The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has published Annual Adjustment Factors (AAFs) for 2018. AAFs are used to adjust contract rents for units assisted in certain Section 8 housing assistance payment programs during the initial term of the HAP contract.

There are three categories of programs that use AAFs:

  1. Section 8 New Construction, Substantial Rehabilitation, and Moderate Rehabilitation programs
  2. Section 8 Loan Management and Property Disposition programs
  3. Section 8 Project-Based Certificate program, which is essentially discontinued since the PBC program merged with the Housing Choice Voucher program in February 2016

Each category uses the AAFs differently. AAFs are not used for renewal rents after expiration of the original Sec. 8 HAP contract, budget-based rents, tenant-based certificate program, or voucher program.

HUD’s published AAFs are shown in two schedules, one for adjusting the rent of units where the highest-cost utility (usually heating) is included in the contract rent (termed “Highest Utility Included” in the tables) and the other for units where the tenant pays for the highest-cost utility (“Highest Utility Excluded”). Separate AAF schedules are published for a total of about 123 areas: (a) about 119 separate metropolitan areas, including counties that are currently designated as non-metropolitan, but are part of the metropolitan area defined in the local Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index (CPI) survey; and (b) the four Census Regions for those metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas that are not covered by the local CPI surveys.

FY-2018 Annual Adjustment Factors are available on the HUD website.