If Necessary - Use the Utility Allowance Factor

for an Additional Year

Some of you have contacted us asking for guidance as you prepare new requests for Utility Allowance Adjustments. We're hearing that the utility providers are not responding to requests for information. 

HUD provides guidance in the COVID-19 Questions and Answers for MFH posted on HUD's web site on April 16.  

If 2020 is your year to conduct a Utility Allowance Analysis baseline, owner/agents should obtain utility usage information from the utility provider if possible. Owner/agents may obtain the utility usage data from the resident, as permitted in HUD HSG Notice H-2015-04 Methodology for Completing a Multifamily Housing Utility Analysis. Residents may submit this data in person, via mail or through an electronic solution (e.g. email, resident portal). 

If you follow current process, you conducted a Utility Allowance Analysis baseline in Year One and then applied the Utility Allowance Adjustment Factor (UAAF) in Year Two and Year Three. A new baseline is required after Year Three. 

As an alternative, in the event that an owner/agent cannot get this data from the utility provider or from the resident during the COVID-19 National Emergency, HUD will allow properties to use the Utility Allowance Adjustment Factor for three years rather than two. 

For example:

·    Owner/agent completed a Utility Allowance Analysis baseline in 2017

·    Owner/agent applied the UAAF in 2018

·    Owner/agent applied the UAAF in 2019

·    Utility Allowance Analysis baseline is due in 2020

·    If completing a Utility Allowance Analysis baseline is not possible because of the COVID-19 pandemic, owner/agents may submit the Utility Allowance Adjustment Request using the UAAF for a third year in 2020.

·    A new Utility Allowance Analysis baseline is required in 2021. 

Current Utility Allowance Adjustment Factors are available on the HUDUser web site at https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/muaf.html. 

We have created a Utility Allowance Adjustment Worksheet to help make your task easier. This worksheet is available on our Resources web page. 

Also see the COVID-19 Questions and Answers for MFH posted on HUD's web site on April 16.