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IMPORTANT NEWS from HUD
The Office of Management and Budget has
granted an exemption for project-based Section 8 Housing
Assistance Payments (HAP) funding to the reporting
requirements under the Recovery Act--see explanation below.
OMB justification for exemption from
Section 1512 of ARRA:
The Project-based Rental Assistance (PBRA)
program provides rental assistance to low-income tenants in
nearly 1.3 million housing units. Residents generally pay
30 percent of their income toward rent and HUD pays the
balance of rent and utilities to private owners/landlords of
multifamily rental properties. The PBRA program is
tantamount to individual benefit programs, which provide
assistance to individuals to meet or help meet particular
needs, such as paying for medical care, food, or college
tuition. In the PBRA program, the benefit provided is
quality, safe, and affordable housing and the beneficiaries
are low-income families. Although Federal payments are made
directly to owners/landlords, those payments are not
intended for the benefit of the owners/landlords. They are
merely the mechanism for delivering the benefit to
low-income families. As with other individual benefit
programs, families must meet certain eligibility criteria to
qualify for assistance. For example, they must be at or
below 80 percent of area median income.
Because the PBRA program is tantamount
to an individual benefits program, and because 31 U.S.C.
7501(a) excludes from the term “Federal financial
assistance” amounts received as reimbursement for services
rendered to individuals in accordance with guidance issued
by the Director, the program is properly excluded from 1512
reporting.
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