As of April 22, 2010, owners of market-rate properties built before 1978 will have to comply with EPA lead safety regulations that govern common renovation and repair activities. Known as the Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) regulations, the rules were issued on March 30, 2008. (Age-restricted properties, properties with no children occupying them and properties that have been certified to be free of lead-based paint by a state inspector are exempt from the RRP regulations.)

Under the regulations, if renovation or repair work undertaken on a covered property disturbs more than six square feet of surface area for interior work or 20 square feet for exterior work, the work must be carried out by a trained and certified renovator. In addition, residents must be notified and provided with a copy of an EPA pamphlet, Renovate Right. (This is a different pamphlet than the EPA's Protect Your Family pamphlet that owners are required to provide to residents at the time of lease signing.) There are also recordkeeping requirements imposed on owners or the third-party contractors they hire to undertake work covered by the regulations.

Importantly, the RRP rules expand existing Lead Safe Housing (LSH) rules that have imposed comparable-but not identical-compliance obligations on pre-1978 properties that receive federal assistance, including Section 8 vouchers. Under the RRP rules, federally assisted properties must comply with the more stringent elements of both the LSH and RRP regulations.

Helpful Resources:

> MAHMA Certification Class: April 27, 2010 at the Columbus Apartment Association

> Listing of Ohio Lead Testers

> Complying with the EPA's New Regulations - More information from the National Apartment Association

Below you will find updates regarding HWAP and the Department of Energy HWAP final Rule.  Please download the complete DOE Final Rule, multifamily lists and summary of the DOE final rule below.   

DOE Final Rule on Multifamily Weatherization Released

Attachments:

HUD DOE HWAP Final Rule.pdf	[ ]	166 Kb
HWAP Final Notice Multifamily List 1.xls	[ ]	633 Kb
HWAP Final Rule Multifamily List 2.xls	[ ]	649 Kb
NHT Summary of DOE Final Rule on Multifamily HWAP.pdf	[ ]	41 Kb

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 3, 2010 - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will use a system similar to, and based on, the current Tenant Rental Assistance Certification System (TRACS) system to collect data about tenants of low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) properties, according to a notice published in today's Federal Regist er. The Housing and Economic Reform Act of 2008 requires each state agency to furnish HUD, not less than annually, information concerning the race, ethnicity, family composition, age, income, use of rental assistance under Section 8 or other similar assistance, disability status, and monthly rental payments of households residing in each property receiving LIHTCs through the agency. On March 30, 2009, HUD published a notice seeking early input on a methodology or approach for the data collection. HUD says it received approximately 25 comments from state housing finance and tax credit agencies; tax credit property managers; housing trade associations; research institutes; and not-for-profit organizations. In today's notice, HUD summarizes those public comments, addresses the signifi cant issues raised and issues specific information collection requirements. For more information, please visit www.taxcredithousing.com.

It has come to HUD's attention that a TCAP grantee requested that its HUD Field Office waive Section IV, Paragraph D of CPD Notice 09-03 to eliminate the requirement that TCAP funds be expended for an eligible TCAP cost within three days of being drawn down from the grantee's TCAP U.S. Treasury account and establish an alternate requirement that funds be expended "within a reasonable time from drawdown."

HUD has not delegated responsibility for TCAP to its Field Offices.  All program operations, with the exception of approval of Requests for Release of Funds under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), are vested in the Office of Affordable Housing Programs within HUD's Office of Community Planning and Development.  Only the Secretary of HUD and the Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development have authority to waive any provision of CPD Notice 09-03.