HOTMA Final Rule Deep Dive: Understanding Income Determination, Asset Limits, and Exclusions!

After extensive public comments and review, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has unveiled its final rule for implementing the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA). Signed into law in 2016, HOTMA makes numerous changes to the statutes governing HUD’s rental assistance programs, including Section 8, as well public housing, with the goal of streamlining administration and easing the burden on private owners and public housing authorities (PHAs).

The changes under HOTMA touch upon multiple areas, including standards for income determination, resident self-certification, and interim re-examinations One reason that it’s important to align the different regulations is that many PHAs operate more than traditional public housing. They also have units that have converted to Section 8 under the Rental Assistance Demonstration program, low-income housing tax credit developments, and other properties.

The new rule helps raise the standard deduction for everyone but then also raises the threshold above which public housing and Section 8 residents can deduct additional medical expenses, according to Douglas Rice, special policy adviser at HUD.

 “It reduces the amount of paperwork and figuring out the medical deductions for those households,” he says. The Final Rule implementing Sections 102, 103, and 104 of the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA) delivers important benefits to tenants and reduces administrative burdens for public housing agencies (PHAs), multifamily housing owners (MFH owners), and participating jurisdictions.

There are a number of changes here that are of piece. It’s around streamlining and aligning the public housing and multifamily programs, so they will have implications for owners. They will also have implications for residents, overall making things like income determinations and asset tests easier to implement and simpler to do. It will also encourage asset building among residents, to make it easier for them to accumulate wealth and to fulfill the promise that affordable housing has always offered of giving people a platform upon which to build economically.

Webinar Objectives

In this session, we will cover the numerous changes introduced by the new ruling that positively impact tenants and simplify processes for landlords by consolidating various rules into one standard.

Key improvements include adjustments for inflation over time, reducing the need for future updates. While the final rule awaits publication in the Federal Register, different components of HOTMA have staggered start times. Notably, some key rules for determining tenant income and assets won't take effect until 2024, providing PHAs, HUD, and owners time to adapt and update their IT systems.

This session will discuss these changes in detail, ensuring you stay compliant with the new program requirements.

Webinar Agenda

We will examine all of the proposed changes:

For instance, seniors and people with disabilities have been allowed to deduct a certain level of medical expenses from their income and more.

Webinar Highlights

• Income reviews – self certification
• Streamlines verification
• Use of Income determinations from other programs
• Increased standard deduction
• Medical disability expenses
• Higher threshold for imputing income
• Hardship relief
• Asset limits
• Exclusions to income

Who Should Attend

• Individuals involved or interested in housing policies, public housing agencies (PHAs)
• Multifamily housing owners (MFH owners)
• Policymakers
• Advocacy groups working on housing and disability issues
• Senior citizen organizations
• Social Worker
• Anyone concerned about the welfare and rights of seniors and people with disabilities in relation to housing and medical expense deductions.