HUD posted “Supplement Notice 4C” on January 16, amending joint Notice H-2019-09/PIH-2019-23 REV-4 (REV-4), a document that effectively serves as a set of regulations for the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD). Supplement 4 C has several provisions relevant to tenants, as well as other provisions, such as increasing contract rent levels in extraordinary circumstances, clarifying that each RAD contract must be renewed after its initial term, and adding provisions regarding RAD/Section 18 Blends. In addition, Supplement 4C extends the deadline for public housing agencies (PHAs) to apply to HUD to convert public housing developments to either Project-Based Vouchers (PBVs) or Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) to September 30, 2029 (from September 30, 2024). The Notice took effect immediately.
Tenant-Relevant Provisions
- Supplement 4C increases to 30 days (up from 14) the length of advance written notice that a PHA or owner must provide to a tenant for nonpayment of rent, consistent with a recently published regulation (see Memo, 12/23/24).
- Lease-related materials must “Be reasonable, use plain language, and must not contain provisions that conflict with resident rights [provided in REV-4] or the requirements of the PBV or PBRA programs.” The lease must be available in multiple languages as needed and written in a manner accessible to people with disabilities. Leases and House Rules “should not be onerous or difficult for residents to understand and should not impose overly restrictive rules about what residents may or may not do in their homes.”
- For residents who lived in a public housing development at the time it converted under RAD, leases must not require a new security deposit and must not prohibit residents from keeping their pets after RAD conversion.
- As part of the RAD Closing package, PHAs must provide a copy of the sample Section 8 tenant lease including all riders and addenda (i.e., House Rules) for HUD review. For PBRA conversions, PHAs must use the HUD Model Lease (Form HUD-90105a), including an approved RAD lease addendum. For PBV conversions, there is no model lease; however, a PHA or owner must meet relevant PBV regulations and include the required Tenancy Addendum.
- Residents of public housing that has converted under RAD are allowed to continue to participate in the Jobs Plus, Resident Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS), and Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) programs. In addition, PHAs and owners may continue to participate in these programs after a program’s initial term or apply to renew program participation, depending on the program involved.
Additional Changes
- The RAD statute allows HUD to set annual rent adjustments by using Operating Cost Adjustment Factors (OCAFs) published annually by HUD. Supplement 4C recognizes that OCAFs might not fully account for increases in operating costs; therefore, it states that in “extraordinary circumstance,” an owner may request an adjustment in the eligible contract rent (tenants still pay the same percentage of rent under the PBV and PBRA programs, but the owner receives more assistance from HUD). Supplement 4C does not define or provide examples of “extraordinary circumstances”; HUD’s Office of Recapitalization in the Office of Multifamily Housing Programs will consider each request.
- To receive higher contract rents, a PHA that is part of the so-called Moving to Work (MTW) Demonstration may use their flexible MTW funds to supplement an initial contract rent that the MTW PHA sets higher than the normally applicable contract rent cap.
- For projects converted to PBRAs, after a 20-year initial Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) Contract term expires, the HAP Contract must be renewed, and rents must be re-determined at standard Section 8 rent levels. For projects converted to PBV, HAP Contracts renewed or extended before the 20th year after conversion, PBV contract rents must revert to the rent adjustment rules of the PBV regulations, starting with the 20th year after the original RAD PBV HAP Contract expired.
- For RAD/Section 18 Blend projects, HUD will convert tenant protection vouchers (TPVs) issued for the Section 18 units in the Blend to either PBVs or PBRAs, depending on which program a PHA chose to convert to under RAD. The project will then have a single RAD form of HAP Contract that is subject to a single RAD Use Agreement. The units in the RAD/Section 18 Blend that generate TPVs will not reduce a PHA’s Faircloth Limit (the maximum number of public housing units a PHA was authorized to have as of October 1, 1999). HUD will produce a single, blended rent schedule for all units resulting from a RAD/Section 18 Blend.
- Supplement 4C makes numerous changes to the PBV provisions to conform to regulatory changes made by the “Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016” (HOTMA).
Supplement Notice 4C is at: https://tinyurl.com/mv3btcub
Notice H-2019-09/PIH-2019-23 REV-4 is at: https://tinyurl.com/3p464yfn
HUD’s RAD homepage is at: https://www.hud.gov/RAD
More information about RAD is on page 4-50 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about public housing is on page 4-36 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about Project-Based Vouchers (PBVs) is on page 4-11 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) is on page 4-86 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.
More information about Jobs Plus, ROSS, and FSS is on page 6-1 of NLIHC’s 2024 Advocates’ Guide.