The CA Quarterly Review Winter 2011 Edition Page 1

Technical Assistance Program

As of October 1, 2011, all but 11 jurisdictions went into a modified ACC extension as HUD seeks to release a new invitation for PBCA con-tracts. Under this extension, HTFC is no longer under contract to con-duct, follow up or monitor MOR/CRCs. Additionally, HTFC is not under contract to process Opt-outs and is no longer processing EHS certifica-tion of mitigation forms. For any of these items, the owner/agent is ad-vised to contact their HUD PM directly. In the interim, however, we are please to make our staff’s expertise avail-able. In October, HTFC and CGI launched the Technical Assistance Pro-gram. The complimentary services are currently offered to property own-ers and their affiliates under the current ACC throughout New York State. Scope of services are limited (based on determined needs by the owner) to assess practices in alignment with the site’s HAP Contract currently in place. Services range from occupancy and operational reviews to infor-mation sharing on topics such as EIV, file management, and Special Claims submissions. For clarity, assessments are not MOR’s. They are for informational purposes only and CGI staff is providing their profes-sional opinions only. The reviews are not endorsed by nor affiliated with HUD. Assessments began in November with an initial outreach to 220 proper-

ties throughout New York. As of 12/14/2011, a total of 93 separate prop-

erties have accepted the PBCA’s offer of on-site technical assistance. In

the near future, the PBCA plans to host webinars and small scale semi-

nars.

To take advantage of the complimentary services, we would like to hear from you. Please contact the staff member responsible for either con-ducting your MOR or processing your vouchers. For contact information, visit the Our Staff page of www.pbcany.com.

New York Housing Trust Fund Corporation

Welcome to the Winter 2011 edition of the CA quarterly newsletter. Its purpose is to provide useful information regarding compliance and HUD policy changes as well as provide recent HUD news. If you are not already receiving this publication via e-mail or if you have ideas, suggestions or quest ions for future publications, we’d like to hear from you. Please visit : www.pbcany.com.

Technical Assistance Program

1

Cost of Living Adjustment 2

EIV 9.1.2 3

EIV and You Brochure 4

Potential Budgetary Impact to FY12

5

PBCANY RSS Feature 6

What’s new on HUDClips? 7

2012 Income Limits Pub- 8

2012 OCAFs Published 8

Inside This Issue

THE NEWS AND INFORMATION QUARTERLY FOR OWNERS AND AGENTS OF THE

PERFORMANCE BASED CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION FOR NEW YORK STATE

The CA Quarterly Review Winter 2011 Edition Page 2

Cost of Living Adjustment for 2012

On October 20, 2011, The Social Security Administration announced that Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Benefits for more than 60 million Americans will increase 3.6 percent in 2012. The adjustment will begin with benefits that nearly 55 million Social Security beneficiaries receive in January 2012. Increased payments to more than 8 million SSI beneficiaries will begin on December 30, 2011. As a reminder, HUD Notice 2011-21: EIV System, issued August 17, 2011, provides the following guidance: The SSA Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) are not available from SSA for uploading into the EIV system until the end of the calendar year. When processing recertifications effective January 1, February 1, March 1, and April 1, in order to complete the Recertification Steps outlined in Figure 7-3 of Handbook 4350.3 REV-1 and provide the tenant with the required 30-day notice of any increase in rent, the Owner/Agent must use one of the methods below for determining the tenant’s income:

Use the benefit information reported in the EIV system that does not include the COLA as third party verification as long as the tenant confirms that the income data in the EIV system is what he/she is receiving;

Use the SSA benefit or award letter or Proof of Income Letter provided by the tenant that includes he COLA adjustment if the date of the letter is within 120 days from the date of receipt by the owner;

Determine the tenant’s income by applying the COLA increase percentage to the current verified benefit amount and document the tenant file with how the tenant’s income was determined; or

Request third party verification directly from SSA when the income in the EIV system does not agree with the income the tenant reports he/she is receiving.

All recertifications effective after April 11 must reflect the SSA benefit that includes the COLA.

The CA Quarterly Review Winter 2011 Edition Page 3

EIV System 9.2.1 Release

EIV System 9.2.1 was successfully released in late October 2011. The table below describes the system enhancements. Any questions related to Multifamily Housing in EIV should be directed to the Multifamily helpdesk at 1-800-767-7588 or be email at mf_eiv@hud.gov.

Function Description

HQ Management Reports

Usage/Termination Summary EIV has been modified to include access to the EIV verification reports in the Usage Re-port.

Income Reports

By Contract Number By Project Number

Dual Entitlement (DE) will be displayed when users access income data by Contract Num-ber and by Project Number Options DE will not be displayed when accessing in-come data through by Head of Household Option.

System Functionality

All MF External Users Functionality has been enhanced to allow users to hit the enter key to produce a report instead of having to click on the Go button for the By Contract Report and by Project Report.

The CA Quarterly Review Winter 2011 Edition Page 4

HUD Notice 11-25: EIV and You Brochure

HUD has posted Housing Notice 11-25: EIV and You Brochure which clarifies when the EIV and You brochure must be provided to residents and applicants. Distribution requirements are similar to instruction originally posted in HUD Notice 10-02. Owner/agents using the EIV system (for HUD purposes only) must provide each household with the EIV & You brochure at the time of annual recertification along with a copy of the HUD Fact Sheet “How Your Rent is Determined”. Owner/agents must also provide the EIV & You brochure to applicants who have been selected from the waiting list for screening and final application processing. Owner/agents may order the EIV & You brochure (English version) from the online HUD Direct Distribution Center at www.hud.gov/offices/adm/dds/index.cfm, or by telephone at (800) 767-7468. Quantities ordered should be sufficient to cover distribution to existing tenant households and anticipated new tenant households over the next twelve months. The brochure can also be downloaded and printed from HUD’s Multifamily RHIIP website at www.hud.gov/

offices/hsg/mfh/rhiip/mfhrhiip.cfm.

To assist owner/agents in their efforts to comply with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) requirements, the brochure is translated into thirteen languages for distribution to households with non-English speaking members. Translated versions of the brochure for non-English speaking households are posted to the Multifamily RHIIP website and on the Department’s Limited English Proficiency (LEP) website, located at www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/promotingfh/lep.cfm. Translated versions are not available for order through the HUD Direct Distribution Center. Owner/agents who wish to provide translated versions must visit the LEP web site and print copies for your residents and/or applicants

The CA Quarterly Review Winter 2011 Edition Page 5

Potential Affects of Fiscal 2012 Budget on Multifamily Housing Owners November 22, 2011 – HUD HQ sent the following memo to all Multifamily Owners and Agents updating policy changes that are anticipated for 2012 due to the Fiscal 2012 Federal Budget. The initiatives noted below have not been posted by HUD as official policy; however this information is being provided to notify our partners of what may be coming in the upcoming year.

TO: All Multifamily Project Owners FROM: Janet M. Golrick, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing Programs SUBJECT: Impact of HUD’s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget on Section 8 Project Based Rental Assistance On November 18, 2011, President Obama signed HUD’s Fiscal Year 2012 budget into law, which provides the Department with funding through September 30, 2012. As Secretary Donovan said in announcing the passage of the Department’s budget last Friday, HUD’s “final budget protects the vulnerable American families currently assisted by our rental assistance and public housing programs” but “several of our key initiatives that help needy families and struggling communities will be reduced.” The 2012 budget climate is clearly challenging for HUD’s programs and we expect it to become even more so in 2013. Although Section 8 Project Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) was funded in 2012 at levels sufficient for the Department to continue full funding of all contracts, the Department is committed to achieving certain savings in order to slow the growth of PBRA expenditures and to effectively manage the account within appropriated levels. This is to inform you about policy changes that will be formally announced through Housing Notice within the coming months to implement PBRA savings and constrain future expenditures. First, funds currently held in project residual receipts accounts will be used to reduce assistance payments. We are formulating a process to apply these funds to PBRA expenditures and we are committed to implementing this policy in a way that is minimally disruptive to the current voucher and disbursement process. Second, all Option 4 renewals and annual rent adjustments will be limited to OCAF increases if proposed rents exceed market. This policy was announced and commented on over the last year by the industry as part of our revision and reissuance of the Section 8 Renewal Guide. Third, all rent comparability studies will be required to justify proposed rents that exceed 110% of Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMR). Forthcoming guidance will contain instructions on the additional analysis required to justify proposed market rents in excess of this SAFMR benchmark. Once again, the increasingly difficult budget environment has challenged the Department and our partners to implement programs more efficiently than ever. These three policy changes to be implemented in 2012 will be continued and likely expanded in 2013. We ask for your understanding and cooperation in executing these changes, which are necessary to ensure the long term stability and availability of PBRA for all program participants.

The CA Quarterly Review Winter 2011 Edition Page 6

PBCANY Web Page Now Features a New RSS Feed The PBCANY web page has recently introduced a new RSS feed for the Announcements section. RSS (Rich Site Summary) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Updated information from the feed is automatically downloaded to your computer and can be viewed in Internet Explorer and other programs. A variety of RSS Readers are available for different platforms. Some popular feed readers include Amphetadesk (Windows, Linux, Mac), and NewsGator (Windows - integrates with Outlook). You can also simply use Microsoft Explorer or Outlook to view the feeds. To add the PBCANY RSS Feed to Explorer:

Follow these steps to add the RSS feed to your Microsoft Outlook inbox:

On the Tools menu in Outlook,

1) Click Account Settings 2) On the RSS Feeds tab, 3) Click New. 4) In the New RSS Feed dialog box, type or press CTRL+V to paste the RSS feed (http://

www.pbcany.com/Feed/RSSFeeder.aspx) 5) Click Add. Click OK. (continued on page 7)

The CA Quarterly Review Winter 2011 Edition Page 7

PBCANY Web Page Now Features a New RSS Feed (continued from page 6)

What’s New on HUD Clips?

2011-32 Collection Procedures for Delinquent Section 202 Direct Loans

2011-31 Policy for Treatment of Proceeds Resulting from the Sale of FHA-insured or Secretary-held formerly insured Multifamily Projects by Nonprofit Owners

2011-30 Use of Reserve for Replacement Accounts in Restructured Mark-to-Market (M2M) Properties

2011-29 Implementation of Tenant Participation Requirements in accordance with 24 CFR 245 Sub-part B and HUD Handbook 4381.5 REV-2 "The Management Agent Handbook"

2011-28 Fiscal Year 2010 Annual Operating Cost Standards – Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly and Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities Programs

2011-27 Expansion of Real Estate Assessment Center Authority to Approve or Deny Requests to De-fer Partial Year Submissions of Annual Financial Statements

2011-25 Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) & You Brochure - Requirements for Distribution and Use

2011-24 Reissuance of Revised Protocol for Placing a Flag in the Active Partners Performance Sys-tem (APPS) When a Property Receives a Physical Inspection Score Below 60 but Above 30

2011-23 Underwriting Policies and Procedures for Commercial Space and Income in HUD-Insured Multifamily Projects

2011-22 Extension of Housing Notice 2010-17, Revised Procedures for Requesting Inspections from the Real Estate Assessment Center

The CA Quarterly Review Winter 2011 Edition Page 8

Questions or Comments?

Visit us at

www.pbcany.com New York Housing Trust

Fund Corporation

2012 Income Limits Released

The 2012 income limits for HUD multi-family programs have been posted to the HUDUser web-site at: http://www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/il/il12/index.html These new limits must be used for all new move-in transactions effective December 1, 2011. Additionally, a “Frequently Asked Questions” page has been set up at: http://www.huduser.org/portal/datasets/il/il12/FAQs_12.pdf.

HUD Publishes FY 2012 OCAF Factors The 2012 Operating Cost Adjustment Factors (OCAF) were published in the October 26, 2011 Federal Register. These factors are used for establishing or adjusting rents Section 8 rents (under MAHRA) for projects assisted with Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments. The OCAF factor for NY is 2.4. The factors, effective February 11, 2012, can be found at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-10-26/pdf/2011-27816.pdf