Monthly VMS Reporting Period

The PHAs were notified as follows:

Dear Executive Director:

Subject:  HCV Program Monthly VMS Reporting Notification

The Voucher Management System (VMS) will be open from the 4^th day through the 22^nd day for purposes of submitting your agency’s data for the previous month.  To ensure thatyourdata will be included in the Department’s calculations for various funding, monitoring, and reporting purposes, it must be submittedin the VMS no later than 5:30 P.M. (Eastern) on the 22^nd day of this submission period.  The monthly VMS data reporting is mandatory

Please bear in mind that any hard edit notices will require time to be reviewed and approved or disapproved by your assigned Financial Management Center (FMC) Financial Analyst (FA), so it is advisable to begin submitting your data well in advance of the closing date.  If you have any changes to historical data, those changes will need to be made in the Prior Month Corrections (PMC) module.  

As always, your cooperation with the reportingrequirements of the VMS is very much appreciated.  If you have any questions in connection with this notification, please contact your assigned FA at the FMC.

[Please share the information above with your staff that are involved with compiling, entering, and/or submitting your agency's VMS data.]

Voucher Management System - July Release

The PHAs were notified as follows:  

Subject:  Housing Choice Voucher Program
Voucher Management System (VMS) July Release

On July 27, 2012, a VMS release was implemented in the Voucher Management System       (VMS).  The release corrects the following known issues:

• In the Prior Month Correction module, PHA’s have been unable to enter a comment for the Additional Expense/Comments Tab.  This correction will allow PHA’s to enter comments on that tab by adding a “comment” field to the drop down selection.  Please refer to an earlier emailed entitled “VMS PMC Module - Temporary Instructions”, dated February 6, 2012, that advised PHA’s of a temporary workaround to this issue. This workaround will no longer be needed after the July release.

• VMS does not currently allow PHA’s to make changes in the Prior Month Correction module to Point of Contact information.  This correction will allow PHA’s to make these changes in the PMC module.

Additionally, the VMS User’s Manual was revised with the July release.  Version 8.1.0.0 can be found here: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUDsrc=/program_offices/
public_indian_housing/centers/fmc/ and contains the following revisions:

In Section 4.1.1, Page 62, the wording was changed to read:

For a Hard Edit Error, just as for a regular Submission, click the appropriate drop-down menu explanation.  If "Other" is selected a mandatory explanation is required in the Comment box to further explain the change.  For non Hard-Edit errors, such as invalid format or cross-reference errors, the field must be corrected.  When corrections and explanations are complete, press the “Validate” button again.

If there are no Validation errors, or if all Hard Edit errors have been properly explained, a “Submit” button will appear at the bottom of the page.  Click this button to submit the correction. 

Section 4.1.1, Page 63, the following was added:

Note:  Most fields are fully replaced by the PMC process.  One exception is the Comment field on the Additional Expense / Comments Tab.  If you modify this field via PMC, previous comments will be retained, and your comment will be added below them in the (text) field, as shown below:

Two Year Forecasting Tool

HCV 2 year Forecasting Tool (MS-Excel): HUD has developed a spreadsheet tool for use by PHA and HUD staff to assist in projecting HCV leasing, spending and funding over a two year period. The purpose is to facilitate decision making by PHAs and to guide HUD oversight and technical assistance so that PHAs can achieve optimal use of the HCV funds while stabilizing the program. The goal is to make full use of the program while avoiding the typical large cyclical swings of lease up followed by attrition, and to eliminate abrupt cutbacks that might adversely impact participants. If you have any questions, contact your local HUD office of Public Housing.

• Forecast User Guidance
• Forecasting  Tool (MS-Excel) - This version Forecasting Tool v2.1 (AKA V8.7 in guidance document) corrects a year two formula effecting monthly spending percentages in the case of the user testing a scenario of an NRA offset. Please disregard prior versions.

Use of NRA Accounts

The FMC forwarded a letter from the Director of Housing Voucher Programs to the PHAs. The letter serves as a reminder that funds in the PHAs' Net Restricted Asset (NRA) accounts may only be used for eligible HAP expenses, and may not be used to support units above the PHA's baseline. The letter details these and other requirements pertaining to the use of the NRA accounts. It further advises that HUD is currently reviewing acquired information to assess the PHAs' compliance with statutory and other requirements governing the use of the NRA accounts.

Separate letters were directed to the PHAs' Executive Director and to the Chairperson of their Board of Commissioners. A link to these letters is provided below.

	Letter to PHAs' Executive Director
	Letter to Chairperson of the PHA Board of Commissioners

Accounting for Retroactive Funding and Payments

Guidance on how to account for Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) and other related program retroactive payments was conveyed to the housing authorities by email. Items addressed included whether to record a retroactive payment as revenue or as a prior period transaction, and a clarification of the distinction between prior period adjustments and prior year adjustments. The full text of the guidance can be accessed by clicking on the following link:

Letter to the Executive Director

Sanctions

Sanctions for failure to report to the VMS and FASS are addressed in Notice PIH 2008-9. Refer to the VMS Submission Reminder below for information on the imposition of VMS reporting sanctions beginning with the April 2008 data collection period.

Mod Rehab Renewals and Replacements

In keeping with the guidelines set forth in PIH Notice 2001-13 and PIH Notice 2003-29, owners must submit written notification to HAs at least 75 days prior to the termination of their Mod Rehab HAP contracts to request either renewal or replacement. Owners with contracts expiring in the next 75 days should have already submitted their renewal/replacement requests to the HAs. If an HA has not yet contacted an owner whose contract is nearing the 75-day mark, it should do so immediately so that funds may be requested. Upon receipt of the owner?s request, the HA should ensure that the information is provided to the local field office (FO) for forwarding to the Financial Management Center (FMC). If an owner fails to timely request renewal or replacement as outlined above, the HA should advise the FO contact person to replace the occupied units with Housing Choice Vouchers.

Reminder - Contact Information in PIC

The FMC uses a PHA?s primary email address in the PIH Information Center (PIC) system to communicate funding information. A number of funding notices have been returned because the email address was not correct, the PHA refused the email, or there was no email address in the system. PHAs are reminded of their responsibility to keep their email addresses and contact information current in PIC, since failure to do so may result in the PHA not receiving funding and other important communications from the FMC. PHAs are further advised that their failure to receive an email notification from PIH-FMC will not be grounds for an appeal, nor will it serve to excuse a PHA?s noncompliance with program requirements.