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HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 11.4.4.1 Overview

Both due process and HUD’s regulations entitle participants to specific procedural protections prior to the termination of assistance. This section reviews these requirements and related common issues.

Federal regulations entitle program participants (those on whose behalf the PHA has executed a Housing Assistance Payments contract with an owner)1350 to the following procedural protections when facing termination or denial of a Voucher to move:

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 11.4.4.4.3 Discovery

Before a hearing, the PHA must give the family an opportunity to examine, and copy at its expense, any PHA documents “directly relevant to the hearing.”1386 If the PHA does not make a document available for review on request of the family, the PHA may not rely on the document at the hearing.1387 The discovery regulation is two-sided, however; if the tenant attempts to introduce a document that was not provided to the PHA on request prior to the hearing, it too may be barred.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 11.4.4.4.6 Evidence

HUD provides by regulation that PHA must prove the factual basis for termination by a preponderance of the evidence.1406 Yet advocates should be prepared to support the requirement of this basic evidentiary standard with other authority because the Eleventh Circuit ruled in a 2019 en banc opinion that the preponderance-of-evidence standard set forth in HUD’s regulation is “unmoored from any federal right” and thus ultimately unenforceable under 42 U.S.C.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 11.4.5.1 Overview

Sometimes the PHA will terminate housing assistance payments or the HAP contract without terminating the family’s participation in the program. Even though such a family may not be losing its Voucher, a pre-termination hearing is required if the termination is based on action or inaction of the family.1454 This subsection reviews several common situations.1455

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 11.4.5.2 Termination of Payments during Eviction Process

HUD has made clear that a landlord’s initiation of an eviction process alone is not grounds to terminate assistance payments under an outstanding HAP contract.1456 Instead, the PHA must continue the payments until the tenant is physically evicted pursuant to a court order.1457 The PHA is not required to continue payments after the lease and HAP contract expired on their own terms, however.1458 When PHAs cease payments prior to final eviction,

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 11.4.5.3 Owner HQS Violation

The HAP contract may also be terminated for owner-caused Housing Quality Standards (HQS) violations.1460 The owner must be given at least 30 days to correct owner-caused defects, except that if the breach is life-threatening, the owner must correct it within 24 hours.1461 The rule also provides PHAs with discretion to suspend or reduce the housing assistance payments, rather than terminate the contract.1462 If the contract terminates, the ten

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 11.4.5.6 Expiration of Transfer Voucher

In tight markets, some tenants who are issued Vouchers after the PHA terminates the HAP contract on their prior unit for owner breach, or because they have vacated the assisted premises, later face termination for lapse of time if they cannot lease another unit during the search time permitted by the PHA, even if the time is extended.1471 Termination on this ground may be legally questionable because the regulations do not specify lapse of time as grounds for termination of an existing participant.147

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.1.1 Introduction

This chapter addresses issues regarding admissions to public housing, the Housing Choice Voucher program, and other HUD-assisted and subsidized housing. The chapter begins with a general discussion of admissions issues, including sources of authority and property characteristics that are relevant to eligibility and admission.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.1.3 Sources of Legal Authority for Admissions

The admission rules governing public housing, the Voucher program, and HUD-assisted and subsidized housing are specific to each program. A PHA may have separate admission policies for its public housing and Voucher programs. In addition, the PHA’s admission policies may be different for each public housing development. Further, unlike other public benefits, the admission rules for federally subsidized housing are not uniform within a state or county. Therefore, it is important to determine the applicable rules and procedures for each program and housing provider.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 2.1.4 Identifying Low–Income Housing Providers

PHAs’ contact information is available online.26 Rental markets may be served by more than one PHA, so there may be several PHAs within a metropolitan area. Some PHAs also may have overlapping jurisdictions. HUD’s website provides information on the number of public housing and Voucher units managed by each PHA.27 Information regarding the location of most HUD-assisted and subsidized projects is also available from the HUD website.28