Department of Housing and Urban Development July 12, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Section 8(c)(1) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (USHA) requires the Secretary to publish FMRs periodically, but not less than annually, adjusted to be effective on October 1 of each year. Today's notice proposes FMRs for FY2008. The proposed numbers amend FMR schedules used to determine payment standard amounts for the Housing Choice Voucher program, to determine initial renewal rents for some expiring project-based Section 8 contracts, and to determine initial rents for housing assistance payment (HAP) contracts in the Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy program. Other programs may require use of FMRs for other purposes. The proposed FY2008 FMR areas are based on current Office of Management and Budget (OMB) metropolitan area definitions and include HUD modifications, that were first used in the determination of FY2006 FMR areas. The changes OMB made to the metropolitan area definitions in December 2006 are also incorporated. This means that there are two new one-county Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), and a few areas where MSA name changes add or delete a primary city name. Proposed FY2008 FMRs are based on 2000 Census data updated with more current survey data. For the first time, HUD is using data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS). HUD is largely replacing the accumulated 2001-through-2005 FMR update factors from various sources with data from ACS's first full implementation year, 2005. HUD uses ACS data in different ways according to how many 2- bedroom standard quality and recent mover sample cases are available in the FMR area or in its Core-Based Statistical Area (CBSA), as described in detail later in this notice. Random digit dialing (RDD) surveys performed between 2001 and 2005 may also be used under certain conditions. Revised 2005 FMRs based on 2000 Census and 2005 ACS data have been updated with Consumer Price Index (CPI) data through the end of 2006 and then trended to April 2008, the mid-point of FY2008. Proposed FY2008 FMRs are the first to be able to take advantage of the full-implementation ACS, a major new Census survey that is being conducted annually and that will replace the Decennial Census ``long- form'' sample survey that is the source of the Decennial Census rent information. The ACS will permit more accurate FMR estimates each year than were possible using the Decennial Census trending techniques of previous FMR estimates.