HUD announced in the August 31 Federal Register the publication of FY19 Fair Market Rents (FMRs). FMRs are used to determine payment standards for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, initial renewal rents for some expiring project-based Section 8 contracts, initial rents in the Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy program, and rent ceilings for the HOME Investment Partnerships program and the Emergency Solutions Grants program. They are also used in the calculation of flat rents in public housing. Public housing agencies (PHAs) and other interested parties may comment on the FMRs and request a reevaluation within 30 days of their publication.
Reevaluation requests must be submitted by the end of the comment period. PHAs representing at least half of the voucher tenants in multijurisdictional FMR areas must agree that the reevaluation is necessary. The requestor must be able to supply HUD with data more recent than the 2016 American Community Survey (ACS). On or around October 2, HUD will post a list of areas requesting reevaluations, keeping FY18 FMRs in effect in those areas. Data for reevaluations must be supplied to HUD by Friday, January 11, 2019.
Questions about how to conduct FMR surveys (data collection) can be addressed to Marie L. Lihn or Peter B. Kahn at [email protected]. HUD will use the data provided to them to reevaluate FMRs. HUD will post a list of areas failing to deliver data on January 14, 2019, making the FY19 FMRs effective in these areas.
Comments and requests for reevaluations must be submitted through http://www.regulations.gov/ or by mail to: HUD Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW, Room 10276, Washington, DC 20410-0500. HUD encourages electronic submissions.
The FY19 FMRs are available at: https://bit.ly/2LHz7N5