24 CFR 0 - STANDARDS OF CONDUCT

Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, as amended (Fair Housing Act or Act), prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, or financing of dwellings and in other housing-related activities on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin. 1 HUD, which is statutorily charged with the authority and responsibility for interpreting and enforcing the Fair Housing Act and with the power to make rules implementing the Act, has long interpreted the Act to prohibit practices with an unjustified discriminatory effect, regardless of whether there was an intent to discriminate. The eleven federal courts of appeals that have ruled on this issue agree with this interpretation. While HUD and every federal appellate court to have ruled on the issue have determined that liability under the Act may be established through proof of discriminatory effects, the statute itself does not specify a standard for proving a discriminatory effects violation. As a result, although HUD and courts are in agreement that practices with discriminatory effects may violate the Fair Housing Act, there has been some minor variation in the application of the discriminatory effects standard. 1 This preamble uses the term “disability” to refer to what the Act and its implementing regulations term a “handicap.” Both terms have the same legal meaning. See Bragdon v. Abbott, 524 U.S. 624, 631 (1998). Through this final rule, HUD formalizes its long-held recognition of discriminatory effects liability under the Act and, for purposes of providing consistency nationwide, formalizes a burden-shifting test for determining whether a given practice has an unjustified discriminatory effect, leading to liability under the Act. This final rule also adds to, and revises, illustrations of discriminatory housing practices found in HUD's Fair Housing Act regulations. This final rule follows a November 16, 2011, proposed rule and takes into consideration comments received on that proposed rule.

This rule revises the regulations governing FHA's Section 242 Hospital Mortgage Insurance Program (Section 242 program) for the purpose of codifying, in regulation, FHA's implementation of its authority to refinance existing loans of hospitals without FHA-insured mortgages, without conditioning the exercise of such authority on the expenditure of funds for construction or renovation. Hospitals with FHA's Section 242 mortgage insurance may refinance existing debt under section 223(a)(7) of the National Housing Act, and such refinancing under section 223(a)(7) is not conditioned upon the hospital undertaking new construction or renovation. When credit availability contracted considerably in 2008, FHA, in 2009, commenced the exercise of its authority to refinance the capital debt of hospitals without section 242 mortgage insurance. FHA exercised this authority through notices issued on July 1, 2009, and February 22, 2010. FHA initiated rulemaking to make this refinancing authority a permanent part of the Section 242 regulatory program through a January 29, 2010, proposed rule, which solicited comment on HUD's implementation of this refinancing authority to date. This final rule provides for codification in regulation of HUD's refinancing of existing debt and acquisitions for non-FHA insured loans of hospitals without conditioning such refinancing and acquisition on new construction or renovation. This rule makes certain changes to the regulations proposed January 2010 in response to public comments submitted on the proposed rule and further consideration of issues by HUD.

This rule amends the regulations governing FHA's Section 232 Healthcare Mortgage Insurance program (Section 232 program) by establishing the criteria and process by which FHA will accept and pay a partial payment of a claim under the FHA mortgage insurance contract. The Section 232 program insures mortgage loans to facilitate the construction, substantial rehabilitation, purchase, and refinancing of nursing homes, intermediate care facilities, board and care homes, and assisted-living facilities. Through acceptance and payment of a partial payment of claim, FHA pays the lender a portion of the unpaid principal balance and recasts a portion of the mortgage under terms and conditions determined by FHA, as an alternative to the lender assigning the entire mortgage to HUD. Partial payment of claim also allows FHA-insured healthcare projects to continue operating and providing services.

HUD is issuing this interpretive rule to clarify the scope of the provision in the National Housing Act that prohibits certain sources of a homebuyer's funds for the required minimum cash investment for single family mortgages to be insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Uncertainty has arisen as to the effect of this provision on State and local governments and their agencies' and instrumentalities' homeownership programs that provide funds for the minimum cash investment. This rule provides HUD's interpretation that this statutory provision does not remove the availability of FHA insurance for use in conjunction with State and local government programs that provide funds toward the required minimum cash investment. Although interpretive rules are exempt from public comment under the Administrative Procedure Act, HUD nevertheless invites public comment on the interpretation provided in this rule.

This final rule revises the regulations governing the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) program and the Title VI Loan Guarantee program. HUD negotiated this rule with active tribal participation under the procedures of the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1990, pursuant to the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Reauthorization Act of 2008. These regulatory changes implement statutory amendments and reflect the consensus decisions reached by HUD and the tribal representatives.

This notice of waiver extension announces that FHA is extending the availability of the temporary waiver of its regulation that prohibits the use of FHA financing to purchase single family properties that are being resold within 90 days of the previous acquisition, until December 31, 2014. This waiver, which was first issued in January 2010, took effect for all sales contracts executed on or after February 1, 2010. On January 28, 2011, FHA extended the waiver through calendar 2011. On December 28, 2011, FHA extended the waiver through calendar 2012. Prior to the waiver, a mortgage was not eligible for FHA insurance if the contract of sale for the purchase of the property that secured the mortgage was executed within 90 days of the prior acquisition by the seller, and the seller did not come under any of the exemptions to this 90-day period specified in the regulation. Through the regulatory waiver, FHA encourages investors that specialize in acquiring and renovating properties to renovate foreclosed and abandoned homes, with the objective of increasing the availability of affordable homes for first-time and other purchasers, helping to stabilize real estate prices as well as neighborhoods and communities where foreclosure activity has been high. The waiver is applicable to all single family properties being resold within the 90-day period after prior acquisition, and is not limited to foreclosed properties. Additionally, the waiver is subject to certain conditions, and mortgages must meet these conditions to be eligible for the waiver. The waiver is not applicable to mortgages insured under HUD's Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) Program.

On July 31, 2012, HUD published an interim rule that established the regulations for the Continuum of Care program, and which solicits public comment through October 1, 2012. This document advises that HUD is extending the public comment period to November 16, 2012.

The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2009 (HEARTH Act), enacted into law on May 20, 2009, consolidates three of the separate homeless assistance programs administered by HUD under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act into a single grant program, and revises the Emergency Shelter Grants program and renames it the Emergency Solutions Grants program. The HEARTH Act also codifies in law the Continuum of Care planning process, a longstanding part of HUD's application process to assist homeless persons by providing greater coordination in responding to their needs. The HEARTH Act also directs HUD to promulgate regulations for these new programs and processes. This interim rule focuses on regulatory implementation of the Continuum of Care program, including the Continuum of Care planning process. The existing homeless assistance programs that comprise the Continuum of Care program are the following: the Supportive Housing program, the Shelter Plus Care program, and the Moderate Rehabilitation/Single Room Occupancy (SRO) program. This rule establishes the regulations for the Continuum of Care program, and, through the establishment of such regulations, the funding made available for the Continuum of Care program in the statute appropriating Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 funding for HUD can more quickly be disbursed, consistent with the HEARTH Act requirements, and avoid any disruption in current Continuum of Care activities.

This final rule amends HUD's regulations for the Section 8 Management Assessment program (SEMAP), by revising the process by which HUD measures and verifies performance under the SEMAP lease-up indicator. Specifically, HUD amends the existing regulation to reflect that assessment of a public housing agency's (PHA) leasing indicator will be based on a calendar year cycle, rather than a fiscal year cycle, which would increase administrative efficiencies for PHAs. This rule also clarifies that units assisted under the voucher homeownership option or occupied under a project-based housing assistance payments (HAP) contract are included in the assessment of PHA units leased.

This final rule makes changes to several sections of the regulations for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program for states (State CDBG program). This final rule streamlines and updates the regulations to reflect statutory changes, clarifies the program income requirements, provides other clarifications to the State CDBG program regulations, and makes a conforming change to the regulations applicable to the CDBG Entitlement program. This final rule also provides additional flexibility to states in their administration of the program. The final rule follows publication of an October 17, 2008, proposed rule and takes into consideration the public comments received on the proposed rule.

The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2009 (HEARTH Act), enacted into law on May 20, 2009, consolidates three of the separate homeless assistance programs administered by HUD under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act into a single Continuum of Care program, revises the Emergency Shelter Grants program and renames this program the Emergency Solutions Grants program, and creates the Rural Housing Stability Assistance program to replace the Rural Homelessness Grant program. The HEARTH Act also directs HUD to promulgate regulations for these new programs and processes. This proposed rule would provide for the establishment of regulations to implement the new Rural Housing Stability Assistance program. In addition to proposing the regulatory framework for the new Rural Housing Stability Assistance program, this rule also proposes to establish a definition for “chronically homeless” that includes a definition of “homeless occasion” that better targets persons with the longest histories of homelessness and the highest level of need.

HUD is seeking comment on moving the timeframe that FHA conducts its pre-endorsement review of loans originated by Direct Endorsement lenders from a time that is prior to the lender closing each loan and before FHA's endorsement of the mortgage for insurance to a period after the loan has been closed. Comment is sought on whether this shift in time, as further described in this document, would reduce the processing time before the loans may be closed, and facilitate loan closing.

Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, as amended (Fair Housing Act or Act), prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, or financing of dwellings and in other housing-related activities on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin. 1 HUD, which is statutorily charged with the authority and responsibility for interpreting and enforcing the Fair Housing Act and with the power to make rules implementing the Act, has long interpreted the Act to prohibit practices with an unjustified discriminatory effect, regardless of whether there was an intent to discriminate. The eleven federal courts of appeals that have ruled on this issue agree with this interpretation. While HUD and every federal appellate court to have ruled on the issue have determined that liability under the Act may be established through proof of discriminatory effects, the statute itself does not specify a standard for proving a discriminatory effects violation. As a result, although HUD and courts are in agreement that practices with discriminatory effects may violate the Fair Housing Act, there has been some minor variation in the application of the discriminatory effects standard. 1 This preamble uses the term “disability” to refer to what the Act and its implementing regulations term a “handicap.” Both terms have the same legal meaning. See Bragdon v. Abbott, 524 U.S. 624, 631 (1998). Through this final rule, HUD formalizes its long-held recognition of discriminatory effects liability under the Act and, for purposes of providing consistency nationwide, formalizes a burden-shifting test for determining whether a given practice has an unjustified discriminatory effect, leading to liability under the Act. This final rule also adds to, and revises, illustrations of discriminatory housing practices found in HUD's Fair Housing Act regulations. This final rule follows a November 16, 2011, proposed rule and takes into consideration comments received on that proposed rule.

This rule revises the regulations governing FHA's Section 242 Hospital Mortgage Insurance Program (Section 242 program) for the purpose of codifying, in regulation, FHA's implementation of its authority to refinance existing loans of hospitals without FHA-insured mortgages, without conditioning the exercise of such authority on the expenditure of funds for construction or renovation. Hospitals with FHA's Section 242 mortgage insurance may refinance existing debt under section 223(a)(7) of the National Housing Act, and such refinancing under section 223(a)(7) is not conditioned upon the hospital undertaking new construction or renovation. When credit availability contracted considerably in 2008, FHA, in 2009, commenced the exercise of its authority to refinance the capital debt of hospitals without section 242 mortgage insurance. FHA exercised this authority through notices issued on July 1, 2009, and February 22, 2010. FHA initiated rulemaking to make this refinancing authority a permanent part of the Section 242 regulatory program through a January 29, 2010, proposed rule, which solicited comment on HUD's implementation of this refinancing authority to date. This final rule provides for codification in regulation of HUD's refinancing of existing debt and acquisitions for non-FHA insured loans of hospitals without conditioning such refinancing and acquisition on new construction or renovation. This rule makes certain changes to the regulations proposed January 2010 in response to public comments submitted on the proposed rule and further consideration of issues by HUD.

This rule amends the regulations governing FHA's Section 232 Healthcare Mortgage Insurance program (Section 232 program) by establishing the criteria and process by which FHA will accept and pay a partial payment of a claim under the FHA mortgage insurance contract. The Section 232 program insures mortgage loans to facilitate the construction, substantial rehabilitation, purchase, and refinancing of nursing homes, intermediate care facilities, board and care homes, and assisted-living facilities. Through acceptance and payment of a partial payment of claim, FHA pays the lender a portion of the unpaid principal balance and recasts a portion of the mortgage under terms and conditions determined by FHA, as an alternative to the lender assigning the entire mortgage to HUD. Partial payment of claim also allows FHA-insured healthcare projects to continue operating and providing services.

HUD is issuing this interpretive rule to clarify the scope of the provision in the National Housing Act that prohibits certain sources of a homebuyer's funds for the required minimum cash investment for single family mortgages to be insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Uncertainty has arisen as to the effect of this provision on State and local governments and their agencies' and instrumentalities' homeownership programs that provide funds for the minimum cash investment. This rule provides HUD's interpretation that this statutory provision does not remove the availability of FHA insurance for use in conjunction with State and local government programs that provide funds toward the required minimum cash investment. Although interpretive rules are exempt from public comment under the Administrative Procedure Act, HUD nevertheless invites public comment on the interpretation provided in this rule.

This final rule revises the regulations governing the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) program and the Title VI Loan Guarantee program. HUD negotiated this rule with active tribal participation under the procedures of the Negotiated Rulemaking Act of 1990, pursuant to the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Reauthorization Act of 2008. These regulatory changes implement statutory amendments and reflect the consensus decisions reached by HUD and the tribal representatives.

This notice of waiver extension announces that FHA is extending the availability of the temporary waiver of its regulation that prohibits the use of FHA financing to purchase single family properties that are being resold within 90 days of the previous acquisition, until December 31, 2014. This waiver, which was first issued in January 2010, took effect for all sales contracts executed on or after February 1, 2010. On January 28, 2011, FHA extended the waiver through calendar 2011. On December 28, 2011, FHA extended the waiver through calendar 2012. Prior to the waiver, a mortgage was not eligible for FHA insurance if the contract of sale for the purchase of the property that secured the mortgage was executed within 90 days of the prior acquisition by the seller, and the seller did not come under any of the exemptions to this 90-day period specified in the regulation. Through the regulatory waiver, FHA encourages investors that specialize in acquiring and renovating properties to renovate foreclosed and abandoned homes, with the objective of increasing the availability of affordable homes for first-time and other purchasers, helping to stabilize real estate prices as well as neighborhoods and communities where foreclosure activity has been high. The waiver is applicable to all single family properties being resold within the 90-day period after prior acquisition, and is not limited to foreclosed properties. Additionally, the waiver is subject to certain conditions, and mortgages must meet these conditions to be eligible for the waiver. The waiver is not applicable to mortgages insured under HUD's Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) Program.

On July 31, 2012, HUD published an interim rule that established the regulations for the Continuum of Care program, and which solicits public comment through October 1, 2012. This document advises that HUD is extending the public comment period to November 16, 2012.

On July 3, 2012, HUD published a Federal Register notice announcing its intent to initiate negotiated rulemaking for the purpose of developing regulatory changes to the funding formula for the Indian Housing Block Grant program authorized by the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996. This document explains how persons may be nominated to serve as members on the negotiated rulemaking committee.

The Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act of 2009 (HEARTH Act), enacted into law on May 20, 2009, consolidates three of the separate homeless assistance programs administered by HUD under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act into a single grant program, and revises the Emergency Shelter Grants program and renames it the Emergency Solutions Grants program. The HEARTH Act also codifies in law the Continuum of Care planning process, a longstanding part of HUD's application process to assist homeless persons by providing greater coordination in responding to their needs. The HEARTH Act also directs HUD to promulgate regulations for these new programs and processes. This interim rule focuses on regulatory implementation of the Continuum of Care program, including the Continuum of Care planning process. The existing homeless assistance programs that comprise the Continuum of Care program are the following: the Supportive Housing program, the Shelter Plus Care program, and the Moderate Rehabilitation/Single Room Occupancy (SRO) program. This rule establishes the regulations for the Continuum of Care program, and, through the establishment of such regulations, the funding made available for the Continuum of Care program in the statute appropriating Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 funding for HUD can more quickly be disbursed, consistent with the HEARTH Act requirements, and avoid any disruption in current Continuum of Care activities.

This proposed rule would amend the regulations governing FHA's Section 232 Healthcare Mortgage Insurance program (Section 232 program). The Section 232 program insures mortgage loans to facilitate the construction, substantial rehabilitation, purchase, and refinancing of nursing homes, intermediate care facilities, board and care homes, and assisted-living facilities. The amendments proposed by this rule would reduce risk to the FHA insurance fund by establishing the criteria and process by which FHA will accept and pay a partial payment of the claim under the FHA mortgage insurance contract. Through acceptance and payment of a partial payment of claim, FHA pays the lender a portion of the unpaid principal balance and recasts a portion of the mortgage under terms and conditions determined by FHA, as an alternative to the lender assigning the entire mortgage to HUD. Partial payment of claim would also allow FHA insured healthcare projects to continue operating and providing services.

This final rule amends HUD's regulations for the Section 8 Management Assessment program (SEMAP), by revising the process by which HUD measures and verifies performance under the SEMAP lease-up indicator. Specifically, HUD amends the existing regulation to reflect that assessment of a public housing agency's (PHA) leasing indicator will be based on a calendar year cycle, rather than a fiscal year cycle, which would increase administrative efficiencies for PHAs. This rule also clarifies that units assisted under the voucher homeownership option or occupied under a project-based housing assistance payments (HAP) contract are included in the assessment of PHA units leased.

This final rule makes changes to several sections of the regulations for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program for states (State CDBG program). This final rule streamlines and updates the regulations to reflect statutory changes, clarifies the program income requirements, provides other clarifications to the State CDBG program regulations, and makes a conforming change to the regulations applicable to the CDBG Entitlement program. This final rule also provides additional flexibility to states in their administration of the program. The final rule follows publication of an October 17, 2008, proposed rule and takes into consideration the public comments received on the proposed rule.

Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) is a processing system introduced in 2000 as a pilot program to facilitate the accelerated processing of loan applications for FHA multifamily mortgage insurance, which generally involve the refinance, purchase, new construction, or rehabilitation of multifamily properties. These transactions are costly, complicated, and time-consuming to process. Prior to MAP, HUD field offices were encouraged to develop and test individual fast-track processing systems for use by qualified FHA-approved lenders that were experienced in processing loan applications for multifamily mortgages. The intent was to considerably reduce the processing time of applications. These test procedures included providing qualified lenders with the option of preparing FHA forms and undertaking preliminary underwriting for certain types of loan applications. Fast-track processing procedures developed by individual HUD offices that facilitated processing applications without sacrificing quality or increasing risk were consolidated into a national test of fast-track style processing of multifamily mortgage insurance applications under the name “MAP.” MAP has been administered to date through direct instructions to FHA-approved lenders under a MAP Guide. Given its experience to date with MAP, HUD believes the MAP accelerated processing procedures have been successful. To ensure the continued quality and efficiency of MAP procedures, HUD is codifying in regulations key provisions of MAP and introducing new provisions to strengthen MAP, to assure the integrity and competency of FHA-approved lenders as directed by the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009.