The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has issued guidance regarding treatment of ABLE accounts for HUD-assisted programs. ABLE accounts are savings accounts to provide for qualified disability expenses for the beneficiary. For determining eligibility and continued occupancy, HUD will disregard the amount in an ABLE account. The entire value of an ABLE account is excluded from the household’s assets. Actual or imputed interest on ABLE accounts is not counted as income. Distributions from ABLE accounts are not counted as income. Wage income directly deposited into an ABLE account does not count as income. Contributions from a third party directly to an ABLE account do not count as income.
The guidance applies to Housing Choice Voucher program, public housing, Project-based Section 8, Section 202, Section 811, Section 236 and Section 221(d)(3)(4)(5) properties.
Housing Authorities and owners should verify the name of the designated beneficiary of an ABLE account and state program administering the account to verify that the account qualifies as an ABLE account. (PIH Notice 2019-09 and H Notice 2019-06, April 26 2019.)