Legislative Updates

AHMA-PSW’s Affordable Housing News 08/22/19

August 22, 2019

AHMA-PSW Board Member Sue Silva attended the AHMA/CTCAC Working Group and reports that CTCAC mentioned that they removed the Marital Separation form from their website. They did not announce it or put out a memo. They have decided it was being abused and no longer want it used. Now if someone is married and cannot produce documentation to prove legal separation or that they are in the process of a divorce, then we must count the income and assets of the spouse. They are going to give us guidance about if the spouse is out of the country or has been deported.
CTCAC has released several pages of proposed regulatory changes for comment. The changes may be viewed at Proposed Regulation Changes
On May 7, 2019, the City of Santa Barbara adopted Ordinance 5885. It created Santa Barbara Municipal Code §26.40.010-26.40.030 requiring landlords to offer, in writing, a one year lease to tenants and prospective tenants. The ordinance became effective on June 7, 2019. It requires landlords to make the one year lease offer to current month-to-month tenants by September 5, 2019. One year lease offers must also be made annually (or upon expiration of existing lease terms) to existing tenants.
HUD has posted proposed changes to the final rule implementing Disparate Impact for comment. These appear to effect mainly the insurance and lending industries, however AHMA-PSW will be reviewing these more closely to determine if it would be appropriate for the organization to comment. The notice is located at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/08/19/2019-17542/huds-implementation-of-the-fair-housing-acts-disparate-impact-standard?utm_campaign=subscription%20mailing%20list&utm_source=federalregister.gov&utm_medium=email.