On October 19, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will host a webinar that will explore landlord participation in the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. NMHC and NAA have been a long-time advocate of the HCV program and believe that the public-private program could be the nation's most effective affordable housing and community development tool. However, it is plagued with inefficiencies, onerous regulatory requirements and a flawed funding system.
Reforming the program and increasing private sector participation is a top priority for NMHC and NAA, and our members have participated in past landlord listening sessions. In February of this year, NMHC and NAA provided HUD suggestions for a number of regulatory and administrative fixes to improve the effectiveness of the program and generate greater private sector participation.
The October 19 webinar will focus on ways that public housing agencies (PHAs) can use technology to improve relationships with landlords, provide landlords with access to information and ease the concerns and frustrations that landlords have with the inspections process.
The content for the webinar is based on the HCV Landlord Strategies Guidebook. The purpose of the Guidebook is to share strategies that PHAs can implement to improve landlord participation in the HCV program, with specific information regarding flexibilities related to the inspections process. This is part of HUD’s overall efforts to address owner concerns related to the time-consuming inspection and lease up process, among other things.
While the webinar is free, HUD has requested those interested in joining register in advance. If you would like to participate, please register here.
On a related note, HUD has also released a Proposed Rule for comment codifying the streamlining provisions contained in the Housing Through Opportunity Modernization Act (HOTMA) signed into law in 2016 and supported by NMHC and NAA. The proposed rule contains several changes aimed at reducing regulatory burdens on owners related to the inspection process.
NMHC and NAA are committed to working with HUD to finetune the program and develop ways to foster greater participation. We encourage all members to participate in this webinar series. For more information on the Section 8 HCV program, visit NMHC’s advocacy webpage.
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