Over the past month, HUD has published a number of administrative notices that cover a variety of matters for housing providers, particular for PHAs and others who administer project-based Section 8 assistance. Below is a round-up of those notices.

• Privacy Protection Notice. Notice PIH-2015-07 provides an overview of PHAs’ responsibilities for safeguarding personally identifiable information required by HUD.
• New Project-Based Voucher (PBV) Guidance. Notice PIH 2015-05 includes guidance on timely reporting of PBV information into HUD systems; instructions for calculating the 20% limit under the PBV program (which limits the percentage of tenant-based Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV) a PHA may project-base to 20% of its overall HCV allocation); and guidance on what constitutes a “PHA-owned” PBV unit and the steps that a PHA must take in when units are PHA-owned.
• Tenant-Protection Vouchers (TPVs) for At-Risk Households in Low-Vacancy Areas. Notice HUD 2015-07 makes available up to $7 million in TPVs using the same funding criteria that it used last year. Funds are available for residents in low-vacancy areas who are at risk of paying more than 30% of their income towards rent as a result of: the maturity of a HUD-insured, HUD-held, or Section 202 loan that would have required the permission of the Secretary prior to loan prepayment; the expiration for a rental assistance contract for which other voucher assistance (e.g., enhanced vouchers or tenant protection assistance) is not otherwise available; and the expiration of affordability restrictions accompanying a HUD mortgage or preservation program.
• Update to Section 8(bb) HAP Contract Transfer Notice. Notice H-2015-03 updates HUD’s October 2014 Notice on the same subject. Both notices document the procedures to be followed when seeking HUD’s approval for the transfer of remaining budget authority on a Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) HAP Contract to one or more other properties. The updated notice corrects provisions related to resident relocations. The notices do not apply to any transfers of PBV assistance, nor do they apply to PBRA assistance that would include transfer of debt and use restrictions; the latter types of transfers are authorized by Section 214 of the 2014 Appropriations Act.