On June 11, 2012, HUD published Notice H 2012-11, which clarifies and supercedes Notice H 2009-11. The Notice reiterates the responsibilities of owners and agents of HUD-assisted properties relative to the rental of housing to lifetime registered sex offenders.
The Notice makes clear that owners of Section 202 PRAC, Section 811 PRAC, Section 811 PRA, Section 202, Section 8 project-based, Section 236, Section 221(d)(3) BMIR, Public Housing, and Moderate Rehabilitation projects must prohibit admission to persons subject to a lifetime registration requirement under a State sex offender registration program. The requirement also applies to Tenant-based Housing Choice Vouchers, and Project-based Housing Choice Vouchers.
If a participant who is subject to such a lifetime registration requirement was erroneously admitted into a project under one of the programs noted above, and is found to be receiving housing assistance, eviction and termination of assistance must be pursued.
HUD regulations at 24 CFR §5.856, §960.204(a)(4), and §982.553(a)(2) prohibit admission to such persons after June 25, 2001. If it is discovered that a household contains a member who is a registered lifetime sex offender, the family must be given the opportunity to remove the ineligible member from the household. If the family is unwilling to remove the individual from the household, assistance to the household must be terminated. It should be noted that for admissions prior to June 25, 2001, there is no statutory or regulatory basis to evict or terminate assistance based solely of the basis of a household member’s sex offender registration status.
Owners and agents of all affected properties are required to perform criminal background checks during the application stage to determine if any member of the applicant household is subject to lifetime registration as a sex offender. Applicants for admission must provide a list of all states in which any household member has resided, and criminal record checks must be performed in all these states, as well as in the state where the property is located. If a family agrees to remove a registered sex offender from the household prior to move-in, the family may be admitted; if not, the application must be rejected.
All owners and managers of properties subject to this requirement should obtain a copy of Notice H 2012-11 and carefully review the requirements of the Notice.