On October 7, HUD published Notice H 2021-06, requiring HUD-assisted owners and public housing agencies must provide no less than 30 days’ advance notification of lease termination due to nonpayment of rent. Further, owners and PHAs must provide information to affected tenants as necessary to support tenants in securing such available funding.

The Notice does not require specific language be included in notifications of terminations for nonpayment of rent; rather, landlords must ensure that such notification is provided no less than 30 days prior to any actions to terminate the lease of the affected household.

As for the information that owners must relay to at-risk tenants about the availability of Emergency Rental Assistance, HUD is requiring owners use language found in the Notice to convey this information. Owners must, at a minimum, use HUD-provided language, updated to reflect the entity issuing the notification with the appropriate link to the local ERA grantee. The HUD-required language, absent the necessary updating, is in the Appendix of the October 7 Notice and is copied below.

The Interim Final Rule, which provides HUD the basis to issue this October 7 Notice, is officially effective November 8, 2021. But, “senior” HUD officials have told media outlets owners are “expected to begin complying immediately to prevent evictions from heading to the courts.”

The October 7 Notice applies to all Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance, 202/PRAC, 202/PAC, 202/SPRAC, 811/PRAC, and to the public housing units under an Annual Contributions Contract. The Notices does not apply to PHAs administering only Housing Choice Voucher, or to families assisted by the Housing Choice Voucher program, or to project-based vouchers.

Read the full Notice H 2021-06 here. 

Read a LeadingAge article about the Interim Final Rule here.

Appendix: Information for Tenants

The U.S. Department of Treasury’s (“Treasury”) Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program

makes funding available to assist households that are unable to pay rent or utilities. The funds

were provided directly to states, U.S. territories, local governments, and (in the case of the first

program, ERA1) to Indian tribes or Tribally Designated Housing Entities, as applicable, and the

Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. Grantees use the funds to assist eligible households

through existing or newly created rental assistance programs.

In guidance and FAQs, Treasury advised that participants in HUD-assisted rental programs

(including the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV), Public Housing, or Project-Based Rental

Assistance programs) are eligible for the ERA program and may receive assistance for the

tenant-owed portion of rent or utilities that is not subsidized. In FAQs for PHAs and HCV

landlords, PIH clarified that this assistance can include rent arrearages and utilities owed over

the utility allowance. The FAQs include additional guidance on interim reexaminations, income

calculations, and additional considerations for private landlords participating in the HCV

program.

To learn more about how to apply for ERA go to [INSERT LINK and contact information for

APPROPRIATE LOCAL ERA GRANTEE].

State and local ERA grantees can also be accessed from Treasury’s website using the link “Find

rental assistance in your area.”

Leases may not be terminated due to nonpayment of rent until at least 30 days have

passed after a tenant receives this notice.