HUD has issued a notice updating the FY 2019 FMRs. It also enumerates the procedures for Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) and other interested parties to request reevaluations of their FMRs, as required by HOTMA. To help inform PHAs’ decisions concerning reevaluation requests, this notice briefly addresses HUD’s May 30, 2018 notice regarding the use of FMR surveys in the calculation of Renewal Funding Inflation Factors.

For technical information on the methodology used to develop FMRs or a listing of all FMRs, please call the HUD USER information line at 800-245-2691 or access the information on the HUD USER website at http://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html. FMRs are listed at the 40th or 50th percentile in Schedule B. For informational purposes, 40th percentile rents for the areas with 50th percentile FMRs will be provided in the HUD FY 2019 FMR documentation system at https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html#2019_query and 50th percentile rents for all FMR areas will be published at http://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/50per.html.
Questions related to use of FMRs or voucher payment standards should be directed to the respective local HUD program staff. Questions on how to conduct FMR surveys may be addressed to Marie L. Lihn or Peter B. Kahn of the Economic and Market Analysis Division, Office of Economic Affairs, Office of Policy Development and Research at HUD headquarters, 451 7th Street SW, Room 8208, Washington, DC 20410; telephone number 202-402-2409 (this is not a toll-free number), or via email at emad-hq@hud.gov.

Request for Comments

Although HUD has not changed the FMR estimation method for FY 2019, HUD will continue to accept public comments on the methods HUD uses to calculate FY 2019 FMRs, including Small Area FMRs, and the FMR levels for specific areas. Due to its current funding levels, HUD no longer has sufficient resources to conduct local surveys of rents to address
comments filed regarding the FMR levels for specific areas. PHAs may continue to fund such surveys independently, as specified below, using administrative fees if they so choose. HUD continually strives to calculate FMRs that meet the statutory requirement of using “the most recent available data” while also serving as an effective program parameter. PHAs or other interested parties may request HUD to reevaluation of their area’s FY 2019 FMRs, procedures of which are outlined in this notice.