HUD’s recent Federal Register Notice announces the release of 2017 Renewal Funding Inflation Factors (RFIFs) used for allocating Housing Choice Vouchers funds to PHAs.
Usually, National Per Unit Cost (PUC) data is combined with economic data to obtain an inflation forecast. This year, HUD decided not to rely on historical PUC data, instead performing a projection of gross rents and tenant incomes. Geographic-specific inflation factors (change in Fair Market Rent from one year to the next) are analyzed to produce local rents in determining allocations amongst various PHAs.
No area may receive an inflation factor less than 1, with the highest inflation factors published this year at 2.125 and 1.966 (Dunn County, North Dakota and Brown County, Illinois, respectively). The published factors by area are available here.
