HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) announced that the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program will exclude from income calculations the $400 per week (or, in some states, $300 per week) extra unemployment benefit allowed under a Presidential Memorandum (PM) issued on August 8. CPD announced this via a HUD Exchange email on October 26.
The PM authorized a $400 per week of additional unemployment benefit paid to claimants through the Federal Emergency Assistance Agency (FEMA) Lost Wages Assistance Program. FEMA contributes 75% ($300) and a state may contribute the remaining 25% ($100). Some states have opted to pay only the federal portion of $300 per week, while other states have opted to pay the federal portion plus the state portion that results in $400 per week.
HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) announced on October 20 that the extra unemployment benefits would not count as income for public housing and Housing Choice Voucher residents (see Memo, 10/26). HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs has yet to provide similar guidance.
The HUD Exchange email is at: https://bit.ly/3e6jQFG
There is also a link to it on the HUD Exchange HOPWA webpage at: https://bit.ly/34C6lu5
More about HOPWA is on page 4-79 of NLIHC’s 2020 Advocates’ Guide.