HCV CY 2020 Funding Renewal Letter

Yesterday, HUD sent a letter on calendar year (CY) 2020 renewal funding for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. The letter notes that the federal budget is currently operating on a Continuing Resolution (CR), which carries forward fiscal year (FY) 2019 funding through December 20, 2019. The letter provides information about housing assistance payments (HAP) and administrative fee disbursements:

• Housing Assistance Payments;
  • December 2019 – 99.5 percent of estimated CY 2020 eligibility;
  • January 2020 – 99.5 percent of estimated CY 2020 eligibility;
• Administrative Fees;
  • December 2019 – 79 percent of estimated CY 2020 eligibility;
  • January 2020 – 79 percent of estimated CY 2020 eligibility; and
  • February 2020 – 79 percent of estimated CY 2020 eligibility.

For PHAs that administer the Mainstream program, HAP will be at 99.5 percent of eligibility and administrative fees will be at 79 percent of eligibility for both January and February.

Housing authorities should expect timely disbursements of HCV HAP and administrative fees in December and January. A second notification on future payments will be provided in January 2020.

Additionally, HUD’s letter provides estimated prorations of HAP and administrative fees based on appropriations bills from both the House and the Senate. The following are HUD’s estimates for CY 2020 funding based on those bills:

• House bill:
  • HAP – 98.8 percent;
  • Administrative fees – 78 percent;
• Senate bill:
  • HAP – 99.2 percent;
  • Administrative fees – 81 percent.

The Department recommends that program managers use the Two-Year Forecasting Tool to model potential funding scenarios. Program managers should also consider their PHA’s program individual inflation factors, which will impact their total amount of money. (The national inflation factor is 4.51 percent, but individual inflation factors may vary considerably from this national figure.)

Finally, the deadline to submit CY 2019 Voucher Management System (VMS) costs and leasing adjustments is January 22, 2020.

The full letter can be found here.