HUD to Release Two Public Housing Notices of Proposed Information Collection

HUD will release two new Notices of Proposed Information Collection in the Federal Register tomorrow. The first notice is a 60-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection titled Public Housing Reform Act: Changes to the Admission and Occupancy Requirements. The second is a 30-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection titled Assessment of Additional Resource Needs for Smoke-Free Policy. HUD posted a 60-Day Notice of Proposed Information Collection regarding an assessment of its smoke-free policy in January, 2018. NAHRO’s comments can be found here (members only).

The Public Housing Reform Act: Changes to the Admission and Occupancy Requirement Notice will implement changes to the admission and occupancy requirements to the public housing program made by the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 (QHWRA) and the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA). The changes to the requirements relate largely to the new definition of over-income families. HOTMA defines an over-income family as “having an annual income 120 percent above the median income for the area for two consecutive years.” HUD issued the final implementation notice for the public housing income limits in July. PHAs have until March, 2019 to make a one-time update to their Admission and Occupancy policy to apply local over-income limits. HOTMA also included new mandatory annual reporting requirements on the number of over-income families residing in public housing and the total number of families on the public housing waiting lists at the end of each reporting year. Comments on the changes to the admission and occupancy requirements are due 60 days after the Notice is published in the Federal Register on September 11.

Through the Assessment of Additional Resource Needs for Smoke-Free Policy Notice, HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) will conduct a survey with PHAs that will gather data on policies and programs pertaining to smoke-free policies. The information will be collected via an online survey such as Qualtrics or SurveyMonkey, and will consist of approximately 40 questions, including Likert-type survey items and free response boxes. HUD PIH is hoping to identify areas that are experiencing difficulty in their implementation of the policy and may develop additional resources and/or target local resources that may be able to assist. Comments are due 30 days after the Notice is published in the Federal Register on September 11.