HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) posted Notice PIH 2020-13, REV1 on July 6. This notice restates the waivers in Notice PIH 2020-05 dated April 10 (see Memo, 4/13) and introduces six new waiver options for public housing agencies (PHAs). Notice 2020-13, REV1 also extends to December 31 the periods of waiver availability for 24 previous waivers. Although the Notice is 52 pages long, advocates will be most interested in the summary on page 2 and the Appendix, as the remainder of the document is not meaningfully changed from Notice PIH 2020-05 (see NLIHC summary of key waivers in the April 10 Notice).
Importantly, the notice requires PHAs to post publicly or otherwise make available to the public a list of all waivers a PHA chooses to apply. They must also notify affected residents and owners of the impact of applicable waivers – as was already required by Notice 2020-05. While this requirement is in response to advocates’ difficulty in learning what, if any, waivers a PHA has chosen, one of the issues with waiver transparency is that PHAs are simply posting waivers instead of posting the alternative policies being implemented with the waiver authority.
Of the new waivers, the three most notable are two about the Family Unification Program (FUP) and one about Project Based Voucher (PBV) households with higher incomes that render them no longer eligible for PBV assistance. The two new public housing waivers include one about public housing annual self-certifications and one about public housing Designated Housing Plans. On page 2 of the notice, PIH highlights three extensions of waiver availability, including two related to Housing Quality Standards (HQS) inspections, one concerning owners self-certifying that there are no life-threatening conditions, and one concerning biennial HQS inspections. For more details about these waivers and extensions, see NLIHC’s summary.
Notice PIH 2020-13 REV1 is at: https://bit.ly/2ChGThI
The Appendix is at: https://bit.ly/3fdnYTJ
Notice PIH 2020-05 is at: https://bit.ly/3gyWGHQ
NLIHC’s summary of the key new waivers is at: https://bit.ly/2O9KNfb
NLIHC’s summary of the Notice 2020-05 waivers is at: https://bit.ly/3gyXTim
More about Housing Choice Vouchers is on page 4-1 of NLIHC’s 2020 Advocates’ Guide.
More about public housing is on page 4-30 of NLIHC’s 2020 Advocates’ Guide.
More about the Family Unification Program (FUP) is on page 4-17 of NLIHC’s 2020 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about Project-Based Vouchers (PBVs) is on page 4-8 of NLIHC’s 2020 Advocates’ Guide.