Staff is proposing updates to the housing quality standards and rent reasonableness chapter of the Housing Authority of the County of Contra Costa’s (HACCC) Housing Choice Voucher Administrative Plan
(Admin Plan). The Admin Plan sets forth local policies governing the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program and operates in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations and local and state laws. The following proposed changes are designed to maintain compliance with HUD regulations.
Chapter 8 Housing Quality Standards and Rent Reasonableness Determinations: Section 8.II.F. Notification of Corrective Actions
HUD requires that all units occupied by families receiving HCV assistance meet HUD’s Housing Quality Standards (HQS). HQS defines “standard housing” and establishes the minimum criteria necessary for the health and safety of program participants. HQS inspections are less comprehensive than local code inspections and are required before a unit goes under contract in the HCV program and at least annually during the term of the contract.
The Notification of Corrective Actions section of the HQS policy governs the amount of time the owner or tenant has to correct any HQS fail items for which they are responsible. The proposed language clarifies
that the fail items must be corrected within 30 days of the inspection unless an extension is granted by HACCC and also adds language about notification for life-threatening fail items.
Existing Language
When failures that are not life threatening are identified, HACCC will send the owner and the family a written notification of the inspection results within 5 business days of the inspection. The written notice will specify who is responsible for correcting the violation, and the time frame within which the failure must be corrected. Generally not more than 30 days will be allowed for the correction.
Proposed Language
When failures that are not life threatening are identified, HACCC will send the owner and the family a written notification of the inspection results within 5 business days of the inspection. Notification of failures that are life-threatening (such as gas leaks) will be left with the tenant and owner (if present). If the owner is not present, then HACCC will make every effort to notify the owner immediately. This will include email, phone calls and mailing the notice overnight. The written notice will specify who is responsible for correcting the violation, and the time frame within which the failure must be corrected. Deficiencies must be corrected within the specified time period, not to exceed 30 days from the date of inspection. The correction period for non life-threatening items may be prolonged if an extension has been requested by the owner or tenant and approved by HACCC for good cause. A re-inspection will be performed at the end of the correction period to verify the correction was made within the specified time period.
Chapter 8 Housing Quality Standards and Rent Reasonableness Determinations: Section 8.II.F. Re-Inspections
As stated in the policy above, when one or more items fail the HQS inspection, HACCC must conduct a re-inspection to verify that these items were corrected. The proposed changes for this section state that a re-inspection will occur at the end of the correction period, instead of an indeterminate time in the future. It also states that emergency items will be re-inspected on holidays and other days off in order to ensure compliance with HUD’s 24 hour correction requirement.
Existing Language
HACCC will conduct a re-inspection immediately following the end of the corrective period, or any HACCC approved extension.
Proposed Language
HACCC will conduct a re-inspection at the end of the correction period, or any HACCC-approved extension.
HACCC will ensure that re-inspections for 24 hour fail deficiencies are completed within 24 hours, regardless of whether the corrective period falls on a holiday, weekend or scheduled 9/80 day off. Re-inspections for non-life threatening fail items will be performed prior to the holiday, weekend or scheduled 9/80 day off.
Chapter 8 Housing Quality Standards and Rent Reasonableness Determinations: Section 8.II.G. HAP Contract Termination
If an owner fails to correct any HQS fail items in a timely manner, then HACCC will “abate” the rent subsidy for that unit, meaning HACCC will not pay its portion of the rent, not even retroactively. The owner is not entitled to collect this money from the tenant either. Abatement is the first step in canceling the contract with the owner. The abatement period is designed primarily to give the tenant time to look for a new unit. The abatement period also allows HACCC to provide proper notice to the owner and gives the owner one last chance to correct any fail items. The proposed change to the Admin Plan specifies that HACCC will terminate contracts where the abatement has continued for 90-days.
Existing Language
The maximum length of time that a HAP may be abated is 90 days.
Proposed Language
HACCC will terminate the contract after reasonable notice if the abatement continues for 90 days. HUD states that reasonable notice of HAP contract termination is 30 days. HACCC will send the 30 day contract cancellation notice to the Owner if any HQS fail items have not been corrected by the 60th day of abatement.
Chapter 8 Housing Quality Standards and Rent Reasonableness Determinations: Section 8.III.D. How Rents are Determined
HUD requires housing authorities to determine that units rented by families assisted under the HCV program have rents that are reasonable when compared to similar unassisted units in the market area. The proposed changes to the existing policy reflect changes in HACCC’s comparability software and also more fully comply with HUD regulations.
Existing Language
In order to determine whether or not a requested rent is comparable, HACCC will compare the proposed rent to those for similar units in its rent comparable database. The database will first sort units by the most important variables: city and/or zip code, number of bedrooms and baths, and unit type. These factors will determine the universe of units that will be used to compare the proposed rent. All units entered in the database receive points for each of the remaining factors
required by HUD: age, quality, square footage, maintenance, amenities, services and utilities included in the rent. Units within +/- 25 points of the subject unit will be considered in this second sort as comparables.
The database will return up to three units based on score. The units returned will be those closest in score to the unit for which the proposed rent is being reviewed. If there are more than three comparable units available, the proposed rent may not exceed the average rent for the three comparable units. If there are fewer than three comparable units, then HACCC will follow HUD’s guidance in Chapter 9 of the Housing Choice Voucher Program Guidebook in the highlight box titled “Using Data From An Adjacent Neighborhood” in order to obtain three valid comparables. Copies of all comparability calculations and documentation will be placed in the client file.
Proposed Language
In order to determine whether or not a requested rent is comparable HUD requires housing authorities to consider: location, quality, size, unit type and age of the contract unit as well as amenities, housing services, maintenance, and owner-provided utilities. HACCC’s rent comparable database provides comparable rent data for a given unit by first matching units that are similar based on city and/or zip code (location), number of bedrooms and baths (size) and unit type (type). Units that match in these categories form the universe used to determine a comparable rent. The system assigns points to the subject unit and all units in the database for the remaining factors that HUD requires to be considered (quality, age, amenities, housing services, maintenance and owner-provided utilities) and each unit is given a score. If there are at least three units in the universe, the database will return the three units whose score most closely matches the subject unit. Of the three comparable units pulled from the universe, the rent of the unit whose score most closely matches the subject unit will be used to determine whether or not the Owner’s proposed rent is justified. If there are fewer than three comparable units, HACCC will follow HUD’s guidance in Chapter 9 of the Housing Choice Voucher Program Guidebook in the highlight box titled “Using Data From An Adjacent Neighborhood” in order to obtain three valid comparables. Copies of all comparability calculations and documentation will be placed in the client file.
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