Final notice confirms 50th-percentile FMRs

Finally, more than halfway through fiscal 2006, we have the final list of metro areas receiving HUD's permission to subsidize 50th-percentile "Fair Market Rents" for Section 8 voucher tenants. Fortunately for the affected jurisdictions, there are no surprises: HUD's final decision confirms the preliminary who's-on-who's-off list that it posted back on Aug. 25, 2005.

Housing authorities in places on the list may subsidize rents at the 50th-percentile level determined by HUD's "Fair Market Rent" (FMR) studies for their area, as opposed to the usual 40th percentile. The decisions posted today are effective March 1, 2006. I'll link to both the HTML and the PDF version here. The HTML loads much faster if you just want the quick-and-dirty, but the details are on PDF-only imaged pages.

Some of the areas losing 50th-percentile status are places where competition for the lowest-cost housing is so tight you'd think they would continue to qualify for the dispensation -- for example, Baton Rouge, Oakland, Philadelphia, Newark, Miami, and San Diego. Yet some places where you'd think low-cost housing would be easier to find, like Tucson, made the list. Then again, this notice is talking percentiles, and the absolute numbers are starkly different: the finally determined 2006 FMR for an Oakland one-bedroom is $1045 per month while the list posted last August 25 shows Tucson's 50th-percentile FMR for a one-bedroom as $571. (Yes, but have you tried finding an apartment in Oakland for $1045 a month lately?)

At least when it comes to Baton Rouge we're reminded that most hurricane-affected cities are allowed to subsidize higher "exception rents" under a waiver issued as part of the main FMR notice last Oct. 3. (HTML here, PDF here.)