Helping Households Displaced by Hurricane Harvey
September 7, 2017
On Sept. 1, 2017, the Federal Housing Finance Agency issued a Non-Objection Letter that allows vacant AHP-assisted rental units to be temporarily leased to households, regardless of income, who were displaced as a result of Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Louisiana.
Please see a full list of Hurricane Harvey Affected Counties.
Should you decide to make vacant rental units temporarily available to displaced individuals/households, the following conditions must be met:
- The displaced individual/household must have resided in a county designated on or after Aug. 25, 2017 for Individual Assistance by the Federal Emergency Management Agency or other government designated areas as a result of Hurricane Harvey;
- The project owner or project sponsor, as the case may be, must obtain written approval from the Federal Home Loan Bank that approved the project of the temporary suspension of household income limits for the project;
- The time period for suspension of household income limits shall not extend beyond August 31, 2018;
- Project owners or project sponsors, as the case may be, must maintain and certify certain information, including the name and former address of each displaced individual/household, and a statement, signed under penalty of perjury by the displaced individual/head of household, that the individual/household requires temporary housing because of damage to the individual’s/household’s home in an eligible county;
- Project owners or project sponsors, as the case may be, must maintain documentation of the date the individual/household began temporary occupancy of the AHP unit and the date the occupancy ends;
- Rents charged must not exceed the existing AHP rents for the units, except as permitted under other federal agency declarations for housing assistance for individuals/households displaced by Hurricane Harvey; and
- Existing AHP-eligible tenants cannot be evicted or otherwise have their tenancy terminated as a result of efforts to provide temporary housing for displaced individuals/households.
This action is consistent with other federal emergency actions to provide needed housing for households whose homes were destroyed or who have had to be evacuated from areas affected by Hurricane Harvey.
If you have questions about this special arrangement to help those affected by Hurricane Harvey, please contact our Housing and Community Development department at 866.571.8155.