The National Housing Law Project (NHLP) and NLIHC sent a letter on May 1 to HUD Secretary Ben Carson urging HUD to immediately revise its recent guidance on the CARES Act eviction moratorium to correctly state that the moratorium applies to all tenants of any Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) property. The HUD Office of Public and Indian Housing’s (PIH’s) FAQs (see Memo, 4/27) and the Office of Multifamily Housing Program’s Q&As (see Memo, 4/20) each provide misleading responses to the question of whether the LIHTC program is covered the eviction moratorium (see Memo 4/13) when the answer is unequivocal that it does.
NHLP and NLIHC write that HUD’s response must be revised to clarify that all tenants in LIHTC properties are covered by the CARES Act eviction moratorium protections. The eviction moratorium applies to “covered dwellings,” which includes dwellings on or in “covered properties.” The Act defines a “covered property” as a property that participates in a “covered housing program” as defined by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), as well as in two other categories.
LIHTC properties are indisputably covered under VAWA and, therefore, any tenants in any property participating in the LIHTC program would be a covered dwelling for purposes of the CARES Act moratorium. The letter concludes that HUD must revise the FAQ and Q&A responses so that tenants understand their rights during the pandemic.
The types of properties that would be subject to the PIH FAQ are mixed-financed properties and some properties converting to the Project-Based Voucher (PBV) program through the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD).
The letter from NHLP and NLIHC is at: https://bit.ly/2YyySxR
The PIH FAQ is at: https://bit.ly/3bAicd2
The Multifamily Q&A is at: https://bit.ly/2RJEUaO
More about VAWA is at: page 6-6 of NLIHC’s 2020 Advocates’ Guide.
More about Multifamily Housing is at: page 4-61 of NLIHC’s 2020 Advocates’ Guide.
More about RAD is at page 4-39 of NLIHC’s 2020 Advocates’ Guide.