Federal Housing Administration (FHA): Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance: Standard Program Regulation and Renewal Contract; Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Request for Public Comment, 7044-7046 [2023-02181]
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§ 1311.60
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 22 / Thursday, February 2, 2023 / Proposed Rules
[Amended]
5. Amend § 1311.60 by removing
paragraph (c).
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[FR Doc. 2023–01804 Filed 2–1–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410–09–P
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
24 CFR Part 402, 880, 881, 883, 884,
886, 891
[Docket No. FR–6320–A–01]
RIN 2502–AJ62
Federal Housing Administration (FHA):
Section 8 Project-Based Rental
Assistance: Standard Program
Regulation and Renewal Contract;
Advance Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking and Request for Public
Comment
Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Housing—Federal Housing
Commissioner, Office of Multifamily
Housing Programs, HUD.
ACTION: Advance notice of proposed
rulemaking and request for public
comment.
AGENCY:
The Office of Multifamily
Housing Programs (MFH) seeks
comments from the public regarding an
initiative under which MFH, in
partnership with owners, tenants, and
other program stakeholders, would
move toward a single Section 8 program
regulation and single contract form
pursuant to which the Secretary would
renew project-based Section 8 Housing
Assistance Payments (HAP) contracts
under section 524 of the Multifamily
Assisted Housing Reform and
Affordability Act of 1997 (MAHRA).
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SUMMARY:
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17:12 Feb 01, 2023
Jkt 259001
Section 524 authorizes the Secretary to
establish the terms and conditions
under which expiring contracts are
renewed, subject to the requirements of
section 524. Currently, the Secretary
issues one of several section 524
renewal contracts, which is subject to
one of seven Section 8 regulatory parts
under which the original contract was
issued, as well as other HUD regulations
implementing section 524. To reduce
regulatory complexities, MFH envisions
promulgating a single Section 8 projectbased rental assistance program
regulation consisting of a standardized
set of Section 8 program requirements
and a single form of section 524 renewal
contract.
DATES: Comment Due Date: Written
comments must be received on or before
April 3, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are
invited to submit comments regarding
this advance notice of proposed
rulemaking. There are two methods for
submitting public comments. All
submissions must refer to the above
docket number and title.
1. Submission of Comments by Mail.
Members of the public may submit
comments by mail to the Regulations
Division, Office of General Counsel,
Department of Housing and Urban
Development, 451 7th Street SW, Room
10276, Washington, DC 20410–0500.
Due to security measures at all federal
agencies, however, submission of
comments by standard mail often results
in delayed delivery. To ensure timely
receipt of comments, HUD recommends
that comments submitted by standard
mail be submitted at least two weeks in
advance of the deadline. HUD will make
all comments received by mail available
to the public at https://
www.regulations.gov.
2. Electronic Submission of
Comments. Interested persons may
submit comments electronically through
the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. HUD strongly
encourages commenters to submit
comments electronically. Electronic
submission of comments allows the
commenter maximum time to prepare
and submit a comment, ensures timely
receipt by HUD, and enables HUD to
make comments immediately available
to the public. Comments submitted
electronically through the
www.regulations.gov website can be
viewed by other commenters and
interested members of the public.
Commenters should follow the
instructions provided on that site to
submit comments electronically.
Note: To receive consideration as
public comments, comments must be
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submitted through one of the two
methods specified above. All
submissions must refer to the docket
number and title of the rule.
No Facsimile Comments. Facsimile
(FAX) comments are not acceptable.
3. Public Inspection of Public
Comments. All properly submitted
comments and communications
submitted to HUD are available for
public inspection and copying between
8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at the above
address. Due to security measures at the
HUD Headquarters building, an advance
appointment to review the public
comments must be scheduled by calling
the Regulations Division at 202–708–
3055 (this is not a toll-free number).
Individuals with speech or hearing
impairments may access this number
via teletypewriter (TTY) by calling the
Federal Relay Service at 800–877–8339
(this is a toll-free number). Copies of all
comments submitted are available for
inspection and downloading at
www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jennifer Lavorel, Director, Program
Administration Division, Office of Asset
Management Portfolio Oversight, U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban
Development, 451 7th Street, SW,
Washington, DC 20410, telephone
number 202–402–2515 (this is not a tollfree number). Individuals with speech
or hearing impairments may access this
number via TTY by calling the Federal
Relay Service at 800–877–8339 (this is
a toll-free number).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Housing and Community
Development Act of 1974, Public Law
93–383 (Aug. 22, 1974) amended the
United States Housing Act of 1937 to
add Section 8. Congress established a
new project-based rental assistance
(PBRA) program under which public
housing agencies under contract with
HUD were authorized to enter into
Housing Assistance Payments (HAP)
contracts on behalf of eligible lowincome families occupying new,
substantially rehabilitated, or existing
rental units. In 1983, Congress repealed
PBRA authority for new construction
and substantial rehabilitation HAP
contracts. As original HAP contracts
began to expire, Congress enacted the
Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform
and Affordability Act of 1997, Public
Law 105–65 (Oct. 27, 1997), which
authorized the renewal of expiring HAP
contracts. Section 524 of MAHRA
authorizes the renewal of HAP contracts
at market rents (524(a)(4)(c)) and abovemarket rents (524(a)(4)(B)), for contracts
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khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 22 / Thursday, February 2, 2023 / Proposed Rules
that are not subject to Mark-to-Market
debt-restructuring.
Historically, MFH has issued HAP
contracts under the seven regulatory
parts listed below. Today, MFH issues
renewal HAP contracts under MAHRA
and continues to issue new contracts
under 24 CFR part 886 subpart C
(Disposition of HUD-owned Projects)
and under the Rental Assistance
Demonstration (RAD) Project-Based
Rental Assistance (PBRA) program.
The Section 8 statute requires that the
HAP contract contain certain
provisions, which means that the
contracts MFH has issued over the years
contain many similar provisions. Many
contracts, however, contain other
provisions that mirror the
administrative requirements unique to
each program’s regulatory structure.
Some programs (flagged below) have
both old and new regulation contracts
depending on when the notice of
selection or initial application for the
project was issued (for projects subject
to Part 880, for example, ‘‘old
regulation’’ contracts are those that
received a notice of selection for their
proposal between 1975 and November
5, 1979 and ‘‘new regulation’’ contracts
received the notice of selection after
November 5, 1979) as follows:
1. New Construction (24 CFR part
880) (old and new);
2. Substantial Rehabilitation (24 CFR
part 881) (old and new);
3. State Housing Agencies (24 CFR
part 883) (old and new);
4. New Construction financed under
section 515 of the Housing Act of 1949
(24 CFR part 884);
5. Loan Management Set Aside
Program (24 CFR part 886, subpart A);
6. Section 202/8 Program (24 CFR part
891, subpart E) (formerly part 885);
7. Disposition of HUD-Owned Projects
(24 CFR part 886, subpart C);
8. RAD PBRA Program (RAD Notice,
Appendix I).
The fundamental difference between
old regulation and new regulation HAP
contracts is that new regulation
contracts impose a limitation on
distributions for profit-motivated
owners, as well as a requirement for
residual receipts and a reserve for
replacement account, whereas old
regulation contracts generally do not. As
another example, only new regulation
HAP contracts typically require the
owner to submit audited financial
statements. These types of differences
are carried forward when contracts are
renewed, because the renewal contracts
that HUD has used since the enactment
of MAHRA state that they renew all the
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17:12 Feb 01, 2023
Jkt 259001
provisions of the expiring contract
(except for those pertaining to the
identification of contract units by size
and applicable contract rents, the
amount of the monthly contract rents,
contract rent adjustments, and any
project account). The differing contract
terms that result from this environment
contribute to program complexities that
could be reduced by instead having a
standard renewal contract for all
projects renewing under section 524.
Adoption of a standard program
regulation and contract would reduce
the complexity faced by owners and
tenants, in addition to HUD staff and
contractors who are responsible for the
administration and oversight of assisted
projects.
HUD sees a clear benefit to moving
toward a single program regulatory
structure and a single program contract
that sets forth all contract terms. HUD
also recognizes that such contract terms
may affect an owner’s decision-making
process in considering whether to
request renewal. As a result, MFH is
soliciting public comment on this
initiative.
II. Request for Public Comment
This notice offers an opportunity for
the public to provide input on the
policies to be incorporated in a standard
program regulation. MFH will consider
all public comments received and
subsequently issue a proposed rule. At
that time, MFH will accept further
public comments on the proposed
standard program regulation. MFH is
particularly interested in public
comments addressing the following
issues:
A. Reserve for Replacement
(1) To ensure project capital needs are
met, HUD intends to require an owner
to establish a HUD-controlled reserve
for replacement account, with initial
and annual deposits determined by
means of a periodic capital needs
assessment (CNA). Are there
circumstances under which HUD
should consider waiving the need for a
CNA and, if so, what circumstances and
why?
(2) Should HUD provide an incentive
to owners to use their own capital to
establish and/or make continued
deposits to a reserve for replacement
account? If yes, how might the incentive
be structured? Should access to the
incentive be tied to particular
outcomes? If so, what outcomes?
B. Rehabilitation
(3) Should the standard program
regulation address requirements when a
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7045
project assisted under section 524 is
undergoing rehabilitation? If not, why
not?
(4) If the standard regulation should
address rehabilitation, what elements of
rehabilitation should it cover (i.e.,
rehabilitation planning, tenant
relocation, use of the pass-through)? Are
there items that should be excluded
from the regulation?
C. Project Finances
(5) To ensure compliance with the
reserve for replacement requirement,
HUD intends to require all owners to
submit annual financial reports. Please
comment.
(6) Should the standard program
regulation contain any limits on
distributions? If not, how should HUD
ensure that owners dedicate appropriate
funds to operating and maintenance
costs, and that taxpayer funds are not
providing excessive compensation to
owners?
D. HUD Enforcement
(7) In the interest of providing clarity
and transparency, HUD believes it
would be beneficial to include in the
regulation a subpart on enforcement,
where the tools available to HUD and
the circumstances under which such
tools could be employed would be
addressed. Please comment.
E. Vacancy Payments
(8) What incentives could HUD use to
encourage owners to re-lease vacant
units quickly? Are there programmatic
changes HUD might consider to
encourage this result?
F. Scope
(9) What topics should be addressed
in a standard program regulation? For
example, should the regulation be
comprehensive, addressing all aspects
of the program, ranging from renewal,
management, occupancy, enforcement,
and nondiscrimination, accessibility for
persons with disabilities and equal
opportunity requirements? If not, how
should the scope of the regulation be
limited?
(10) HUD expects to incorporate into
the regulation tenant rights equivalent
to those that apply currently to tenants
residing in projects assisted under RAD
PBRA HAP contracts (as currently
described in Notice H 2019–09/PIH
2019–23). Should the regulation contain
a subpart addressing tenant rights and
responsibilities? If so, what specific
topics should the subpart cover?
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7046
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 22 / Thursday, February 2, 2023 / Proposed Rules
G. Renewal Options
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is proposing an approval,
a partial approval and partial
disapproval, and a limited approval and
limited disapproval of certain revisions
to the Clark County portion of the
Nevada State Implementation Plan
(SIP). These revisions primarily concern
the Clark County Department of
Environment and Sustainability’s
(‘‘DES’’ or ‘‘Department’’) general
definitions rule and New Source Review
(NSR) permitting program for new and
modified sources of air pollution under
the Clean Air Act (CAA or ‘‘Act’’). We
are taking comments on this proposal
and plan to follow with a final action.
DATES: Comments must be received by
March 6, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments,
identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R09–
OAR–2020–0239 at https://
www.regulations.gov. For comments
submitted at Regulations.gov, follow the
online instructions for submitting
comments. Once submitted, comments
cannot be removed or edited from
Regulations.gov. The EPA may publish
any comment received to its public
docket. Do not submit electronically any
information you consider to be
Confidential Business Information (CBI)
or other information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Multimedia
submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be
accompanied by a written comment.
The written comment is considered the
official comment and should include
discussion of all points you wish to
make. The EPA will generally not
consider comments or comment
contents located outside of the primary
submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or
other file sharing system). For
additional submission methods, please
contact the person identified in the FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
SUMMARY:
(11) Upon expiration, most contracts
in MFH’s portfolio are eligible for
renewal under section 524 of MAHRA.
HUD intends to require renewal of such
contracts by means of the standard
program contract, so that as owners
renew, they will be subject to the
requirements laid out in the standard
program regulation. Please comment.
H. Other Comments
(12) In addition to the subject areas
described above, MFH welcomes any
other input that interested parties
believe would contribute to the
successful design and implementation
of a standard program regulation and
contract, including input on education
and outreach efforts that would assist
owners in understanding and complying
with requirements in the standard
program regulation and contract.
Julia R. Gordon,
Assistant Secretary for Housing—FHA
Commissioner.
[FR Doc. 2023–02181 Filed 2–1–23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210–67–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA–R09–OAR–2020–0239; FRL–10597–
01–R9]
Air Plan Actions; Nevada; Clark
County—Department of Environment
and Sustainability; Stationary Source
Permits
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
AGENCY:
For the full EPA public comment policy,
information about CBI or multimedia
submissions, and general guidance on
making effective comments, please visit
https://www2.epa.gov/dockets/
commenting-epa-dockets. If you need
assistance in a language other than
English or if you are a person with
disabilities who needs a reasonable
accommodation at no cost to you, please
contact the person identified in the FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Laura Yannayon, EPA Region IX, Air–3–
1, 75 Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA
94105, (415) 972–3534,
yannayon.laura@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Throughout this document, ‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us’’
and ‘‘our’’ refer to the EPA.
Table of Contents
I. The State’s Submittal
A. What rules did the State submit?
B. Are there other versions of these rules?
C. What is the purpose of the submitted
rules?
II. The EPA’s Evaluation and Action
A. How is the EPA evaluating the rules?
B. Do the rules meet the evaluation
criteria?
C. What are the rule deficiencies?
D. EPA Recommendations To Further
Improve the Rule
E. Proposed Action and Public Comment
III. Incorporation by Reference
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. The State’s Submittal
A. What rules did the State submit?
Table 1 lists the rules 1 addressed by
this proposal, including the dates they
were adopted by the Clark County Board
of County Commissioners, and the dates
they were submitted by the Nevada
Division of Environmental Protection
(NDEP) to the EPA.
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TABLE 1—SUBMITTED RULES
Section
Section title
Adopted
0 ..................................
10 ................................
12.0 .............................
12.1 .............................
12.11 ...........................
Definitions ...........................................................................................
Compliance Schedules (Request to rescind) .....................................
Applicability and General Requirements ............................................
Permit Requirements For Minor Sources ...........................................
General Permits for Minor Stationary Sources ..................................
7/20/21
12/18/18
1/21/20
12/18/18
12/18/18
1 These rules are referred to by the Clark County
DES as ‘‘Sections.’’
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Cover letter
date
1/31/22
6/6/19
3/13/20
4/12/19
4/12/19
Submittal
date
1/31/22
6/10/19
3/16/20
4/12/19
4/12/19
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 22 (Thursday, February 2, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 7044-7046]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-02181]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
24 CFR Part 402, 880, 881, 883, 884, 886, 891
[Docket No. FR-6320-A-01]
RIN 2502-AJ62
Federal Housing Administration (FHA): Section 8 Project-Based
Rental Assistance: Standard Program Regulation and Renewal Contract;
Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Request for Public Comment
AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Housing--Federal Housing
Commissioner, Office of Multifamily Housing Programs, HUD.
ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking and request for public
comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Office of Multifamily Housing Programs (MFH) seeks
comments from the public regarding an initiative under which MFH, in
partnership with owners, tenants, and other program stakeholders, would
move toward a single Section 8 program regulation and single contract
form pursuant to which the Secretary would renew project-based Section
8 Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) contracts under section 524 of the
Multifamily Assisted Housing Reform and Affordability Act of 1997
(MAHRA). Section 524 authorizes the Secretary to establish the terms
and conditions under which expiring contracts are renewed, subject to
the requirements of section 524. Currently, the Secretary issues one of
several section 524 renewal contracts, which is subject to one of seven
Section 8 regulatory parts under which the original contract was
issued, as well as other HUD regulations implementing section 524. To
reduce regulatory complexities, MFH envisions promulgating a single
Section 8 project-based rental assistance program regulation consisting
of a standardized set of Section 8 program requirements and a single
form of section 524 renewal contract.
DATES: Comment Due Date: Written comments must be received on or before
April 3, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding
this advance notice of proposed rulemaking. There are two methods for
submitting public comments. All submissions must refer to the above
docket number and title.
1. Submission of Comments by Mail. Members of the public may submit
comments by mail to the Regulations Division, Office of General
Counsel, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street
SW, Room 10276, Washington, DC 20410-0500. Due to security measures at
all federal agencies, however, submission of comments by standard mail
often results in delayed delivery. To ensure timely receipt of
comments, HUD recommends that comments submitted by standard mail be
submitted at least two weeks in advance of the deadline. HUD will make
all comments received by mail available to the public at https://www.regulations.gov.
2. Electronic Submission of Comments. Interested persons may submit
comments electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. HUD strongly encourages commenters to submit
comments electronically. Electronic submission of comments allows the
commenter maximum time to prepare and submit a comment, ensures timely
receipt by HUD, and enables HUD to make comments immediately available
to the public. Comments submitted electronically through the
www.regulations.gov website can be viewed by other commenters and
interested members of the public. Commenters should follow the
instructions provided on that site to submit comments electronically.
Note: To receive consideration as public comments, comments must be
submitted through one of the two methods specified above. All
submissions must refer to the docket number and title of the rule.
No Facsimile Comments. Facsimile (FAX) comments are not acceptable.
3. Public Inspection of Public Comments. All properly submitted
comments and communications submitted to HUD are available for public
inspection and copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays at the above
address. Due to security measures at the HUD Headquarters building, an
advance appointment to review the public comments must be scheduled by
calling the Regulations Division at 202-708-3055 (this is not a toll-
free number). Individuals with speech or hearing impairments may access
this number via teletypewriter (TTY) by calling the Federal Relay
Service at 800-877-8339 (this is a toll-free number). Copies of all
comments submitted are available for inspection and downloading at
www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Lavorel, Director, Program
Administration Division, Office of Asset Management Portfolio
Oversight, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th
Street, SW, Washington, DC 20410, telephone number 202-402-2515 (this
is not a toll-free number). Individuals with speech or hearing
impairments may access this number via TTY by calling the Federal Relay
Service at 800-877-8339 (this is a toll-free number).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, Public Law 93-
383 (Aug. 22, 1974) amended the United States Housing Act of 1937 to
add Section 8. Congress established a new project-based rental
assistance (PBRA) program under which public housing agencies under
contract with HUD were authorized to enter into Housing Assistance
Payments (HAP) contracts on behalf of eligible low-income families
occupying new, substantially rehabilitated, or existing rental units.
In 1983, Congress repealed PBRA authority for new construction and
substantial rehabilitation HAP contracts. As original HAP contracts
began to expire, Congress enacted the Multifamily Assisted Housing
Reform and Affordability Act of 1997, Public Law 105-65 (Oct. 27,
1997), which authorized the renewal of expiring HAP contracts. Section
524 of MAHRA authorizes the renewal of HAP contracts at market rents
(524(a)(4)(c)) and above-market rents (524(a)(4)(B)), for contracts
[[Page 7045]]
that are not subject to Mark-to-Market debt-restructuring.
Historically, MFH has issued HAP contracts under the seven
regulatory parts listed below. Today, MFH issues renewal HAP contracts
under MAHRA and continues to issue new contracts under 24 CFR part 886
subpart C (Disposition of HUD-owned Projects) and under the Rental
Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA)
program.
The Section 8 statute requires that the HAP contract contain
certain provisions, which means that the contracts MFH has issued over
the years contain many similar provisions. Many contracts, however,
contain other provisions that mirror the administrative requirements
unique to each program's regulatory structure. Some programs (flagged
below) have both old and new regulation contracts depending on when the
notice of selection or initial application for the project was issued
(for projects subject to Part 880, for example, ``old regulation''
contracts are those that received a notice of selection for their
proposal between 1975 and November 5, 1979 and ``new regulation''
contracts received the notice of selection after November 5, 1979) as
follows:
1. New Construction (24 CFR part 880) (old and new);
2. Substantial Rehabilitation (24 CFR part 881) (old and new);
3. State Housing Agencies (24 CFR part 883) (old and new);
4. New Construction financed under section 515 of the Housing Act
of 1949 (24 CFR part 884);
5. Loan Management Set Aside Program (24 CFR part 886, subpart A);
6. Section 202/8 Program (24 CFR part 891, subpart E) (formerly
part 885);
7. Disposition of HUD-Owned Projects (24 CFR part 886, subpart C);
8. RAD PBRA Program (RAD Notice, Appendix I).
The fundamental difference between old regulation and new
regulation HAP contracts is that new regulation contracts impose a
limitation on distributions for profit-motivated owners, as well as a
requirement for residual receipts and a reserve for replacement
account, whereas old regulation contracts generally do not. As another
example, only new regulation HAP contracts typically require the owner
to submit audited financial statements. These types of differences are
carried forward when contracts are renewed, because the renewal
contracts that HUD has used since the enactment of MAHRA state that
they renew all the provisions of the expiring contract (except for
those pertaining to the identification of contract units by size and
applicable contract rents, the amount of the monthly contract rents,
contract rent adjustments, and any project account). The differing
contract terms that result from this environment contribute to program
complexities that could be reduced by instead having a standard renewal
contract for all projects renewing under section 524. Adoption of a
standard program regulation and contract would reduce the complexity
faced by owners and tenants, in addition to HUD staff and contractors
who are responsible for the administration and oversight of assisted
projects.
HUD sees a clear benefit to moving toward a single program
regulatory structure and a single program contract that sets forth all
contract terms. HUD also recognizes that such contract terms may affect
an owner's decision-making process in considering whether to request
renewal. As a result, MFH is soliciting public comment on this
initiative.
II. Request for Public Comment
This notice offers an opportunity for the public to provide input
on the policies to be incorporated in a standard program regulation.
MFH will consider all public comments received and subsequently issue a
proposed rule. At that time, MFH will accept further public comments on
the proposed standard program regulation. MFH is particularly
interested in public comments addressing the following issues:
A. Reserve for Replacement
(1) To ensure project capital needs are met, HUD intends to require
an owner to establish a HUD-controlled reserve for replacement account,
with initial and annual deposits determined by means of a periodic
capital needs assessment (CNA). Are there circumstances under which HUD
should consider waiving the need for a CNA and, if so, what
circumstances and why?
(2) Should HUD provide an incentive to owners to use their own
capital to establish and/or make continued deposits to a reserve for
replacement account? If yes, how might the incentive be structured?
Should access to the incentive be tied to particular outcomes? If so,
what outcomes?
B. Rehabilitation
(3) Should the standard program regulation address requirements
when a project assisted under section 524 is undergoing rehabilitation?
If not, why not?
(4) If the standard regulation should address rehabilitation, what
elements of rehabilitation should it cover (i.e., rehabilitation
planning, tenant relocation, use of the pass-through)? Are there items
that should be excluded from the regulation?
C. Project Finances
(5) To ensure compliance with the reserve for replacement
requirement, HUD intends to require all owners to submit annual
financial reports. Please comment.
(6) Should the standard program regulation contain any limits on
distributions? If not, how should HUD ensure that owners dedicate
appropriate funds to operating and maintenance costs, and that taxpayer
funds are not providing excessive compensation to owners?
D. HUD Enforcement
(7) In the interest of providing clarity and transparency, HUD
believes it would be beneficial to include in the regulation a subpart
on enforcement, where the tools available to HUD and the circumstances
under which such tools could be employed would be addressed. Please
comment.
E. Vacancy Payments
(8) What incentives could HUD use to encourage owners to re-lease
vacant units quickly? Are there programmatic changes HUD might consider
to encourage this result?
F. Scope
(9) What topics should be addressed in a standard program
regulation? For example, should the regulation be comprehensive,
addressing all aspects of the program, ranging from renewal,
management, occupancy, enforcement, and nondiscrimination,
accessibility for persons with disabilities and equal opportunity
requirements? If not, how should the scope of the regulation be
limited?
(10) HUD expects to incorporate into the regulation tenant rights
equivalent to those that apply currently to tenants residing in
projects assisted under RAD PBRA HAP contracts (as currently described
in Notice H 2019-09/PIH 2019-23). Should the regulation contain a
subpart addressing tenant rights and responsibilities? If so, what
specific topics should the subpart cover?
[[Page 7046]]
G. Renewal Options
(11) Upon expiration, most contracts in MFH's portfolio are
eligible for renewal under section 524 of MAHRA. HUD intends to require
renewal of such contracts by means of the standard program contract, so
that as owners renew, they will be subject to the requirements laid out
in the standard program regulation. Please comment.
H. Other Comments
(12) In addition to the subject areas described above, MFH welcomes
any other input that interested parties believe would contribute to the
successful design and implementation of a standard program regulation
and contract, including input on education and outreach efforts that
would assist owners in understanding and complying with requirements in
the standard program regulation and contract.
Julia R. Gordon,
Assistant Secretary for Housing--FHA Commissioner.
[FR Doc. 2023-02181 Filed 2-1-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P
