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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

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 13.5.3.8 Persons with Criminal Backgrounds

Given the longstanding inequities in our criminal justice system, housing policies that take adverse actions against individuals with criminal backgrounds can have fair housing implications for members of protected classes who are denied or excluded from housing. Such policies may include blanket bans on admission for any person with a conviction or an arrest, or the application of “one strike” policies.495

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 13.5.3.9 Fair Housing Issues Impacting Voucher Holders

The FHA does not designate voucher holders, or source of income generally, as a protected class. Despite the fact that the FHA does not have explicit protections for voucher households, fair housing issues may arise in the context of the Voucher program to the extent that the program serves members of protected classes, including racial and ethnic minorities, families with children, and persons with disabilities.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 13.5.4.2.1 Overview

The duty to affirmatively further fair housing refers to the obligation to promote desegregation proactively—an obligation that requires more than just merely prohibiting discrimination.548 The text of the FHA imposes an obligation on the HUD Secretary to affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH).549 In fact, the FHA requires all federal agencies and executive departments to affirmatively further fair housing, and to cooperate with the HUD Secretary to accomplish this objective.

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 13.5.5.1 Overview

The text of the FHA permits “aggrieved persons” to seek relief under the statute. An “aggrieved person” includes any person (as defined by the statute) who: (1) claims injury as the result of a “discriminatory housing practice”; or (2) who believes that person will be injured as a result of a “discriminatory housing practice that is about to occur.”641

HUD Housing Programs: Tenants’ Rights (The Green Book): 13.5.5.2 Eviction Defense and Informal Advocacy Efforts

Members of protected classes who experience housing discrimination can assert the FHA as an affirmative defense. Individuals who have been discriminated against may assert fair housing rights as a defense to termination during administrative proceedings—including informal hearings for Section 8 participants and grievance procedures for public housing residents. Additionally, if a housing provider has pursued an eviction action in court, that individual can assert the FHA as an affirmative defense to the eviction, or move for summary judgment on the basis of FHA rights.