[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 24, Volume 4]
[Revised as of April 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 24CFR983.203]

[Page 653-655]
 
                 TITLE 24--HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
 
CHAPTER IX--OFFICE OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR PUBLIC AND INDIAN HOUSING, 
               DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
 
PART 983--SECTION 8 PROJECT-BASED CERTIFICATE PROGRAM--Table of Contents
 
                          Subpart E--Management
 
Sec. 983.203  Family participation.

    Subpart E of part 982 of this chapter, Selection for Tenant-based 
Program, does not apply, except as it is expressly made applicable by 
this section.
    (a) HA selection for participation. (1) The following provisions 
apply to this part: Secs. 982.201, 982.202 except paragraph (b)(3), 
982.203, 982.204 except paragraph (a) and (d), 982.205 except paragraph 
(a), 982.206, 982.207.
    (2) For purposes of this part, a family becomes a participant when 
the family and owner execute a lease for a unit with project-based 
assistance.
    (3) An HA may use the tenant-based waiting list, a merged waiting 
list, or a separate PBC waiting list for admission to the PBC program. 
If the HA opts to have a separate PBC waiting list, the HA may use a 
single waiting

[[Page 654]]

list for all PBC projects, or may use a separate PBC waiting list for an 
area not smaller than a county or municipality.
    (4) Except for special admissions and admissions pursuant to 
paragraph (c)(3) of this section, participants must be selected from the 
HA waiting list. The HA must select participants from the waiting list 
in accordance with admission policies in the HA administrative plan.
    (5) HAs authorized to use the 30-percent limit to prevent 
prepayments under State mortgage programs must not count families 
selected to occupy units in these State-assisted or subsidized projects 
against the local preference limit.
    (6) The selection of eligible in-place families does not count 
against the local preference limit.
    (b) HA determination of eligibility of in-place families. Before an 
HA selects a specific unit to which assistance is to be attached, the HA 
must determine whether the unit is occupied, and if occupied, whether 
the unit's occupants are eligible for assistance. If the unit is 
occupied by an eligible family (including a single person) and the HA 
selects the unit, the family must be afforded the opportunity to lease 
that unit or another appropriately sized, project-based assisted unit in 
the project without requiring the family to be placed on the waiting 
list. An HA may not select a unit, or enter into an Agreement with 
respect to a unit, if the unit is occupied by persons who are not 
eligible for participation in the program.
    (c) Filling vacant units. (1) When the owner notifies the HA of 
vacancies in the units to which assistance is attached, the HA will 
refer to the owner one or more families of the appropriate size on its 
waiting list. A family that refuses the offer of a unit assisted under 
this part 983 keeps its place on the waiting list.
    (2) The owner must rent all vacant units to eligible families 
referred by the HA from its waiting list. The HA must determine 
eligibility for participation in accordance with HUD requirements.
    (3) If the HA does not refer a sufficient number of interested 
applicants on the HA waiting list to the owner within 30 days of the 
owner's notification to the HA of a vacancy, the owner may advertise for 
or solicit applications from eligible very low-income families, or, if 
authorized by the HA in accordance with HUD requirements, low-income 
families. The owner must refer these families to the HA to determine 
eligibility.
    (4)(i) The owner is responsible for screening and selection of 
tenants. The owner must adopt written tenant selection procedures that 
are consistent with the purpose of improving housing opportunities for 
very low-income families, and reasonably related to program eligibility 
and an applicant's ability to perform the lease obligations.
    (ii)(A) An owner must promptly notify in writing any rejected 
applicant of the grounds for any rejection.
    (B) If the owner rejects an applicant family who believes that the 
rejection was the result of unlawful discrimination, the family may 
request the assistance of the HA in resolving the issue. The family may 
also file a discrimination complaint with the HUD field office or 
exercise other rights provided by law.
    (d) Briefing of families. When a family is selected to occupy a 
project-based unit, the PHA must provide the family with information 
concerning the tenant rent and any applicable utility allowance and a 
copy of the lead hazard information pamphlet, as required by part 35, 
subpart A of this title. The family must also, either in group or 
individual sessions, be provided with a full explanation of the 
following:
    (1) Family and owner responsibilities under the lease and HAP 
contract;
    (2) Information on Federal, State, and local equal opportunity laws;
    (3) The fact that the subsidy is tied to the unit, that the family 
must occupy a unit constructed or rehabilitated under the program, and 
that a family that moves from the unit does not have any right to 
continued assistance;
    (4) The likelihood of the family receiving a certificate after the 
HAP contract expires;
    (5) The family's options under the program, if the family is 
required to

[[Page 655]]

move because of a change in family size or composition;
    (6) Information on the HA's procedures for conducting informal 
hearings for participants, including a description of the circumstances 
in which the HA is required to provide the opportunity for an informal 
hearing (under Sec. 983.207), and of the procedures for requesting a 
hearing.
    (e) Continued assistance for a family when the HAP contract is 
terminated. If the HAP contract for the unit expires or if the HA 
terminates the HAP contract for the unit:
    (1) The HA must issue the assisted family in occupancy of a unit a 
certificate of family participation for assistance under the HA's 
certificate program unless the HA has determined that it does not have 
sufficient funding for continued assistance for the family, or unless 
the HA denies issuance of a certificate in accordance with Sec. 982.552 
of this chapter.
    (2) If the unit is not occupied by an assisted family, then the 
available funds under the ACC that were previously committed for support 
of the project-based assistance for the unit must be used for the HA's 
certificate program.
    (f) Amount of rent payable by family to owner. The amount of rent 
payable by the Family to the owner must be the Tenant Rent.
    (g) Lease requirements. (1) The lease between the family and the 
owner must be in accordance with Sec. 983.206 and any other applicable 
HUD regulations and requirements. The lease must include all provisions 
required by HUD and must not include any of the provisions prohibited by 
HUD.
    (2) When offering an accessible unit to an applicant not having 
disabilities requiring the accessibility features of the unit, the owner 
may require the applicant to agree (and may incorporate this agreement 
in the Lease) to move to a non-accessible unit when available.

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 
2577-0169)

[60 FR 34717, July 3, 1995, as amended at 60 FR 45661, Sept. 1, 1995; 61 
FR 9048, Mar. 6, 1996; 61 FR 27163, May 30, 1996; 63 FR 23871, Apr. 30, 
1998; 64 FR 50230, Sept. 15, 1999]