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HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 5.2.4 Master-Metered Utilities

In “master-metered” buildings, a single meter measures consumption for the building as a whole rather than for individual dwelling units or households. Where utilities are master-metered, the building’s owner pays the utility bills to the utility company, and utilities are included in the tenants’ rents, so utility allowances are not necessary. However, tenants may face surcharges for major tenant-supplied appliances, such as window air conditioners, washers or dryers.8

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 5.4.1 Utility Charges in Public Housing

In the public housing program, the term “utilities” may include electricity, gas, heating fuel,33 water and sewer services, and trash collection services.34 It does not include telephone service or cable television.35 HUD’s public housing regulations also exclude air conditioning from the allowance in most cases.36 As an initial matter, it is important to verify that the PHA is in fact providi

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 5.4.2 Establishing Public Housing Utility Allowances

Public housing utility allowances are set at an amount “to approximate a reasonable consumption of utilities by an energy-conservative household of modest circumstances consistent with the requirements of a safe, sanitary, and healthful living environment.”61 The regulations further provide that in establishing any utility allowances, the PHA shall take into account at least nine enumerated factors:

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 13.5.1 Introduction

This section provides an overview of federal law and other authority concerning fair and equal access to housing. The following discussion is not intended to be a comprehensive examination of fair housing law, but rather a survey of its basic concepts and guiding principles, as well as a starting point for further research.262

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 13.5.2.1 Overview

Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968—more commonly known as the Fair Housing Act (FHA)—is a cornerstone of federal civil rights legislation.263 With the backdrop of housing segregation that was “the well-entrenched product of a half-century of institutional racism by both public and private entities,”264 Congress passed the FHA.

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.