LOFTE advocacy with HUD has won a major victory for 5.5 million HUD and LIHTC families!
For years, HUD has told owners to require six months bank statements from tenants as part of mandatory “income verification” requirements. HUD tenants nationwide have vehemently objected to this practice as a needless and intrusive invasion of tenants’ privacy.
Because the LIHTC program adopts HUD standards for income verification, these requirements were extended to 5.5 million low income families overall. Tenants could be evicted for failing to provide six months complete bank statements.
In Lowell, Massachusetts, LIHTC tenant leader Kat Ragot from Appleton Mills Tenants Association “redacted” personal expenditure data from her bank statements. Kat was threatened with eviction for failing to provide complete 6 months statements.
Kat joined LOFTE’s national policy call with HUD Headquarters on July 21 and challenged HUD officials to allow tenants to “redact” personal expense information. HUD agreed this was a reasonable request and agreed to look into it.
Kat’s advocacy worked! On September 29, HUD published Housing Notice 2023-10:
Implementation Guidance: Sections 102 and 104 of the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2016 (HOTMA) The change from six to one month is found on page 124 of the Notice: "When verification of assets is required, PHAs/MFH Owners are required to obtain a minimum of one statement that reflects the current balance of banking/financial accounts. MFH Owners were previously required to average the balance of six checking account statements to determine the cash value of a checking account.
On January 23, HUD official Bob Iber, Special Assistant to HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing, confirmed the change in an email to Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants ED Michael Kane: “Michael, we changed the requirement from 6 bank statements to 1 bank statement in Notice H 2023-10. We can tell owners that they can implement that now”.
So, LOFTE tenants and organizers can tell management agents that this change is in effect NOW! Owners cannot demand six months bank statements—one is enough! You can email or print out the Notice and point out p. 124 to them.
LOFTE continues to press HUD to allow tenants to “redact” portions of the bank statement to delete expense details, as long as income is verified.