The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has issued guidance regarding smoke-free policies in public housing.  Public housing authorities (PHAs) must implement smoke-free policies within 18 months of issuance of the guidance.  Policies must ban the use of prohibited tobacco products in all public housing living units, interior common areas, and outdoor areas within 25 feet of public housing and administrative office buildings.  Prohibited tobacco products are items that involve ignition and burning of tobacco including cigarettes, cigars, pipes and water pipes.  PHAs have flexibility regarding e-cigarettes, limiting smoking to designated areas, requiring a smoke-free perimeter greater than 25 feet, and requiring an entire campus to be smoke-free.

PHA’s must obtain board approval for their smoke-free policies.  PHA must also determine whether adoption of their smoke-free policy is a significant amendment to their PHA plan which requires public meetings.

PHAs must also amend leases.  Residents must sign amended leases as a condition of continuing occupancy.  The lease amendment must incorporate the requirement that residents, members of the resident’s household, resident’s guests and anyone else under the resident’s control cannot smoke in restricted areas or in other outdoor areas that the PHA designates as smoke-free.  PHAs must give residents 60 days notice of the lease amendment and a reasonable amount of time for the resident to accept the amendment.

PHAs are encouraged to adopt graduated enforcement of their smoke-free policy, with termination of tenancy and eviction as a last resort.

PHAs must provide reasonable accommodations to persons with disabilities who smoke.  For example, a PHA could move a disabled smoking tenant to a unit near a door to give the tenant easier access to a smoking area.  However, HUD policy is addiction to nicotine is not a disability.  (PIH Notice 2017-03, February 15, 2017.)

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released guidance regarding implementation of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA) for HUD Multifamily owners and management agents.  The guidance is very similar to the HUD’s guidance for the Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs, summarized here.

In addition, this guidance specifies that VAWA protections apply to all owners and managers in the following HUD Multifamily programs: Project Based Section 8, Section 202, Section 811, Section 236 and Section 221(d)(3) and (d)(5).

In addition to the requirements in the the Public Housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs the guidance states that VAWA protections apply to all applicants and tenants in these programs, which means that all applicants and tenants must receive notice of their rights under VAWA.  The guidance also allows owners and managers in Multifamily programs to establish a waiting list preference for victims of dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking, in addition to domestic violence.  (HUD Notice H 2017-05, June 30, 2017.)

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released guidance regarding implementation of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 (VAWA).  The guidance implements HUD’s final rule at 81 Fed. Reg. 80724.

Highlights of the new rules include:

-Sexual assault is added as a crime covered by VAWA.

-Covered programs must notify tenants in covered programs of their rights under VAWA.

-Covered programs cannot terminate or deny assistance on the basis of or as a direct result of the fact that a tenant or applicant is or has been a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

-Public housing authorities (PHAs) must establish emergency transfer plans no later than June 14, 2017.

-Revised the documentation requirements for VAWA coverage including that covered programs can accept a verbal statement, any request for written documentation must be in writing, standards for written statements from service providers and a new HUD-approved certification form (HUD-5382) that covered programs must accept.

-When bifurcating a lease, covered programs must now give remaining family members 30 days to establish their eligibility for HUD programs.

-PHAs are now authorized to have a preference for domestic violence survivors.

-Tenants in the project based voucher program now have the right to move.

(PIH Notice 2017-08, May 19, 2017.)