View Rule

Through this rule, HUD codifies HUD’s policy regarding enhanced vouchers, a type of tenant-based voucher provided for under section 8(t) of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937.  Enhanced vouchers can become available to tenants when the owner leaves one of HUD’s project-based programs, such as by prepayment or opt-out.  Enhanced vouchers provide tenants a right to remain in the project, in which case the family must continue to contribute towards rent at least the amount the family was paying for rent on the eligibility event, and a higher enhanced payment standard is used to determine the amount of subsidy when the gross rent exceeds the normally applicable Public Housing Agency (PHA) payment standard.  The scenarios in which enhanced vouchers apply are, by statute, the following: (1) the prepayment of certain mortgages; (2) the voluntary termination of the insurance contract for the mortgage; (3) the termination or the expiration of a project-based section 8 rental assistance contract; and (4) the transaction under which a project that receives or has received assistance under the Flexible Subsidy Program is preserved as affordable housing. This rule updates HUD’s section 8 program regulations to include enhanced vouchers.