FMC Highlights

Change in Reporting Period for October VMS Data

Nov. 6, 2009 - The PHAs were notified of a change to the VMS data reporting period for the October 2009 data, as follows:

Although the [VMS] system normally opens on the 4th of the month for reporting the previous month's data, it will not be open for October data submission until on or about November 23, 2009. PHAs will be notified later of the closing date for the October data reporting, but should be aware that this reporting period will be much shorter than usual. It is therefore advisable to prepare their October data as soon as it is available so it can be entered promptly during this limited reporting period.

This change in the October reporting schedule is necessary to permit the completion of data entry and revisions for the FFY 2009 months without having to wait until the October data entry has been completed, as the system normally requires. The FFY 2009 revisions must be completed by November 20, 2009.

The agencies were advised to contact their assigned FMC financial analyst with any questions they might have about this notice.

2010 HCVP Renewal Funding/VMS-PIC Data Reviews

Oct. 27, 2009 - The following message was sent to all participating PHAs on Monday, October 26, 2009:

All public housing authorities (PHA) participating in the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP) recently received a letter dated October 6, 2009, from the Department that outlined steps each PHA should take to be prepared for the HCVP 2010 renewal funding allocations.

Among other steps, PHAs were advised to review data they had entered to the Voucher Management System (VMS) for the months of October 2008 through August 2009, and were asked to complete that review by October 28, 2009. During the HCVP broadcast on October 8, 2009, PHAs were informed of a specific review of VMS and PIC costs for HAP contracts effective after the first of the month, and were advised that a letter would be forthcoming with that procedures and a due date no earlier than November 6.

This message advises you that the deadline for completion of both reviews will be no earlier than November 20, 2009; it will be set forth specifically in the VMS-PIC review letter being issued within the next few days.

Thank you for your continued efforts to ensure accurate and timely data in the systems that impact your PHA's HCVP funding.

2009 Funding Implementation Notice

The PHAs were notified that the 2009 Funding Implementation Notice was issued May 6, 2009. Notice PIH 2009-13 (HA), "Implementation of the Federal Fiscal Year 2009 Funding Provisions for the Housing Choice Voucher Program," implements the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program funding provisions resulting from enactment on March 11, 2009, of the "Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009" (Public Law 111-8). The 2009 Act establishes the allocation methodology for calculating housing assistance payments (HAP) renewal funds, new incremental vouchers and administrative fees.

Notice PIH 2009-13 (HA)

Use of NRA Accounts

The FMC forwarded a letter from the Director of Housing Voucher Programs to the PHAs. The letter serves as a reminder that funds in the PHAs' Net Restricted Asset (NRA) accounts may only be used for eligible HAP expenses, and may not be used to support units above the PHA's baseline. The letter details these and other requirements pertaining to the use of the NRA accounts. It further advises that HUD is currently reviewing acquired information to assess the PHAs' compliance with statutory and other requirements governing the use of the NRA accounts.

Separate letters were directed to the PHAs' Executive Director and to the Chairperson of their Board of Commissioners. A link to these letters is provided below.

CY 2009 Administrative Fee Information

The CY 2009 administrative fees for the Housing Choice Voucher Program have been issued.

A discussion of the general provisions and the various applications of the 2009 fees can be found at the link provided below. The discussion includes a link to the listing of specific fees for each public housing agency.

CY 2009 Administrative Fee Information

New VMS Reporting Requirements

Electronic submission of form HUD-52681-B data is a monthly requirement. This notice announces the new dates for submitting Housing Choice Voucher Data electronically through the Voucher Management System (VMS). It also serves as a reminder of (1) the imposition of sanctions for non-compliant reporting; (2) a reporting requirement regarding leased PHA-owned units; and (3) the instruction for reporting units transferred from HANO (see numbered items, below.)

The reports should be submitted electronically via the Internet at the following site:

http://www.hud.gov/offices/reac/online/reasyst.cfm

PHAs are advised not to wait until the final day(s) of the collection period to submit their data. Doing so may result in a delayed transmission of the data to HUD that could impact a PHA's funding. Failure to submit the data results in a PHA being identified as a non-submitter. Incomplete submissions and/or non-submissions not only could affect the PHA's funding, but in addition will result in the imposition of sanctions.

PHAs should check the "List of Submissions" web page in VMS to verify that the required data has been submitted for each submission period. If the reporting period status is "Pending Submission" or "Not Entered," the PHA should enter and/or submit the required information. When ready to submit its data to HUD, the PHA should select the "SUBMIT" link on the List of Submissions page, review the data, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the "SUBMIT" button to complete the submission.

The collection deadline for monthly submission is the 22nd of each month for submission of the prior month's data. For example, May's data is due no later than COB June 22nd. The system is open and available for submission as of the 4th day of each month.

PHAs should remember that whenever a data change has been entered that results in the need for approval of a hard edit, the PHA will receive a "Pending Hard Edit" message and will be unable to submit its data or to enter additional data or changes until that edit is approved by the FMC financial analyst.

The April VMS release includes the addition of a Hard Edit feature to the FUP field, many enhancements to the comments fields, and other changes that should streamline the submission and approval process for both the PHAs and the FMC. Take note that the Leasing and Unit Expense (LUE) report was disabled effective with the April release. The report will be available again this fall after revisions to it are completed.

An email sent to the PHAs on January 12, 2009, contained attachments describing features of the January 2009 release. These included a description of corrections made in response to error messages, data unlocking, and the addition of new fields and edits.

	PHA Briefing Notes
	New Fields (MS-Excel)
	Error Messages (MS-Excel)

This broadcast from February 5, 2009, addressed changes to the monthly VMS reporting requirements.

VMS Reporting Requirements - Slides from the February 5, 2009, Broadcast (MS-PowerPoint)

Note the following reporting information:

1. Beginning with the April 2008 reporting period, HAs are subject to sanctions in the form of withholding 10% of a non-compliant agency's monthly administrative fees, pursuant to the provisions of Notice PIH 2008-9. It should be noted that a PHA that timely enters its reporting data but neglects to press the "Submit" button for the proper transmission of the data will be subject to the sanction.
   
   
2. For CY 2008 and continuing in CY 2009, in accordance with the Appropriations Act, administrative fees will be paid on the basis of units leased as of the first day of each month. This data will be extracted from the Voucher Management System at the close of each reporting cycle. To ensure that PHAs are paid the correct monthly administrative fees, they should take note of the requirement, beginning with the April 2008 reporting period, to indicate in the Comments section of the VMS submittal the number of PHA-owned units they are leasing. These units should still be reported in the regular leasing categories as well.
   
   
3. When reporting units received via a transfer from the Housing Authority of New Orleans (former DVP participants), PHAs should enter the units in the All Other Voucher field and not in the Portable Vouchers Paid field. Proper reporting is required to ensure administrative fees are calculated correctly for these units.
   
   If there are questions, or if further information is needed, an e-mail should be directed to the following address and it will be forwarded to the VMS Systems Administrator for reply:

   Financial_Management_Center@HUD.GOV

October 9, 2008, VMS Broadcast Questions & Answers

Voucher Management System – Questions & Answers Concerning the October 9, 2008 Broadcast and the October 2008 Release

HAP Funding for Public Housing Tenant Protection Actions

This is to clarify any confusion there may be with regard to the availability of replacement vouchers in certain tenant protection actions. Per the terms of paragraph 5 of Notice PIH 2008-15, “HUD will provide replacement vouchers for all units that were occupied within the previous 24 months that cease to be available as assisted housing due to public housing demolition, disposition, or conversion, subject only to the availability of funds." (emphasis added)

This provision therefore does not apply to Single Room Occupancy replacements, Moderate Rehabilitation replacements, or Multifamily Housing conversion actions, such as optouts, prepays, terminations, or any other such tenant protection actions.

Accounting for Retroactive Funding and Payments

Guidance on how to account for Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) and other related program retroactive payments was conveyed to the housing authorities by email. Items addressed included whether to record a retroactive payment as revenue or as a prior period transaction, and a clarification of the distinction between prior period adjustments and prior year adjustments. The full text of the guidance can be accessed by clicking on the following link:

Letter to the Executive Director

CY2008 Renewal Funding Allocation

The PHAs were notified of their calendar year 2008 Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) renewal funding allocations for the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP). The allocation amounts were based on the requirements of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, Public Law 110-161 (the 2008 Act.)

The 2008 Act requires the Department to establish a new baseline for HAP funding eligibility based on Voucher Management System (VMS) data for federal fiscal year (FFY) 2007, October 1, 2006, through September 30, 2007. This process is commonly referred to as re-benchmarking.

PHAs were given an opportunity to review and/or provide the following data for the funding calculations: VMS data for FFY 2007; new increments awarded to the PHA that affect the funding calculations; units transferred from the PHA during FFY 2007; and vouchers withheld from leasing so as to be available to support a project-based commitment.

The Department reviewed all documentation submitted by the specified deadlines and incorporated the results into the funding calculations that were issued to the PHAs. No adjustments to or appeals from the funding determinations are available.

Any PHA that did not receive a funding letter should contact its Financial Analyst at the FMC.

VMS Users Manual

The Voucher Management System (VMS) Users Manual was updated effective September 2009.

Moving to Work Notice

Disaster Voucher Program (DVP) Extended

Unaudited Financial Data Schedule (FDS) Tool

Sanctions

Sanctions for failure to report to the VMS and FASS are addressed in Notice PIH 2008-9. Refer to the VMS Submission Reminder below for information on the imposition of VMS reporting sanctions beginning with the April 2008 data collection period.

Mod Rehab Renewals and Replacements

In keeping with the guidelines set forth in PIH Notice 2001-13 and PIH Notice 2003-29, owners must submit written notification to HAs at least 75 days prior to the termination of their Mod Rehab HAP contracts to request either renewal or replacement. Owners with contracts expiring in the next 75 days should have already submitted their renewal/replacement requests to the HAs. If an HA has not yet contacted an owner whose contract is nearing the 75-day mark, it should do so immediately so that funds may be requested. Upon receipt of the owner’s request, the HA should ensure that the information is provided to the local field office (FO) for forwarding to the Financial Management Center (FMC). If an owner fails to timely request renewal or replacement as outlined above, the HA should advise the FO contact person to replace the occupied units with Housing Choice Vouchers.

Reminder - Contact Information in PIC

The FMC uses a PHA’s primary email address in the PIH Information Center (PIC) system to communicate funding information. A number of funding notices have been returned because the email address was not correct, the PHA refused the email, or there was no email address in the system. PHAs are reminded of their responsibility to keep their email addresses and contact information current in PIC, since failure to do so may result in the PHA not receiving funding and other important communications from the FMC. PHAs are further advised that their failure to receive an email notification from PIH-FMC will not be grounds for an appeal, nor will it serve to excuse a PHA’s noncompliance with program requirements.