HUD has announced that it will end the regulatory relief granted under Notice PIH 2013-03 as of the end of March 2015. That relief, which HUD described in Notice PIH 2013-03 as “temporary,” allowed public housing agencies to:
- Use participants’ actual past income to verify incomes
- Allow households to self-certify as to having assets less than $5000
- Use streamlined reexaminations for elderly and disabled families on fixed incomes
- Establish a payment standard up to 120% of fair market rent (FMR) as a reasonable accommodation
The circumstances surrounding implementation of Notice PIH 2013-03 were recently criticized by the HUD Office of Inspector General. The waivers authorized by Notice PIH 2013-03 have each been incorporated into revisions to HUD regulations included in a recently-proposed HUD rule, however, and HUD indicates that the Department is moving as quickly as possible to finalize the rule. HUD suggests that a housing authority that seeks to extend the regulatory relief that will expire at the end of this month can submit a request to HUD for a regulatory waiver.