DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Section 888

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

Other Sections in This Document (99)

Full Text

2,419 chars 
The pilot PHAs also did not represent Rule-affected areas with respect to the SAFMR mandate's geographic scope within a metropolitan area. Only two of the seven pilot PHAs-Laredo and Mamaroneck-mandated SAFMR use throughout the entire metropolitan area. Id. at 33. Laredo and Mamaroneck were "unique among the SAFMR PHAs in that their jurisdictions are the same as the geographies for which their respective FMRs are calculated." Id. Laredo and Mamaroneck, in other words, were the only PHAs in their respective metropolitan areas, and, as such, implementation of SAFMRs applied *171across those two PHAs' entire metropolitan areas. Five of the seven pilot PHAs, however, did not make PHA use mandatory across an entire metropolitan area. Id. In contrast, all PHAs within each metropolitan area that the Rule affects use SAFMRs. 24 C.F.R. § 888.113(c)(3) ; Final Rule , 81 Fed. Reg. at 80,568. An SAFMR's geographic scope within a metropolitan area matters because "[i]f only a few agencies within a metropolitan area use Small Area FMRs, voucher holders may have difficulty moving to high-opportunity neighborhoods outside those agencies' jurisdiction." CBPP Decl. ¶ 7. "For example, if an urban agency adopts Small Area FMRs but the surrounding suburbs do not, then families will face the same cost hurdles that currently prevent them from moving to lower-poverty, suburban neighborhoods." Id. Indeed, HUD itself acknowledged this conclusion during both the demonstration project and the rulemaking period. See NPRM , 81 Fed. Reg. at 39,224 ; Proposed Demonstration Project , 75 Fed. Reg. at 27,811. When PHAs in low-rent ZIP codes, but not PHAs in high-rent ZIP codes, adopt SAFMRs, voucher holders will face rising rents in low-income areas but no commensurate decrease in rents in high-rent ZIP codes. SAFMRs' success thus requires all PHAs within a metropolitan area to adopt SAFMRs. Laredo and Mamaroneck, the only two pilot PHAs that implemented SAFMRs throughout their entire metropolitan areas, significantly were the only pilot PHAs that saw virtually no decrease in rental housing unit supply. Interim Report at 33. The lack of any metropolitan area-wide SAFMR mandate in five of seven pilot PHAs' respective metropolitan areas raises yet another question about the demonstration project findings' applicability to the Rule-affected areas, which mandate SAFMR use throughout their entire metropolitan areas.