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Hello MRVP and AHVP Administrators and Stakeholders,
The Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC) is very excited to announce that it is moving forward with Small-Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs) for its voucher programs.
SAFMR sets the payment standard at the zip code level, instead of at an area-wide level. This means that payment standards will better reflect market rents in a specific neighborhood, allowing voucher participants greater choice when deciding where to live.
While the method of applying a payment standard remains the same, EOHLC recognizes that this is a big change for us, housing agencies, and participants—and happening at the same time as many other program changes at the state and federal levels.
We are hoping to offer SAFMR training in November. EOHLC is working with Edgemere on training and participant materials. Edgemere ran the recent MRVP trainings with positive reviews and has a great deal of experience working with SAFMR. We want to make sure that housing agency staff understand SAFMR and feel prepared to work with participants and property owners.
We are planning on a March 1, 2024 implementation date. This means that as of 3/1/24, the applicable payment standard or ceiling rent will be set at 110% SAFMR for state rental assistance participants. All state programs will continue to hold participants harmless, meaning the payment standard will not be lowered unless a household relocates or their voucher size changes.
If you’re curious, you can view SAFMRs. HUD also has a SAFMR website with a lot of information and research. We will send out an email with training sign-ups in the coming weeks.
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