New Katrina voucher regs and other PIHNs

HUD has posted an important clutch of four new Public and Indian Housing Notices (PIHNs), including operating requirements for the new hurricane relief voucher program.

The "Disaster Voucher Program (DVP) Operating Guidelines" are in the lengthy PIHN 2006-12. This appears to be the motherlode of rules for the hurricane housing relief program that, as HUD disclosed on Jan. 20, is replacing the KDHAP relief program for Hurricane Katrina housing relief. Forms are provided via the main PIH page, linked here and here and here, for swapping Katrina-displaced tenants from KDHAP to the new DVP program.

Also new on HUDCLIPS this week: PIHN 2006-9 for public housing authorities (PHAs) on how to select outside legal counsel; PIHN 2006-10 on how PHAs should define "a project" for asset management purposes; and PIHN 2006-11 with guidance for PHAs on integrated pest management.

Don't sneer at that pest management item: it's a huge issue, especially given the current urban bedbug scares. As PIHN 2006-11 notes, pest management is further complicated by the fact that many tenants have allergies or breathing problems aggravated by bug sprays. And as yr humble blogmother has repeatedly found in legal aid work, endless controversies can develop over managers' use of monthly pest control visits as an opportunity to inspect general unit condition, and also over requests that tenants tidy up or whittle down their possessions to allow access to the baseboards.