Summary
HPN’s members develop and manage multifamily housing in revitalizing communities and in
high opportunity neighborhoods and they often have residents with Housing Choice Vouchers.
HPN’s members are generally sympathetic to the idea that Fair Market Rents should better
reflect differences in local rental markets and should give residents access to neighborhoods
with good schools and access to transportation and jobs.
The Housing Choice Voucher program should mitigate the intergenerational transmission of poverty by being a means for voucher holders access to opportunity. We applaud HUD for issuing an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to soliciting feedback and ideas before proposing a rule. Moving to Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs) has great potential to allow voucher holders access to more affluent communities, thus helping in the HCV program achieving the promise of choice and opportunity for families that has always been part of its design. It is important, however, to think through the complexities of moving to the new system.