The Office of Management and Budget has granted an exemption for project-based Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) funding to the reporting requirements under the Recovery Act--see explanation below. 

HUD is currently preparing a letter which  will ask each HUD office to send to the impacted owners.  The letter should be coming to you by early next week.

 
OMB justification for exemption from Section 1512 of ARRA:The Project-based Rental Assistance (PBRA) program provides rental assistance to low-income tenants in nearly 1.3 million housing units.  Residents generally pay 30 percent of their income toward rent and HUD pays the balance of rent and utilities to private owners/landlords of multifamily rental properties. The PBRA program is tantamount to individual benefit programs, which provide assistance to individuals to meet or help meet particular needs, such as paying for medical care, food, or college tuition.  In the PBRA program, the benefit provided is quality, safe, and affordable housing and the beneficiaries are low-income families.  Although Federal payments are made directly to owners/landlords, those payments are not intended for the benefit of the owners/landlords.  They are merely the mechanism for delivering the benefit to low-income families.  As with other individual benefit programs, families must meet certain eligibility criteria to qualify for assistance.  For example, they must be at or below 80 percent of area median income. 

Because the PBRA program is tantamount to an individual benefits program, and because 31 U.S.C. 7501(a) excludes from the term “Federal financial assistance” amounts received as reimbursement for services rendered to individuals in accordance with guidance issued by the Director, the program is properly excluded from 1512 reporting.