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HOUSING AUTHORITY AGENDA REPORT
City of Anaheim
HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT
DATE: APRIL 26, 2022
FROM: HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
SUBJECT: APPROVAL OF MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT FOR
INTER-JURISDICTIONAL MOBILITY AMONG ORANGE
COUNTY HOUSING AUTHORITIES
ATTACHMENT (Y/N): YES ITEM # 01
RECOMMENDATION:
That the Governing Board of the Anaheim Housing Authority, by Motion, approve the Inter-Jurisdictional Mobility Agreement between the Housing Authorities of Anaheim, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and Orange County, and authorize the Executive Director, or her designee, to execute and administer the Agreement on behalf of the Anaheim Housing Authority.
DISCUSSION:
The Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program is one of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) primary programs for assisting very low-income, elderly, and disabled families to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market. The HCV program consists of issuing eligible individuals and families a rental-assistance voucher, which they can use to subsidize the housing of their choice (such as single-family homes, townhouses, and apartments). In Anaheim, the HCV program is administered by the Anaheim Housing Authority (AHA) and currently provides rental assistance to approximately 7,000 households. Throughout Orange County, the Garden Grove and Santa Ana Housing Authorities administer the program within their respective city jurisdictions, while the Orange County Housing Authority administers the program in all other Orange County cities and unincorporated areas.
The HCV program has a feature named “portability,” which allows HCV-assisted families to move as their needs change throughout time without losing their rental- assistance. Portability was designed to encourage families to move to expand their work and educational opportunities. Portability allows families to rent units both within the City where they initially reside at the time of admission into the program, as well as any other jurisdiction in the United States with an HCV voucher program.
While portability can produce many benefits to the families, it can be an administratively burdensome process for the Public Housing Agencies (PHAs), such as AHA, to Approval of Inter-Jurisdictional Mobility MOA
April 26, 2022
exchange information and funding on an ongoing basis in support of such moves. Taking this into consideration, HUD has encouraged PHAs to cooperate and collaborate in order to make portability seamless and user friendly through program guidance.
Recognizing the need to establish a fluid portability process, the four housing authorities in Orange County (Anaheim, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and Orange County) executed an Inter-jurisdictional Mobility Agreement (Agreement) on November 27, 1993. The Agreement has been renewed periodically since.
The Agreement facilitates family moves among the aforementioned jurisdictions, by alleviating administratively burdensome requirements, including the transfer of eligibility documents for each family and extensive financial accounting. The Agreement establishes the terms and fees for the reciprocal relationships needed to comply with HUD regulations. Under the Agreement, each PHA continues to serve a family who initially entered through their program, but relies on the PHA where the family actually lives to perform Housing Quality Standards (HQS) inspections of the housing unit occupied by the family and to conduct rent verification procedures, to ensure that an appropriate rent is being paid to the property owner. The last Agreement was executed in 2017 and amended in 2021 to incorporate Project-Based Voucher and Special Purpose Voucher provisions as the use of these types of vouchers continues to increase.
The Agreement is being renewed at this time to extend the current term an additional five years to April 30, 2027. Each participating PHA Governing Board must approve the Agreement in order to incorporate the changes.
IMPACT ON BUDGET:
The HCV program is entirely funded by federal funds provided by HUD. Services provided through the Agreement will be funded by administrative fees from HUD for the HCV program and are included in the Housing and Community Development Department’s FY 2021/22 budget.
Respectfully submitted,
Grace Stepter
Executive Director of Anaheim Housing Authority
Attachment:
1. Memorandum of Agreement for Inter-Jurisdictional Mobility Agreement Among Orange County Housing Authorities