HUD Issues Memos Regarding Resumption of Multifamily Asset Management and Production Activities
Last week, following the end of the partial government shutdown on Jan. 25th, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Multifamily Housing Programs issued two memos related to the resumption of Multifamily asset management and production activities. The memos outline how HUD will prioritize its work post-shutdown.
In the first memo regarding resumption of Multifamily asset management activities, HUD describes its first priority as “work related to tenant health and safety, including contract renewals and subsidy payments.” Per the memo, “HUD is currently allocating new funding provided by the continuing resolution to support the renewal of expiring Section 8 Project Based Rental Assistance (PBRA), Section 202, and Section 811 contracts.” Furthermore, there is now additional funding available “for ongoing Section 8 PBRA contracts to ensure timely payments” through April 1st. For properties with expiring contracts whose renewals may not be fully processed by Feb. 1st, the memo describes the use of the HUD-9250 form for requesting HUD-controlled reserves.
The second priority described in the memo relates to “critical external deadlines, such as servicing actions in connection with FHA closings, and property sales that require HAP Assignment processing or 2530 clearance.” The memo concludes by noting that “for other requests such as standard reserve for replacement withdrawals, work items will be processed in the order received,” though there may be delays due to the amount of backlogged work. A list of Multifamily field office contacts is provided as well.
The second memo, related to the resumption of Multifamily production activities, spells out HUD’s prioritization of work in that area. The first item on the list is identifying and prioritizing “work on loans that have been issued a firm commitment and are in a position to reach initial or final endorsement.” HUD concurrently plans to “conduct an inventory of applications currently in process that were received prior to the shutdown” and prioritize those loans based on how far along they are in the process.