Today, PHADA submitted formal comments to HUD in response to the proposed rule, “Public Housing Evaluation and Oversight: Changes to the Public Housing Assessment System (PHAS) and Determining and Remedying Performance Deficiencies.”
The comments were prepared with input from PHADA members and the PHADA Housing Committee. It reiterates and reinforces comments previously submitted at the request of HUD regarding PHAS, but that were not incorporated or addressed in the proposed rule.
PHADA highlights four main points:
- Without a scoring notice, effective comment is limited, and HUD should re-open the comment period for the rule once the scoring notice is released.
- Limit unilateral HUD imposition of a HUD corrective action plan except in the most severe cases, and in no case based solely on a statistical assessment of one indicator or trends in other data that are not part of the formal indicators.
- There should be no upper limit on reserves, especially considering current Congressional budget chaos, ongoing federal budgeting challenges, and variations in cost and policy at the state and local levels.
- Statute prohibits HUD from taking any punitive action against housing authorities as a result of factors beyond their control, and more recognition of this limitation should be included in the rule. Further, to help HUD and agencies achieve this goal, implementation of any scoring system should include an initial advisory score.
The comments also emphasized PHADA’s concerns about how the future scoring notice will handle reserves, and urged additional provisions to consider long-term HA obligations and the unpredictability of Congressional appropriations before imposing penalties or withholding incentives based on PHAS scoring.
The draft scoring notice is expected sometime in the spring of 2025, with a final rule possible later in the year. PHADA will keep members informed of any further developments.
You can read PHADA’s full comment letter here.