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Housing Authority board authorizes submission of PHA plan and MTW waivers to HUD
Summary
The Housing Authority Board voted unanimously to let the executive director and chair submit the FY2025 five‑year PHA plan, the annual PHA plan and the Moving to Work supplement to HUD. Waivers include goal‑based Family Self‑Sufficiency incentives and extending the 0‑HAP safety net from six to 12 months.
The Housing Authority Board of Directors voted unanimously April 1 to authorize the executive director and board chair to sign and submit the authority’s FY2025 five‑year public housing agency (PHA) plan, the annual PHA plan and the Moving to Work (MTW) supplement to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Assistant Director Jill Chen told the board the documents had undergone resident advisory board review and a 45‑day public comment period that closed March 17. ‘‘These documents have already gone through a fairly extensive review process,’’ Chen said, listing resident advisory board approval on March 24 and Housing Advisory Council recommendation on March 27.
Em Nichols, the authority’s Moving to Work coordinator, described the substantive MTW waiver requests included in the submission. The two largest waivers the authority proposed are (1) adding goal‑based escrow incentives to the Family Self‑Sufficiency (FSS) program so participants can earn escrow deposits for non‑income achievements such as educational attainment or credit recovery, and (2) extending the ‘‘0 HAP’’ safety‑net period for households that reach 0 housing assistance payment from six months to 12 months to reduce incentives to reduce income to regain aid.
Nichols said the aims are ‘‘to support households progressing toward program graduation and self‑sufficiency by removing that pressure to reduce income at month five and adding incentives for education, credit recovery, and other stability goals.’’
Board action: Director Savaro moved to authorize the executive director and chair to execute the required PHA certifications and submit the three documents to HUD; Director Roper seconded. The motion carried unanimously, 6–0.
Public comment: Resident Dale Fick spoke in support, calling the presentations ‘‘superior’’ and praising staff and development partners. Members of the board thanked staff for extensive outreach and for expanding special‑purpose voucher capacity by roughly 246 vouchers and for adding 294 project‑based voucher units since 2020, numbers Chen cited during the presentation.
If approved by HUD, the MTW waivers would give the authority more local flexibility for recertification schedules, rent calculation and program incentives; the authority said it will submit the plans to HUD before the April 17 deadline.
Ending: The board authorized submission and did not take further local amendments at the meeting. The documents will now go to HUD for federal review.
