HUD recently released a Notice in the Federal Register announcing the final fiscal year (FY) 2015 Fair Market Rents (FMRs) for the Housing Choice Voucher Program and Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy Programs. The primary uses of FMRs are to determine payment standards for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program, renewal rents for some expiring project-based Section 8 contracts, initial rents for housing assistance payment contracts in the Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy program, and to serve as rent ceilings in the HOME program. FMRs are also used in the calculation of maximum award amounts for Continuum of Care grantees.
The FY 2015 FMRs are based on using 5-year, 2008-2012 data collected by the American Community Survey (ACS) and are for all areas that reflect the estimated 40th and 50th percentile rent levels trended to April 1, 2015.
The February 28, 2013 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) “area definition” updates have not been incorporated into the proposed FY 2015 FMRs. HUD plans to evaluate the impact of the new area definitions and discuss these findings in the final FY 2015 FMR publication, or, if that is not possible, in a subsequent publication in January 2015.
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