50th percentile list changed, cut

HUD has issued a sharply revised list of 24 areas where it will allow local housing authorities to base their payment standards on "Fair Market Rents" taken from the local 50th percentile instead of the usual 40th -- which softens the effect of low-rent housing shortages by subsidizing slightly more expensive rentals. (If you want to skip ahead to the list it's on the third page of the PDF, first column.)

The list keeps only 14 out of the 48 metropolitan areas that were previously proposed for the 50th percentile dispensation this past June 2, while 10 new areas were added. Today's publication provides a detailed rationale for each of several factors that it says ruled out areas on the original list. Comments are due September 26, by snail mail to two separate addresses.

The final 50% list includes some center cities like Washington, D.C. and the high-growth areas of Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Tucson, and then also, interestingly, some second-rank urban centers -- for example, Tacoma but not Seattle; Providence, Hartford and New Haven but not New York or Boston; Orange and Riverside Counties in California but not L.A. Just a guess, but maybe low-budget renters are straining the housing markets in these places after getting priced out of fancier addresses?

[Lagniappe: If you'd like more detail about local housing trends, HUDUSER happens to have "comprehensive market analysis reports" available for several of the areas named in its 50th-percentile list. But for history and background on the FMRs in particular, see the HUDUSER FMRs data sets.]