling, moving expenses, security deposits and
      utility deposits.


      State Medicaid agencies and their local offices administer the Federal
      Medicaid Program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and
      Human Services (HHS).  Medicaid is an important resource to assist
      PHAs in meeting the challenge of providing community-based services to
      individuals with disabilities.


      g. Special Housing Types.  Although PHAs may approve the use of
      special housing types for their general waiting list population, the
      PHA must permit use of any special housing type if needed as a
      reasonable accommodation so that the program is readily accessible to
      and usable by persons with disabilities.  Such special housing types
      include: single room occupancy housing, congregate housing, group
      homes, shared housing, cooperative housing, and manufactured homes
      when the family owns the home and leases the manufactured home space.
      To determine if the homeownership option should be offered as a
      reasonable accommodation, please reference 24 CFR § 982.625(d)(1) and
      (2).
      In shared housing, the regulations prohibit the assisted person from
      being a relative by blood or marriage to a resident owner.  While
      other regulations permit the leasing of a rental unit from certain
      relatives when needed as a reasonable accommodation for a person’s
      disability, there is no exception provided under the shared housing
      regulations.


      h. Earned Income Disallowance.  When determining the annual income of
      a participant family that includes persons with disabilities under the
      HCV program, the determination must exclude an increase in annual
      income due to earnings in accordance with 24 CFR     § 5.617.  HUD
      believes that the exclusion of an increase in annual income due to
      earnings will help persons with disabilities obtain and retain
      employment, which is an important step toward economic self-
      sufficiency.


7.  Information Contact. Inquiries about this notice should be directed to
Phyllis Smelkinson, Housing Voucher Management and Operations Division,
Office of Public Housing and Voucher Programs, at (202) 402-4138 or
Phyllis.Smelkinson@hud.gov.

8.  Paperwork Reduction Act.  The information collection requirements
contained in this notice have been approved by the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C
3520).  In accordance with the PRA, HUD may not conduct or sponsor, and a
person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless
the collection displays a currently valid OMB control number. The following
active information collections contained in this notice have been approved
under the PRA - OMB Control Numbers 2577-0169 and 2577-0083.









                                                              /s/


                                  Sandra B. Henriquez, Assistant Secretary
                                      for Public and Indian Housing

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