The National Housing Law Project (NHLP) and the Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) issued a policy brief urging HUD to create a right to organize for residents with Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs). The brief also urges HUD to request that the Biden administration and Congress provide funds for HCV resident organizing activities in the same manner as they provide funds for public housing resident councils. The brief follows a letter sent by the two organizations to HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge on December 2, 2021, urging HUD and the Biden administration to include funding for HCV tenant organizing in the fiscal year (FY) 2023 budget request submitted to Congress.
The brief notes that Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher residents do not have the same right to organize and do not receive the same funding as public housing and private housing residents who are assisted with Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) by HUD’s Office of Multifamily Programs.
The brief summarizes the federal protections for resident organizing for residents in public housing (these regulations can be found at 24 CFR Part 964), in private HUD-assisted PBRA properties (these regulations can be found at 24 CFR Part 245), and in public housing converted under the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) to housing supported by Project-Based Vouchers (PBVs) or PBRA (RAD Notice Revision 4: H 2019-09 PIH 2019-23). The brief also discusses the $25-per-unit funding provided for public housing resident organizations and the $10 million available (but never fully awarded) every year for resident-organization capacity building for residents in private, HUD-assisted housing.
The policy brief suggests that four general principles be included in any regulations used to formulate an organizing right for HCV residents. According to these principles, HUD should create regulations that:
- Define HCV resident organizations in a manner similar to the provisions in 24 CFR Part 245 and include an enforcement process enabling residents or resident organizations to submit allegations of owner interference or retaliation.
- Suggest a variety of roles for an HCV resident organization.
- Provide a flexible, inclusive structure for resident organizations that does not disqualify an otherwise eligible group because it has just been created or has a limited number of members who can serve as officers.
The fourth principle encourages HUD to urge the Biden administration and Congress to create two forms of funding for HCV resident organizing:
- Annual, per-unit funding for resident organizations similar to the $25-per-unit funding provided for public housing resident organizations (but augmented, just as the $25-per-unit should be augmented to $37-per-unit to adjust for inflation).
- Separate funding for resident capacity building throughout the country similar to the annual $10 million Section 514 provision for HUD-assisted Multifamily Housing (though the brief notes that only $13 million has been provided out of the $190 million that could have been used for this purpose).
Read the NHLP/PRRAC policy brief at: https://bit.ly/3oX89rd
Read the NHLP/PRRAC letter to Secretary Fudge at: https://bit.ly/3JzUIWd
Read more about resident participation and organizing in federally assisted housing on page 2-52 of NLIHC’s 2021 Advocates’ Guide.
Read more about the Housing Choice Voucher program on page 4-1 of NLIHC’s 2021 Advocates’ Guide.
Read more about public housing on page 4-30 of NLIHC’s 2021 Advocates’ Guide.
Read more about the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) on page 4-40 of NLIHC’s 2021 Advocates’ Guide.
Read more about HUD-assisted Multifamily Housing on page 4-64 of NLIHC’s 2021 Advocates’ Guide.