Guidance on Public Housing Fund Shortfall Funding Released

On April 26, HUD released Notice PIH-2021-12, “Implementation of Public Housing Operating Fund Shortfall Funding from Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2021 Appropriations.” The FY 2021 Appropriations Act included $25 million for PHAs that experience, or are at risk of, financial shortfalls. The funding was provided to mitigate the risk of financial shortfalls among PHAs and was directed to prioritize the funding to PHAs with 249 or fewer public housing units that are determined to be experiencing shortfalls and have less than one-month of reserves before allocating funds to larger PHAs. MTW Agencies are eligible to apply as well.

For the purposes of this Notice, HUD defines having a financial shortfall as having less than two months of operating expenses held in reserve. The eligibility for the Shortfall Funding Program will be based on the amount of Monthly Operating Reserves (MOR) a PHA has according to their most recent audited or unaudited FDS submission. A list of agencies that fit this shortfall definition can be found here.

PHAs that are included on the list of eligible PHAs described above may apply for Shortfall funding by completing the Shortfall Funding Application found in Appendix A of the Notice and submitting it via e-mail to 2021ShortfallFunding@hud.gov no later than midnight (Eastern Time) on June 4, 2021. The application must be submitted by the PHA’s Executive Director or other authorized representative and include the PHA name and PHA code (e.g., CA001), as well as the contact information for HUD follow-up if necessary.

The Notice can be found here.