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HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 5.4.5 Utility Metering Conversions in Public Housing

HUD regulations require PHAs to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of potential conversion from master meters to individual meters at least every five years and to convert master meters to individual meters unless it is impractical or not financially justified by the cost-benefit analysis.111 There must be an empirical basis for any savings assumption used to justify the conversion.112 The notice and comment procedure that applies when a PHA establishes its utility allowance

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 5.5.4 Litigation in Project-Based Section 8 Programs

Project-Based Section 8 tenants have standing to challenge the adequacy of utility allowances.167 In one Section 8 New Construction case, a tenant challenged the allowance computation method, but the appellate court held that setting the allowance annually by averaging the energy consumption of a sample covering 25% of the units was not inconsistent with the Section 8 statute.168 Nevertheless, the litigation did result in increased allowances.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 5.6.1 Introduction

The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program presents a different set of issues due to the program’s structure.175 Because the Voucher program subsidizes rent for individual units rather than entire buildings, PHAs must use one or more schedules of generally applicable allowances instead of a schedule that applies to a specific building or project. As explained below, each PHA’s schedule consists of a matrix of various unit sizes and types, fuel sources and end uses.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 5.6.2 Establishing Voucher Utility Allowances

The PHA must base initial utility allowances on the “normal patterns of consumption for the community as a whole and current utility rates.”186 The PHA must consider the “typical cost of utilities and services paid by energy-conservative households that occupy housing of similar size and type in the same locality.”187 It must take into account the unit size, structure (high-rise, row house, detached unit, etc.) and fuel type.188 The utility a

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 5.7.4 Utility Metering Conversions in HUD-Subsidized Mortgage Insurance and Related Programs

The HUD-subsidized programs have their own procedures for converting from master-metered to retail-metered utilities.234 HUD must approve all conversions.235 The owner must submit documentation, including an analysis of the previous and projected costs of the utilities paid by tenants based on consumption data and rate information.236 The owner also must include an estimate of the effect of the conversion on project costs, the proposed utilit

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 5.7.5 Utility Allowances for HOME Projects

In 2013, HUD revised its regulations governing the way that utility allowances are calculated for HOME-assisted units in new rental housing projects.242 Rather than rely on the local PHA Voucher utility allowance schedule to establish utility allowances, participating jurisdictions must now “determine specific utility allowances for each [new] HOME rental development, either by using the HUD Utility Schedule Model (HUSM) or by otherwise determining the allowance based on the specific utilities used at the project.”

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 5.7.6 Utility Allowances for Continuum of Care Programs

In late 2017, HUD issued a notice directing recipients and sub recipients in CoC programs to consider reasonable monthly utility costs (other than telephone charges) when calculating rent contributions or occupancy charges for any program participants responsible for paying their own utilities.245 The notice also states that the applicable utility allowances for CoC programs are those in the local PHA’s utility allowance schedule for the Voucher program.246

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 13.5.3.2 Persons with Disabilities

According to HUD, disability discrimination complaints constitute the largest category of fair housing complaints filed with HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity and Fair Housing Assistance Program agencies.400 The Fair Housing Act, as amended, provides protections from housing discrimination on the basis of disability (or “handicap”).401 Other laws, including Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, also protect individuals experiencing disabilities from housing discriminati