HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) created “Tenant Protection Vouchers (TPVs) for Public Housing Actions,” a summary of its current policies regarding Tenant Protection Vouchers (TBVs). The summary is not separately posted, but is only linked in another new PIH document, “Project-Based Vouchers: Frequently Asked Questions About PBVs and Public Housing Repositioning” (see separate article in this issue of Memo). The summary does not apply to TPVs for HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs (Multifamily), which primarily relate to private, Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) properties exiting the program by opting out of the PBRA program. The 12-page document has 20 questions addressing a variety TPV issues.
The summary explains that Tenant Protection Vouchers (TPVs) are Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs) provided to public housing agencies (PHAs) in response to a “public housing action.” The primary public housing actions are: Section 18 demolitions and/or dispositions, de minimis Section 18 demolitions (demolitions of only a few units), Section 22 voluntary conversions to vouchers, and Section 33 required conversions to vouchers.
There are two types of TPVs: replacement and relocation. Replacement TPVs are provided when a PHA is not replacing public housing units lost through a public housing action (e.g., disposition) with other public housing units. Replacement TPVs are intended to assist public housing households displaced by the public housing action. Replacement TPVs are also provided as a permanent resource to the PHA and community to compensate for the loss of the original public housing. After a household that initially received a TPV ends its participation in the voucher program, the voucher funding remains in the PHA’s baseline funding and is available to assist other households. Replacement TPVs are also provided for vacant units that were occupied by an assisted family in the previous 24 months.
Relocation TPVs are used when a PHA is replacing public housing units removed through the public housing action with other public housing units. For example, a PHA may propose a Section 18 demolition in order to develop the same site with new replacement public housing units (including through mixed-finance development). Relocation TPVs are a temporary resource to the PHA to assist only households who are being temporarily displaced by a public housing action. Once a household uses a relocation TPV to lease a replacement unit, it becomes traditional HCV tenant-based assistance for the household. Relocation TPVs “sunset” when the household returns to a public housing unit or otherwise no longer needs the TPV. A PHA cannot reissue the HCV assistance from the relocation TPV when the family exits the HCV program.
Congress funds TPVs as part of an annual Appropriations Act. The FY19 Act provided $85 million. HUD anticipated that this amount, combined with available carryover, would support 17,000 households. PIH 2018-09 and PIH 2019-08 implement TPVs for 2018 and 2019.
“Tenant Protection Vouchers (TPVs) for Public Housing Actions” is at: https://bit.ly/2Y4DeMM
More information about Tenant Protection Vouchers is on page 4-12 of NLIHC’s 2020 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about public housing is on page 4-30 of NLIHC’s 2020 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about Housing Choice Vouchers is on page 4-1 of NLIHC’s 2020 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about Section 18 demolition and disposition and about Section 22 voluntary conversion is on NLHIC’s public housing webpage: https://bit.ly/2N2ombx