San Francisco Office of Public Housing
Quarterly Newsletter FY 2013 3rd Quarter
Public Housing News
Serving Northern California and Nevada

From the Director's Desk
Velma C. Navarro
Director
San Francisco Office of Public Housing

The recent issuance of the sequestration order on March 1, 2013 has significantly reduced funding for our housing programs. We understand the affects these cuts have on all Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) and your ability to administer these programs as partners of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Continuing Resolution (Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013) or 2013 CR was enacted on March 26, 2013. Given the lateness in the calendar year and the significant funding cuts resulting from Sequestration, HUD is doing all we can to expedite the renewal calculations and the notification process, as you were notified by the Financial Management Center on April 26, 2013.

The 2013 CR continues to set-aside renewal of approximately $100 million for PHAs administering the Housing Choice Voucher program that qualify under certain categories, including a new funding category for "PHAs that despite taking reasonable cost savings measures, as determined by the Secretary, would otherwise be required to terminate participating families from the program due to insufficient funds." A PIH Notice is forthcoming that will provide detailed guidance on the process to apply for this set-aside funding, with a statutory purpose that is strictly to prevent the termination of participating families.

To be eligible for the set-aside funding to prevent terminations due to insufficient funding, a PHA must comply with the requirements issued in the April 26, 2013 letter from the Financial Management Center (FMC), including:

• A PHA must have received confirmation from HUD's Shortfall prevention team that they are in a shortfall position
• A PHA must cease issuing vouchers to applicants (does not apply to participants issued a voucher to move or to tenant protection vouchers)
• A PHA must rescind vouchers remaining on the street that were issued to families on or after April 1, 2013 and stop leasing units (does not apply under the two exceptions noted above)
• A PHA must cease absorbing portable vouchers

To apply for the set-aside funding, a PHA must certify that the above cost-saving measures have been met as part of the application process. The application period for the set-aside funding will remain open indefinitely for insufficient funding requests, subject to the availability of funds.

Once a PHA receives set-aside funding, they may not lease units for the rest of the calendar year. Should the PHA's financial condition improve, however, they may resume leasing but must first notify the Shortfall Prevention Team and return any excess set-aside funding to HUD.

The San Francisco Office of Public Housing is working closely with all of our PHAs to identify potential shortfalls and coordinate with the Shortfall Prevention Team and the FMC to prevent terminating families. Should you have any questions regarding this process, please feel free to contact me directly. I look forward to working with each of you as we persevere in these unprecedented times and continue to pursue our effort to promote and achieve HUD's mission.

Reconnecting Families and Dad

HUD is gearing up for Father's Day's 2013 and registration is now open for the 3rd annual event. Father's Day 2013 is a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development initiative that aims to strengthen the bond between children and their fathers, who are often absent from the lives of their children who live in public housing. Concurrently, the initiative has the goal of connecting dads to supportive services in their communities including, job training, health screenings and education opportunities. For the past three years HUD has asked Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) across the U.S. to host an event on the Saturday before

Father's Day in June that achieves these goals. This year, the date is Saturday, June 15, but housing authorizes should feel free to be flexible with the date of their events. This is an opportunity to empower families - fathers, children and mothers - while also connecting Dad's with economic, employment, health and education resources.

HUD Focusing on Fatherhood

In line with HUD's 2010-2015 Strategic Plan Goal 3: "using housing as a platform to improve the quality of life of our residents," this focus on fatherhood in public housing flows from current statistics that show when fathers are absent children suffer. This in no way suggests that HUD does not recognize the critical importance of mothers. The majority of public housing households with children are headed by single women who earn less than $9,000 annually, and they do a tremendous job of raising their children.

However, according to statistics drawn from communities across the country, children raised in absent father families are more at-risk for a host of negative factors, including dropping out of school. The focus on Father's Day is meant to be a starting point; either a celebration of existing relationships or a reason to form first connections.

Father's Day History

HUD's Father's Day Initiative was developed in response to the stark socio-economic data indicating how children and youth are being negatively affected by father absent homes. We need to change that!

Office of Capital Improvements

Notice PIH 2013-09 Issued: April 24, 2013

The obligation deadline in Section 6 of Notice PIH 2012-2 has expired on the Full Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 (P.L. 113)-6. PHAs with 250 or more public housing units may only use operating reserves for capital improvements through the Operating Fund Financing Program. For more information on the Operating Fund Financing Program, please see: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=opfund-financing-guide.pdf. All other sections of Notice PIH 2012-2 continue to remain in effect until amended, superseded , or rescinded by subsequent HUD directive or guidance.

ENTERPRISE INCOME VERIFCATION  (EIV)
The EIV certification process for April has been successfully completed.  
The EIV administrators are to be congratulated for a job well done!

Please Note:

• Nelson Stephens is the New REAC-EIV Team supervisor.
• The PIH.PHIIP.TA mailbox is no longer active.
• EIV Policy and Technical issue are to be sent to the following address: EIV_Help@hud.gov
• There is no additional EIV training planned at this time.
• The Form HUD-52676 (User Access Authorization Form and Rules of Behavior and user Agreement) expires as of May 31, 2013. The form expiration shall be extended.

Users are required to participate in an annual Security Awareness training.

Free HUD-sponsored EIV training is available online
Access all PIH EIV System training sessions at PIH EIV Webcasts.

Inventory Management System (IMS)/ PIH Information Center (PIC)

Below is a list of the Public Housing Revitalization Specialist (PHRS) assigned to your Public Housing Authority. Please contact your Public Housing Revitalization Specialist assigned to your housing authority. They are the first-line point-of-contact for any PIC issues before contacting the PIC Coach. This is especially the case for issues relating to 50058s.

Public Housing Revitalization Specialists

Andrew Nguyen (Andrew.Q.Nguyen@hud.gov) 
(415) 489-6443

Carol Joseph (Carol.M.Joseph@hud.gov)
(415) 498-6455

Claire Garcia (Claire.A.Garcia@hud.gov)
(415) 489-6436

Consolador Apostol (Consolodor.A.Apostol@hud.gov)
(415) 489-6452

Martha Ruiz (Martha.E.Ruiz@hud.gov)
(415) 489-6434

Justin Gray (Justin.W.Gray@hud.gov)
(415) 489-6445

Rhonda Wilson (Rhonda.R.Wilson@hud.gov)
(415) 489-6427

Sarah Glover-Johnson (Sarah.J.Glover-Johnson@hud.gov)
(415) 489-6448

Sharron Treskunoff (Sharron.T.Treskunoff@hud.gov)
(916) 498-0832

IMPROVING FEDERAL RENTAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

PIH Notice PIH 2013-02(HA) - Baseline Methodology for Moving to Work Public Housing Agencies

The Housing Authority of the City of Reno (RHA) was selected to participate in HUD's Moving to Work (MTW) program.

HUD's MTW program has given MYW agencies the opportunity to create and study original, locally-developed housing and self-sufficiency strategies that encourage public housing or HCV families to become self-sufficient. The MTW program is designed to provide local housing authorities with added flexibility to create and test innovative strategies to use Federal funding more efficiently to assist families either living in public housing or who are assisted through HUD's Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program.

Federal funds provide incentives such as job training and educational programs that lead to employment and, ultimately, self-sufficiency. Ultimately, the program aims to make HUD's largest rental assistance programs more cost effective, while providing families with children more housing choices and incentives to move toward economic self-sufficiency.

The RHA has received numerous commendations from the San Francisco HUD Field Office for its programs, including the 2008 PHA of the Year Award; a Special Achievement Award for performance under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), and the 2011 Low Rent Public Housing Program of the Year Award.

RHA proposes to conduct a controlled study on mobility. RHA's region has suffered large numbers of foreclosures. In this unfortunate situation is an opportunity for RHA to purchase homes in neighborhoods of opportunity at a very low cost. RHA will seek to acquire these properties to house families under HUD's project-based vouchers program. RHA will also couple these desirable properties with self-sufficiency requirements to improve resident outcomes. RHA also plans to conduct a rent reform study that will compare a graduated rent model to a set rent program. These two treatment groups will then be compared to residents paying traditional rents. This ambitious controlled study has the potential to offer insight on how different rent models work within one community. RHA has established a partnership with the University of Nevada at Reno's Center for Regional Studies to design evaluation criteria for these studies and the MTW program as a whole.

Did you know?

A PHA may have a policy that requires families to move only at the time of their annual reexamination. Below is the guidance pertaining to this issue.  

The regulation at 24 CFR 982.314 (b) states a family may move to a new unit if:

• (1) The assisted lease for the old unit has terminated. This includes a termination because:
  
  • (i) The PHA has terminated the HAP contract for the owner's breach; or
  • (ii) The lease has terminated by mutual agreement of the owner and the tenant.

A termination of the lease by mutual agreement between the owner and tenant is only necessary when the family is not at the end of their lease term and the family needs permission from the owner to do so. This language can be clearly interpreted to mean that the family is allowed to move at times other than the end of the lease term (with the exception of initial lease terms).

The regulation at 24 CFR 982.314(c) (2) states the PHA may establish policies on two specific issues:

1. prohibiting moves during the initial lease term and;
2. a policy that may prohibit more than one move by the family during any one-year period.

Both of the cited regulations can be read together and can be interpreted consistently to conclude that a PHA may not establish a policy that restricts families from moving only at the time of the family's annual reexamination.

Office of Housing Choice Vouchers
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Please read complete notice found at HUD's Notices and Regulations Web page: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/public_indian_housing/publications/notices

_______________________________________________________________________

Special Attention: NOTICE PIH 2013-03 (HA)

Directors of HUD Regional and Field

Offices of Public Housing; PIH Program Center Issued: January 22, 2013

Coordinators; Public Housing Agencies

Expires: March 31, 2014

_____________________________________________________________________

Subject: Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher Programs – Temporary

Compliance Assistance

Purpose: This Notice establishes temporary guidelines for public housing agencies

(PHAs) in fulfilling certain Public Housing (PH) and Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program requirements during this period of decreased resources available to PHAs. These guidelines are intended to facilitate the ability of PHAs to continue, without interruption and with minimal burden, the delivery of rental assistance to eligible families in their communities. The temporary provisions established by this Notice will be available to PHAs until March 31, 2014.

Applicability: This Notice applies to both the PH and HCV programs, except where noted.

Temporary Provisions:

• Allow option to use participants' actual past income in verifying income.
• Allow households to self-certify as to having assets of less than $5,000.
• Allow optional streamlined annual reexaminations for elderly families anddisabled families on fixed incomes.
• Allow PHAs to establish a payment standard of not more than 120 percent of thefair market rent (FMR) without HUD approval as a reasonable accommodation.
• Adoption of Temporary Provisions: A PHA that chooses to adopt any provisions described in this Notice must notify HUD by email at PIHTemporaryCompliance@hud.gov.

This email should also include either the Field Office Public Housing Director or the Program Center Coordinator as a recipient. Any temporary provision made available to a PHA under this Notice that a PHA elects to apply must be adopted in the PHA's HCV program administrative plan (24 CFR 982.54) or PH program tenant selection policies (24 CFR 960.202 and 960.257(c)). In cases where changes to policies are determined by the PHA to be an amendment to the PHA's Annual Plan that is significant, as defined by the PHA, the PHA must comply with the amendment provisions of 24 CFR 903.21, including soliciting public comment and consulting with the resident advisory board.

HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH)

Community Hero!

Martha Ruiz is a Public Housing Revitalization Specialist with the San Francisco Office of Public Housing. She comes from a family who operated a construction business and has worked for many years in various areas of the housing business from realtor, housing consultant, to public housing professional.

As a specialist in HUD's Section 8 or Housing Choice Voucher program, Martha realized that there was an opportunity to address the great need of homeless Veterans in the City. The HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program combines Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) rental assistance for homeless Veterans with case management and clinical services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).  VA provides these services for participating Veterans at VA medical centers (VAMCs) and community-based outreach clinics.

From her desire to help, she approached the San Francisco Housing Authority, the VA, and the Swords to Plowshares to begin an effort to house these homeless Veterans. Others joined in the effort to help from nonprofits to profit groups and landlords, and ordinary citizens. There is a lot of praise to go around. This group focused on a goal to house 50 veterans over 100 days, SF Homes for Heroes campaign.

"We look forward to counting down from 50 homeless veterans to zero over this time and are confident that with the help of community and local leaders this project will be a great success story for veterans, ‘Swords' and the city of San Francisco," said Michael Blecker (www.sfgate.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel
=business%2Fprweb&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Michael+Blecker%22), Swords to Plowshares' Executive Director. "This is another step in the right direction for reducing homelessness and poverty in San Francisco, specifically among veterans."

Martha was recognized recently for her efforts by the Swords to Plowshares.

Further Information: Any questions pertaining to this Notice may be addressed to Todd Thomas, (202) 402-5849, or by electronic mail at Todd.C.Thomas@hud.govabout the Public Housing program or Caroline Crouse, (202) 402-4595, or by electronic mail at Caroline.P.Crouse@hud.gov about the Housing Choice

Sandra B. Henriquez, Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing

In future editions, please we will continue with the VASH story and Martha's efforts in working with the community and meet the folks who made it happen.

Invitation: A HUD VASH conference call is held on the 3rd Monday of the month at 10am. Call in information is (877) 848-7030 Access Code 8770400

The purpose of the call is to discuss current issues and to learn from one another i.e., best practices. Martha Ruiz is finalizing the agenda for the next meeting. There will have a best practice presentation from San Francisco Housing Authority discussing "how to create housing for HUD VASH veterans in a high cost area." We will discuss sequestration and the impact of HUD VASH. Sarah Glover-Johnson will explain the payment standard and the impact of the reduction of PS on HUD VASH veterans.

The 2013 HUD VASH award have been announced and so we will be discussing the new application process and welcoming the new HUD VASH PHAs.

There is a lot of interest in Project based Voucher (PBV) for the HUD VASH program. Next month Martha Ruiz will present information on using PBV in the HUD VASH program. Please contact Martha Ruiz for additional information at (415) 489-6434

HUD's PROGRAM Web pages are excellent for keeping current. 

From the Office of Housing Choice Vouchers web page:

Webcasts

• (NEW) Cash Management Update Broadcast - October 10, 2012 (MS-PowerPoint)
• (NEW) CY 2012 HCVP Implementation  Broadcast (MS-PowerPoint)
• (NEW) FY 2012 HCV FSS NOFA Slides (MS-PowerPoint)
• (NEW) FY 2012 Housing Choice Voucher/ Family Self-Sufficiency NOFA Webcast: Tuesday, March 6, 2012, 11:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time

Program Related Information

• Family Unification Program
  • FUP Fact Sheet
• (NEW) Housing Choice Voucher Program - CY 2013 Administrative Fee Rates
  • CY 2013 Administrative Fee Rates Description (MS-Word)
  • CY 2013 Administrative Fee Rate Tables (MS-Excel)
• (NEW) Housing Credit Agencies - PBV Subsidy Layering Reviews
• Housing Choice Voucher Program - CY 2012 Administrative Fee Rates
  • CY 2012 Administrative Fee Rates Description (MS-Word)
  • CY 2012 Administrative Fee Rate Tables (MS-Excel)
• (NEW) CY 2012 HAP Set-Aside Funding for Portability
  • Portability Costs Information
  • Portability Costs-Apparently Eligible PHAs (MS-Excel)
• (NEW) Non-Elderly Disabled (NED) webpage
• (NEW) HCV 2 year Forecasting Tool: HUD has developed a spreadsheet tool for use by PHA and HUD staff to assist in projecting HCV leasing, spending and funding over a two year period. The purpose is to facilitate decision making by PHAs and to guide HUD oversight and technical assistance so that PHAs can achieve optimal use of the HCV funds while stabilizing the program. The goal is to make full use of the program while avoiding the typical large cyclical swings of lease up followed by attrition, and to eliminate abrupt cutbacks that might adversely impact participants. If you have any questions, contact your local HUD office of Public Housing.
  • Forecast User Guidance
  • Forecasting Tool (MS-Excel) - This version Forecasting Tool March 30, 2013 is updated to incorporate the 2013 Administrative Fee rates. An adjustment was also made to calculation related to funding from new allocations entered in the "New AC C Units" tab. 

Customer Service
By Sharron Treskunoff
PIH Revitalization Specialist

As we move forward toward the end of another fiscal year, we extend our appreciation for your cooperation and participation in our effort to respond to tenant, landlords and other external partner's concerns. January 2011 we decided that based on the overwhelming need for information to customers and to play an active role in responding to the many, many concerns in addressing these issues, that we would develop and implement a process by which we were easily accessible to external partners.

Customer Service is so very important to us here at HUD, as well as our primary role of working in partnership with housing authorities in our jurisdiction. January 2011 HUD ‘set sail', in introducing  the ‘maiden voyage', of a source where tenants etc., have a place to voice  their concerns and in most cases seek assistance, resources or just an ear to work through their situations. Over one thousand (1,000) calls have been received AND responded to since the inception of our Customer Service process. Thanks to our front desk staff, the face of HUD, that assists in managing /fielding the numerous calls; to FHEO that assists us in fielding the calls as well. Our customers have grown savvy and know how to make their issues known, but the very important impact is that now; all calls are directed to one place.

People from all walks of life call our office because they are in crisis and need to speak with someone at HUD. Typically, the assigned Public Housing Revitalization Specialists (PHRS') under took addressing tenant, LL and other complaints along with our primary tasks and obligations to housing authorities. In initiating this process our goal was to address the numerous calls, in a practical way; and to relieve my colleagues, PHRS' of the task of researching issues based on tenant calls. In times of limited resources, we now have very limited staff whose primary role is to interact, influence and provide TA to HA's; less people and more work necessary in order to address the shrinking budgets and need to provide our services; at the same time tenants are challenged because of the limited housing funds and the shrinking environment in the affordable housing arena.

Additionally, we believe this effort has assisted housing authorities in clarifying policies, and other activities impacting our work; opportunities to provide technical assistance regarding arising issues and hopefully relieving the housing authorities, by clarifying issues with their tenants, and by our intervention.

This year we have provided opportunities for 576 people to express their concerns and receive expert attention in situations, where sometimes we can assist by bringing issues to the HA's attention or providing guidance and referrals to where the caller may receive assistance.

I can't tell you how good it feels to have assisted in the prevention of homelessness, unsafe housing, and just plain guiding people though our (complex) systems.

Hope our system works for you and if you have any questions, concerns and especially suggestions on how we, together, can make this system work better, please do not hesitate to let me know at sharron.treskunoff@hud.gov

Please remember our goal is excellent customer service!

TRUST but VERIFY ALL DATA IN THIS NEWSLETTER

CALENDAR OF DUE DATES

 This web page, Calendar of Due Dates, lists Public Indian Housing (PIH) requirements for 

• PHAs with fixed due dates 
• PHAs with varying due dates can be found here:

 Due Dates for 2013

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