NHLP Article Describes Problems in USDA's Voucher Program
RHS Makes Dramatic Changes to Rural Voucher Program
Reprinted with permission from the May 2008 issue of Housing Law Bulletin, published by the National Housing Law Project.
In the Agricultural Appropriations Act of 2006,
Congress enacted a Rural Development Demonstration
Voucher Program, modeled in part on the rural voucher
program authorized in Section 542 of the Housing Act of
1949, that was designed to protect residents of Section 515
Rural Rental Housing from displacement when owners
of the housing prepay their loans. The program has been
reauthorized in the Agricultural Appropriations Acts of
2007 and 2008. In March of 2006, the Rural Housing Service
(RHS) and the Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) published in the Federal Register a somewhat surprising Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that announced the implementation of the
program and how RHS was going to turn over primary
program administration to HUD. Under the MOU, HUD
agreed to subcontract day-to-day administration to local
public housing authorities located in the areas where the
RHS prepaid developments were located.
For reasons that have never been made public, the
interagency plan proved to be unworkable and in April
of 2007, RHS published an internal agency memorandum,
claiming to merely clarify the program then in effect. In
fact, the announcement made significant changes to the
RHS voucher program including the fact that HUD and
local public housing authorities were no longer involved
in the program’s administration. On March 24 of this year,
RHS published a new notice in the Federal Register that
puts program administration in the hands of RHS and its
subcontractors. At the same time the agency published
and distributed, only to USDA Rural Development Offices,
the Rural Development Voucher Program Guide (April 2008).
Both the Federal Register Notice and the Guide announce
and disclose major restrictive changes to the program as it
will be administered under the 2008 Agricultural Appropriations
Act. This article will summarize and analyze
the critical provisions of the Notice and Guide as they
relate to the right of tenants who reside in Section 515
housing that is subject to prepayment or foreclosure.
Read the full article.
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Posted: June 18, 2008
To request a printed copy of this article at no charge, contact Luz Rosas at HAC, luz@ruralhome.org, 202-842-8600. |
