Navigating HUD's Final Rule on HOTMA: Changes, Implications, and Compliance!

After extensive public comments and review, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has unveiled its final rule for implementing the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA). Signed into law in 2016, HOTMA makes numerous changes to the statutes governing HUD’s rental assistance programs, including Section 8, as well public housing, with the goal of streamlining administration and easing the burden on private owners and public housing authorities (PHAs).

The changes under HOTMA touch upon multiple areas, including standards for income determination, resident self-certification, and interim re-examinations One reason that it’s important to align the different regulations is that many PHAs operate more than traditional public housing. They also have units that have converted to Section 8 under the Rental Assistance Demonstration program, low-income housing tax credit developments, and other properties.

The new rule helps raise the standard deduction for everyone but then also raises the threshold above which public housing and Section 8 residents can deduct additional medical expenses, according to Douglas Rice, special policy adviser at HUD.

 “It reduces the amount of paperwork and figuring out the medical deductions for those households,” he says. The Final Rule implementing Sections 102, 103, and 104 of the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA) delivers important benefits to tenants and reduces administrative burdens for public housing agencies (PHAs), multifamily housing owners (MFH owners), and participating jurisdictions.

There are a number of changes here that are of piece. It’s around streamlining and aligning the public housing and multifamily programs, so they will have implications for owners. They will also have implications for residents, overall making things like income determinations and asset tests easier to implement and simpler to do. It will also encourage asset building among residents, to make it easier for them to accumulate wealth and to fulfill the promise that affordable housing has always offered of giving people a platform upon which to build economically.

Webinar Objectives

There are numerous changes in this new ruling. We will cover all of the changes which have a positive effect on tenant and the changes make it easier for landlords as it combines other rules into one standard.

It’s also notable that several of the improvements are going to be adjusted for inflation over time so that should reduce the need for future updates. The final rule still needs to be published in the Federal Register. The various components of HOTMA have different start times, with some of the key rules for determining tenant income and assets not going into effect in 2024, which gives PHAs, HUD, and owners an opportunity to get up to speed and make changes to their IT systems, say officials.

All of these changes will be discussed in detail to help you maintain compliance to this program

Webinar Agenda

We will examine all of the proposed changes:

For instance, seniors and people with disabilities have been allowed to deduct a certain level of medical expenses from their income and more.

Webinar Highlights

• Income reviews – self certification
• Streamlines verification
• Use of Income determinations from other programs
• Increased standard deduction
• Medical disability expenses
• Higher threshold for imputing income
• Hardship relief
• Asset limits
• Exclusions to income

Who Should Attend

• Individuals involved or interested in housing policies, public housing agencies (PHAs)
• Multifamily housing owners (MFH owners)
• Policymakers
• Advocacy groups working on housing and disability issues
• Senior citizen organizations
• Social Worker
• Anyone concerned about the welfare and rights of seniors and people with disabilities in relation to housing and medical expense deductions.