In a reminder to affordable housing providers sent on August 14, the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Multifamily Housing team emphasized existing rules around tenant organizing.

Specifically, HUD reiterated that affordable housing communities subsidized through project-based Section 8, Section 202, and other HUD rental assistance programs are required to make community spaces available for meetings when requested by:

• Tenants or a tenant organization and used for activities related to the operation of the tenant organization; or
• Tenants seeking to establish a tenant organization or collectively address issues related to their living environment.

Tenant and tenant organization meetings must be accessible to persons with disabilities, unless this is impractical for reasons beyond the organization’s control; while owners can charge a standard fee for the use of the meeting space, owners may also waive the fee.

HUD’s communication emphasized the important benefits to both tenants and properties when “tenants are allowed to participate in creating and maintaining a suitable living environment.”

Additional tenant organizing protections for HUD-assisted multifamily housing providers include:

• The right of tenants to establish and operate a tenant organization for the purpose of addressing issues related to their living environment, which includes the terms and conditions of their tenancy as well as activities related to housing and community development.
• The requirement that owners recognize legitimate tenant organizations and give reasonable consideration to concerns raised by legitimate tenant organizations.
• The right of tenants to engage in activities related to the establishment or operation of a tenant organization, including by distributing leaflets in lobby areas, common areas, bulletin boards, or under tenants’ doors, as well as initiating contact with tenants and conducting door-to-door surveys of tenants to ascertain interest in establishing a tenant organization and to offer information about tenant organizations.
• The right of tenants to convene regularly scheduled tenant organization meetings in a space on site and accessible to tenants, in a manner that is fully independent of management representatives (in order to preserve the independence of tenant organizations, management representatives may not attend such meetings unless invited by the tenant organization to specific meetings to discuss a specific issue or issues).
• The right of tenant to formulate responses to owner’s requests for rent increases, conversions from project-based paid utilities to tenant-paid utilities, reductions in tenant utility allowances, and more as outlined in §245 of 24 CFR.

According to the regulation, a tenant organization is considered legitimate in multifamily housing if it meets regularly, operates democratically, is representative of all residents in the development, and is completely independent of owners, management, and their representatives.

HUD also recently issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity to support capacity building for tenant organizations; the grant funding will be distributed to an intermediary or intermediaries, who will then make awards to tenant organizations across the country to support tenant outreach and education.

LeadingAge is continuing discussions with our members about how to best support resident organizations.