Tuesday Tip Recap: Hot Topics for Housing Professionals
Posted On: September 10, 2024
In this week’s Tuesday Tip, Vicki Bell discussed various hot topics affecting the affordable housing community. From HUD’s annual inflationary adjustment to new forms and fair housing guidance, this session provided valuable insights for housing professionals preparing for upcoming changes. If you missed it, don’t worry—we’ve got you covered! Here’s a summary of the key points discussed and links to essential resources.
HUD’s Annual Inflationary Adjustment and Passbook Rates
Did you know? HUD has released its annual inflationary adjustments, including updates to passbook rates. These adjustments will affect income calculations and asset limitations for many housing programs. Key figures to note for CY2025 include:
Asset Limitation: Increased to $103,200.
Annual Income Threshold: Now $51,600.
Passbook Rate: Increased to 0.45% for CY2025.
These adjustments impact programs such as Section 8, Public Housing, and others. For detailed information, you can view the full document on revised inflation-adjusted amounts and passbook rates.
While everyone anticipated HOTMA-related changes, the latest HUD forms mainly focus on contract renewals. Vicki Bell mentioned that Nytira Mickel, who oversees contract renewals, will provide further details in next week’s session. In the meantime, there are 33 new HUD forms you should be aware of, which are available for review on HUD Clips.
HUD recently published new guidance on application screening and fair housing compliance, touching on critical aspects such as the use of criminal history, credit scores, and AI in tenant screening. This guidance is particularly important for housing providers, as it outlines best practices to ensure compliance with the Fair Housing Act. One major change involves restrictions on using lookback periods in criminal background checks. HUD now advises against using arbitrary lookback periods (e.g., three, five, or seven years) when screening applicants with a criminal history.
Vicki also reminded participants that this guidance will likely impact tenant selection plans, so it’s crucial to review your policies. The full guidance document can be accessed below.
Renter’s Bill of Rights and Tenant Selection Plans
Vicki also briefly touched on the Renter’s Bill of Rights, emphasizing the importance of staying informed. For those who haven’t yet reviewed the White House Blueprint for Renters’ Rights, this document is critical for understanding upcoming changes to tenant rights and responsibilities. Stay tuned for updates as HUD integrates these guidelines into its policies.
To deeply dive into these changes, ensure you’ve reviewed your tenant selection plan to align it with HOTMA, EIV policies, and the latest screening guidelines. Adjusting your policies now will save time and confusion later when these new rules go into effect.
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