4 - UPDATE_TO_HCV_ADMIN_PLAN_202012-01

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PART II: SETTING PROGRAM STANDARDS AND SCHEDULES 16-II.A. OVERVIEW Although many of the program's requirements are established centrally by HUD, the HCV program's regulations recognize that some flexibility is required to allow SAHA to adapt the program to local conditions. This part discusses how SAHA establishes and updates certain schedules and standards that are used to administer the program locally. Details about how these schedules are applied to individual families are provided in other chapters. The schedules and standards discussed here include: • Payment Standards, which dictate the maximum subsidy a family can receive (application of the payment standards is discussed in Chapter 6); and • Utility Allowances, which specify how a family's payment should be adjusted to account for tenant -paid utilities (application of utility allowances is discussed in Chapter 6). SAHA Policy Copies of the payment standard and utility allowance schedules are available in SAHA's offices during normal business hours and on the City of Santa Ana website. Families, owners, and members of the public may submit written comments on the schedules discussed in this part, at any time, for consideration during the next revision cycle. SAHA will maintain documentation to support its annual review of payment standards and utility allowance schedules. This documentation will be retained for at least 3 years. Establishing and updating SAHA passbook rate, which is used to calculate imputed income from assets, is covered in Chapter 6 (see Section 6-I.G.). 16-II.B. PAYMENT STANDARDS [24 CFR 982.503; HCV GB, Chapter 71 The payment standard sets the maximum subsidy payment a family can receive from SAHA each month [24 CFR 982.505(a)]. Payment standards are based on fair market rents (FMRs) published annually by HUD. FMRs are set at a percentile within the rent distribution of standard quality rental housing units in each FMR area. For most jurisdictions FMRs are set at the 40th percentile of rents in the market area. SAHA must establish a payment standard schedule that establishes payment standard amounts for each FMR area within SAHA's jurisdiction, and for each unit size within each of the FMR areas. For each unit size, SAHA may establish a single payment standard amount for the whole FMR area, or may set different payment standards for different parts of the FMR area. Unless HUD grants an exception, SAHA is required to establish a payment standard within a "basic range" established by HUD — between 90 and 110 percent of the published FMR for each unit size. Updating Payment Standards When HUD updates its FMRs, SAHA must update its payment standards if the standards are no longer within the basic range [24 CFR 982.503(b)]. HUD may require SAHA to make further 4-35