Disparate Impact is a legal doctrine under the Fair Housing Act which states that a policy may be considered discriminatory if it has a disproportionate “adverse impact” against any group based on race, national origin, color, religion, sex, familial status, or disability when there is no legitimate, non-discriminatory business need for the policy. LeadingAge is concerned that HUD’s proposal would make it nearly impossible for residents and applicants to prove that they have been discriminated against.
For the last several months, LeadingAge staff have been representing member interests in nearly weekly meetings as part of an internal HUD task force, as well as an external stakeholder working group, focused on updating and revising the current form HUD 9834 used to guide the process for HUD and/or PBCA staff to perform a close review of resident files for the purposes of ascertaining compliance with HUD required management and occupancy pol
In the meantime, HUD has released a number of State-by-State RAD Fact Sheets which articulate well just how impactful the program can be in helping to preserve affordable housing.
In fact, HUD acknowledged that July contract renewals are going to be a bit late (though we’ve heard from no members in this category). However, funding obligations needed to issue PRAC renewals for July are reportedly going out now, so the July contract renewal delays should not last much longer.
HUD is moving forward in its efforts to create a new physical housing inspection model - recently christened National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) - and is seeking 4,500 properties to be selected from a nationwide voluntary pool of Public Housing Authorities and Property Owners and Agents will help test the standards, protocols, and processes prior to nationwide implementation.
The State of the Nation’s Housing 2019 describes housing production as not keeping pace with the nation’s growth of households. This low production creates higher housing costs, which increase housing affordability struggles for low and moderate income households, the report says. Even as rental housing costs continue to increase, more older adult households are renting.
The House-passed bill increases overall HUD funding by 7%, rejecting the White House’s request to cut the HUD budget by 18% for the fiscal year that begins on October 1. For HUD’s Section 202 Housing for the Elderly account, the bill would increase funding by almost 19% compared to fiscal year 2019 funding.
H.R. 3055 includes a total of $804 million for HUD’s Section 202 Housing for the Elderly program, full funding for Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance contract renewals, and increases for other HUD programs.
Eager to see expansion and improvements of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program enacted this year, LeadingAge urged members to contact their representatives and senators to co-sponsor new legislation.
A new report from Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF) for BRIDGE Housing, a San Francisco-based developer and manager of affordable housing, looks at housing development costs and new ways to approach construction to address cost issues.
Andrea Ponsor and Adam Cohen are the principal authors of the report, Faster, Better, More.
NSPIRE: Inspection Demonstration Becomes Voluntary and Nationwide
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