COVID Waivers

COVID-19 Information: Waivers Revised (Updated 5/17/2021)

REVISIONS EFFECTIVE MAY 4, 2021

PIH Notice 2020-5 issued on April 10, 2020, provided Housing Authorities the ability to temporarily waive current policies due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Effective April 14, 2020, Carbon County Housing Authority adopted the following waivers from statutory and regulatory requirements for the Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher and the Multifamily programs. These waivers do not relieve tenants of their responsibility to pay rent each month.

Notice 2020-13 published on July 2, 2020, Notice 2020-33 published on November 30, 2020, and Notice 2021-14 published on May 4, 2021 extended the periods of availability for previously established waiver and alternative requirements.

Waivers Applicable to both the Public Housing and HCV Programs

PH and HCV-3 Annual reexamination; Income verification – waives the use of income hierarchy, including the use of EIV; allows self-certification for income verification. We will still use third party when we can via U.S. mail or fax. We will address any discrepancies at a later date. Availability period ends December 31, 2021.

PH and HCV-4 Interim reexaminations – waives the requirement to use income verification hierarchy including the use of EIV; allows self-certification for income verification. We will still use third party when we can via U.S. mail or fax. Otherwise tenants will be allowed to self-certify. We will address any discrepancies at a later date. Availability period ends December 31, 2021.

PH and HCV-5 EIV System Monitoring – waives the mandatory EIV monitoring requirements. Availability period ends December 31, 2021.

Housing Quality Standards Inspections

HQS-1 Initial inspection – waives initial inspection requirements, allowing for owner certification that there are no life-threatening deficiencies. Where self-certification was used, CCHA must inspect the unit as soon as reasonably possibly but no later than the one year anniversary of the date of the owner’s certification. The period of availability for the CCHA to inspect a unit that was placed under HAP on the owner’s self-certification ends on June 30, 2022.

HQS-3 Non-life threatening deficiencies for initial unit approval – allows for the extension of up to 30 days for owner repairs of non-life threatening conditions and may continue to make payments to the owner during the period of that maximum 30 day extension. The availability period to approve an extension of up to an additional 30 days ends on December 31, 2021 unless the Authority approves an extension to make NLT repairs on December 15, 2021 or thereabout, the maximum extension provided to the owner would be January 14, 2022.

HQS-4 HQS Initial inspection requirement – Alternative Inspection Option – waives the requirement the authority must conduct its own inspection of a unit to commence making assistance payments under the Initial Inspection-Alternative Inspection option. The authority may commence assistance payments at the beginning of a lease term based on an alternative inspection and the owner’s certification that the owner has no reasonable basis to have knowledge that life threatening conditions exist in the unit in question. This waiver is available for both tenant-based units and project based units and may also be applied to CCHA owned units if the independent entity is unable to perform the inspection. The availability to place a unit under HAP and commence payments ends on December 31, 2021. For any unit for which the CCHA entered into a HAP contract and commenced payment pursuant to this alternative requirement, CCHA must conduct an HQS inspection as soon as reasonably possible but no later than the 1 year anniversary of the date of the owner’s certification. The period of availability to inspect a unit placed under HAP under this waiver ends December 31, 2021.

HQS-5 Biennial Inspection – waives the requirement and is allowing the Authority to delay biennial inspections for both tenant-based and PBV units. The Authority may rely on the owner’s certification that the owner has no reasonable basis to have knowledge that life threatening conditions exist in the unit or units in question instead of conducting an initial inspection. At minimum, the Authority must require this owner certification. The Authority must resume biennial inspection by December 31, 2021. The PHA must conduct all delayed biennial inspections from CY 2020 no later than June 30, 2022, and must conduct all delayed biennial inspections no later than December 31, 2022.

HQS-6 Interim Inspections – waives the requirement the Authority must inspect the unit within 24 hours of when the Authority received notification if a condition is life threatening and if the reported condition is not life-threatening the Authority must inspect the unit within 15 days. If the reported deficiency is life-threatening, the Authority must notify the owner of the reported life-threatening deficiency and the owner must either correct the life-threatening deficiency within 24 hours or provide documentation (e.g. text or email a photo to the Authority) that the reported deficiency does not exist. In the case of a non-life-threatening deficiency, the Authority

must notify the owner within 30 days and the owner must either make the repair or document that the deficiency does not exist within 30 days of the notification. The availability period ends on December 31, 2021. After December 31, 2021, the Authority must conduct the HQS inspection in accordance with applicable time periods upon notification by a family or government office that the assisted unit does not comply with the HQS.

HQS-9 HQS Quality control inspections – waives the requirement for the Authority to conduct supervisory quality control inspections of a sample number of units under contract. The availability period ends December 31, 2021.

HQS-10 HQS Space and Security – waives the regulation requiring that each dwelling unit have at least one bedroom or living/sleeping room for each 2 persons. This requirement is waived if the Authority wishes to assist a current participant that needs to add a member or members to the assisted household as a result of the COVID-19 emergency and the additional family members would result in the unit not meeting the space and security standards. The waiver does not apply to an initial or new lease. The waiver is in effect for the duration of the current lease term or one year from the date of this HUD notice (May 4, 2021) whichever period of time is longer.

Housing Choice Voucher Program Waivers: General

HCV-2 Oral briefing – waives the requirement for an oral briefing for the Housing Choice Voucher program for new participants. The Authority will conduct the briefing by a phone call or an expanded information packet. The availability period ends December 31, 2021.

HCV-3 Extension of voucher term – waives the requirement that any extension of a voucher must be in accordance with the Administrative Plan. The availability period ends December 31, 2021.

HCV-5 Absence from unit – waives the regulatory requirement that a family may not be absent from the unit for a period of more than 180 days. CCHA will not terminate a HAP contract due to extenuating circumstances e.g. hospitalization, extended stays at nursing homes or caring for family members affected with COVID-19. The period of availability ends on December 31, 2021. The Authority may not make payments beyond December 31, 2021, and the HAP contract will terminate on that date if the family is still absent from the unit.

HCV-6 Automatic termination of HAP contract – waives the regulation to automatically terminate HAP contract 180 days after the last housing assistance payment to the owner when the HAP payment is reduced to $0. The Authority will provide written notice to the owner and family that the period of time is extended. The extension beyond the normally applicable 180 days is determined by the Authority but may not extend beyond December 31, 2021. The period of availability ends on December 31, 2021 and the Authority may not extend the HAP contract beyond December 31, 2021.

Public Housing Program Waivers

PH-4: ACOP: Adoption of Tenant Selection Policies

The regulation required that the Authority’s policies in the ACOP must be duly adopted and implemented. HUD is waiving this requirement to permit the Authority to adopt and implement changes to the ACOP on an expedited basis, without formal board approval, through September 30, 2021. Any informally adopted revisions under this waiver authority must be formally adopted no later than December 31, 2021. The period of availability to informally adopt changes to the Authority’s ACOP ends on September 30, 2021; the Authority must formally adopt such revisions no later than December 31, 2021.

PH-5/ 12.e: Community Service and Self-Sufficiency Requirement (CSSR) Suspension

Due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, shelter in place orders and many organizations having limited operations or volunteer opportunities, HUD is waiving this

requirement and suspending enforcement of the CSSR in an effort to help prevent further spread of COVID-19. This suspension is effective for all adult residents of public

housing and is not discretionary for PHAs. HUD initially established a discretionary waiver of the CSSR in Notice PIH 2020-05 (PH-5: Community Service and Self-

Sufficiency Requirement). This waiver supersedes PH-5 and is applicable regardless of whether a PHA previously adopted PH-5. For PHAs that previously adopted PH-5, this

waiver does not affect a PHA’s prior implementation of PH-5. This waiver will continue the suspension for families for whom the CSSR was suspended under PH-5 in addition to

suspending the requirement for all adult residents of public housing.

The suspension of and alternative requirements for administering the CSSR described in this waiver apply to all PHAs operating a public housing program and supersedes PH-5. This waiver is effective for all annual reexaminations completed between the publication date of this notice through April 30, 2022.

PH-7 Over Income Families – waives the requirement that over income families will not be terminated or charged an alternative rent after two consecutive reexamination cycles. Families will be able to remain in their units and continue to pay the same rental amount until the Authority conducts the next annual income recertification that would impact the family. The period of availability ends on December 31, 2021. This also applies to HCV families.

PH-9 Review and Revision of Utility Allowances – waives the requirement to revise and update allowances. The review and update of utility allowances must be completed by December 31, 2021.

PH-10 Tenant Notifications for changes to Project Rules and Regulations – waives the advanced notice of changes to policies, rules and special charges to families. Advance notice will not be required except for policies related to tenant charges. CCHA must still provide adequate notification to impacted families within 30 days of making such changes. The period of availability ends on December 31, 2021.

PH-13 Over-Income Limit: Termination Requirement -- For public housing families whose income has exceeded the over-income limit for the locality for two consecutive years, the Authority must terminate the family’s tenancy within 6 months of the third income determination or charge the family a monthly rent equal to the greater of: (1) the applicable Fair Market Rent; or (2) the amount of monthly subsidy for the unit, including amounts from the operating and capital fund (alternative rent). HUD is waiving the requirement that a family whose income has exceeded the over-income limit for the locality for two consecutive years will remain public housing households instead of being terminated and will be charge the applicable FMR as the family’s monthly rental amount. The period of availability ends on December 31, 2021.