Section 888

Citation: Section 888
Parent Document: Open Cmtys. Alliance v. Carson, 286 F. Supp. 3d 148 (2017)
Jurisdiction: United States (federal)
Effective Date: 2017-12-23
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7328080/open-cmtys-alliance-v-carson/ ↗

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Section 888.113(c)(4)'s first two enumerated actions each involve changes to local rental housing market conditions that drive rents up, to voucher holders' detriment. The over-arching rationale for HUD's suspension authority that the Rule's preamble sets out confirms the enumerated examples' focus on local rental housing conditions. There, the Rule states that an SAFMR designation's suspension requires "a documented finding of adverse rental housing market conditions." Final Rule , 81 Fed. Reg. at 80,569. "[L]anguage in the preamble of a regulation," though "not controlling over the language of the regulation itself ... is evidence of an agency's contemporaneous understanding of its proposed rules." Wyo. Outdoor Council v. U.S. Forest Serv. , 165 F.3d 43, 53 (D.C. Cir. 1999). Were the third action-"Other events as determined by the Secretary"-intended to allow the Secretary unfettered discretion to suspend an SAFMR designation or exempt a PHA for any reason, the two other enumerated examples would be mere surplusage. As the Supreme Court has stressed in applying the canon of ejusdem generis , if the disputed phrase was intended to have such a broad meaning "it is hard to see why" the examples needed to be included at all. Begay v.United States , 553 U.S. 137, 142, 128 S.Ct. 1581, 170 L.Ed.2d 490 (2008) ; see also CSX Transp., Inc. v.Ala. Dep't of Revenue , 562 U.S. 277, 295, 131 S.Ct. 1101, 179 L.Ed.2d 37 (2011) ("We typically use ejusdem generis to ensure that a general word will not render specific words meaningless.").

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