{"id":20620,"date":"2013-11-11T07:08:07","date_gmt":"2013-11-11T12:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=20620"},"modified":"2013-11-13T13:36:59","modified_gmt":"2013-11-13T18:36:59","slug":"raleighs-affordable-housing-landlords-affected-by-federal-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/2013\/11\/11\/raleighs-affordable-housing-landlords-affected-by-federal-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Raleigh&#8217;s Affordable Housing Landlords Affected by Federal Cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Editor&#8217;s Note: This post has been updated from its original version to correct the number of landlords leaving the program.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Raleigh&#8217;s affordable housing landlords and their low-income tenants are feeling the effects of the federal spending cuts known as sequestration.<\/p>\n<p>The Raleigh Housing Authority was forced to make up for $1.6 million in federal budget cuts, resulting in <a href=\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/news\/2012\/01\/30\/raleighs-low-income-housing-faces-an-uphill-battle\/\" target=\"_blank\">more challenges<\/a> to provide housing to low-income families and paying landlords full Fair Market Rents.<\/p>\n<p><em>Learn more: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-srv\/special\/politics\/sequestration-federal-agency-impact\/\" target=\"_blank\">How is the Sequestration Affecting Federal Agencies?<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Fair Market Rents (FMRs) are the numbers the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) use to set limits on how much housing assistance they can pay low-income families.<\/p>\n<p>It is the maximum amount of money housing authorities can pay landlords as part of HUD\u2019s Housing Choice Voucher program, the program that provides housing assistance to low-income families.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What are Fair Market Rents<\/strong><br \/>\nHUD recently published its 2014 FMR numbers, and they are slightly lower than last year.<\/p>\n<p>Rent has gradually fluctuated during the past 10 years, according to the FMRs data. Changes in utility rates, the housing market and in the supply and demand for housing all contribute to these fluctuations.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module aside right half\"><\/p>\n<h5>Fair Market Rents<\/h5>\n<p>Fair Market Rents are the maximum amount of money housing authorities can pay landlords as part of HUD\u2019s Housing Choice Voucher program, the program that provides housing assistance to low-income families.<\/p>\n<p>Fair Market Rents are calculated using data from four sources: U.S. Census, HUD\u2019s American Housing Survey, telephone surveys and public comment.<\/p>\n<p><\/aside>\n<p>According to HUD\u2019s website, FMRs are set using four different types of data. The U.S. Census, telephone surveys and HUD\u2019s American Housing Survey provide data on rent figures. The public comment process provides HUD with information from local housing authorities and others for specific FMR areas.<\/p>\n<p>Raleigh Housing Authority Spokeswoman Allison Hapgood said the only way HUD will allow you to exceed FMR limits is if you can justify that local residents are unable to find housing at that particular rate.<\/p>\n<p>Several programs use FMR. HUD uses them for its Housing Choice Voucher program, which offers rental assistance to low-income residents.<\/p>\n<p>The City of Raleigh uses them for its housing assistance program, and the numbers are also used in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program, which gives states tax credits that can be allocated toward funding affordable housing.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19927\"  class=\"wp-caption module image center\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-19927\" alt=\"Construction of an affordable residence for veterans on Sunnybrook Road in Raleigh was completed earlier this year. The affordable housing project contains 10 units. \" src=\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/CASA_VetsHousing-771x514.jpg\" width=\"771\" height=\"514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/CASA_VetsHousing-771x514.jpg 771w, https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/CASA_VetsHousing-336x224.jpg 336w, https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/CASA_VetsHousing-1170x780.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Holly West \/ North Carolina Health News<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction of an affordable residence for veterans on Sunnybrook Road in Raleigh was completed earlier this year. The affordable housing project contains 10 units.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Fair Market Rents and Federal Cuts <\/strong><br \/>\nThe less funding housing authorities receive from the federal government, the less money they are able to pay landlords.<\/p>\n<p>Hapgood said the federal government funds the Housing Choice Voucher program each calendar year. However, housing authorities don&#8217;t find out how much they will receive until May. The funds are retroactive to January.<\/p>\n<p>Combined with sequestration, many local housing authorities, such as the Raleigh Housing Authority, have to find ways to make up the money so they can continue to keep low-income families in their homes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe sequestration caused a 6 percent across-the-board cut. This resulted in a loss of $1.6 million in the funds used to pay landlords on behalf of participants,\u201d Hapgood said. \u201cBy the time we knew the level of the cut, we were half-way through our year, so we had just over six months to save the $1.6 million.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hapgood said they\u2019ve had to cut back their rental subsidies to landlords to 90 percent of FMR to make up for the budget cuts and shortfalls.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is just one of the cost-cutting measures we have taken. RHA [Raleigh Housing Authority] chose to pay at the 90 percent FMR level so that we would not have to cut participants from the program,\u201d Hapgood said. \u201cWe could have chosen to leave rents at the level they were and not to take any new participants off of the waiting list.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module aside right half\"><\/p>\n<h5>How the Housing Choice Voucher Program Works<\/h5>\n<p>Program participants have 60 days to find housing once the Raleigh Housing Authority issues them a voucher. Participants are responsible for finding their own housing through websites such as section8.com and gosection8.com. The Raleigh Housing Authority pays the landlord directly and the tenant pays utilities.<\/p>\n<p>Voucher holders must pass the landlord screening to get housing. Some of the issues they may face are poor credit, criminal records, poor rental history and the need to be near a bus line.<\/p>\n<p><em>Source: Allison Hapgood, Raleigh Housing Authority<\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/aside>\n<p><strong>Landlords are Leaving<\/strong><br \/>\nReduced funding has caused about 2 percent of landlords to leave the program. Hapgood said it has more to do with budget cuts than the FMR changes.<\/p>\n<p>While FMR numbers impact the affordable housing industry and the willingness of landlords to participate in the Housing Choice Voucher program, budget cuts put housing authorities, landlords and low-income families across the country in a difficult position.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHousing authorities are often stuck in the middle,\u201d Hapgood said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to serve the tenants, the low-income families. We\u2019re trying to let landlords make a decent income off the units they rent, and we\u2019re trying to meet HUD requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Carley Ruff of the NC Housing Coalition agrees.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe [NC Housing Coalition] believe that changes in landlord participation have less to do with changes in FMRs and more to do with cutbacks in the Housing Choice Voucher program due to federal sequestration,\u201d Ruff said.<\/p>\n<p>Hapgood said some landlords will return during the next couple of months, after having difficulty in the private rental market, and new landlords are being added to the program all the time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reduced funding makes it hard on everyone \u2014 participants, landlords and RHA,\u201d Hapgood said.<\/p>\n<p>The Record tried reaching out to Raleigh landlords involved in the program, but no one responded to requests for interviews.<\/p>\n<p>Hapgood said an end to sequestration and more cooperation in the federal government would help ease some of the constraints.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur funding levels are set by Congress and not HUD,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen Congress is indecisive, so is our funding.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The federal government sequestration is having an impact on the availability of affordable housing for low-income residents in Raleigh. Photo: Construction of an affordable residence for veterans on Sunnybrook Road in Raleigh was completed earlier this year. Image by Holly West. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24109,"featured_media":19927,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[7,1463,1464],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20620"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}