Member Roundtable / Committee reminder - For additional engagement opportunities, we remind you that LeadingAge Indiana hosts many Roundtables / Committees for Provider and Associate members:
- For all engagement opportunities - please visit our website; and see the new Calendar of dates here.
- Please share this information with others who may benefit from participating. Our team would love to see you at any/all these events. For more information, please reach out to Ashley Sabins.
Weekly National Policy Pulse Calls. The calls are on Mondays at 3:30 p.m. ET. If you’re interested in signing up for these members-only calls, please sign up using the link on our National Policy Pulse webpage.
Housing Network Calls – every Monday at 12:30pm ET. Join the weekly Housing Network Call for a discussion on updates related to affordable housing. The Housing Network is open to all provider members of LeadingAge. For details on joining the Network and other affordable housing groups that LeadingAge convenes, visit their website or contact Juliana Bilowich & Linda Couch.
Most Recent Senior Housing Weekly Recap
For the week ending February 6, 2026
HUD Streamlines Budget Approvals for Section 202 PRACs. In a January 13, 2026, memo to the Multifamily Housing staff, HUD describes a LeadingAge-supported streamlining approach to budget approvals for Section 202 Project Rental Assistance Contract (PRAC) properties requesting a less than 5% increase. The memo describes more than 20 workflow alignment measures that will help the Multifamily Housing regional offices adjust to reduced capacity following significant reductions in 2025. On average, the Multifamily Housing offices lost roughly 30% of their staff through reductions and early retirements actions. The PRAC budget streamlining directive is listed as #12 in the document and applies to overall increases of less than 5%, as opposed to individual line items. In the case of streamlined approvals, the Account Executive is directed to automatically approve the request without review. More information is here.
Reminder: HUD to Issue Additional Instructions on Immigration Eligibility Verification; Multifamily Housing Properties to Take No Action at this Time. On January 23, 2026, HUD posted a press release directing federally-assisted housing providers to immediately “audit” tenant eligibility based on immigration status. HUD’s directive originally said housing providers would need to verify resident eligibility based on immigration status within 30 days of the press release. The Office of Multifamily Housing Programs clarified that further instructions will soon be released to help impacted housing communities take the required actions, and HUD will send letters to individual properties with additional guidance. HUD went on to state that Section 202/811 PRAC properties are not subject to the applicable statute and should not expect to receive letters in any case. According to HUD, “These letters will be directed to owners/agents with residents who have a status in Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlement (SAVE) of ‘need additional verification.’ A new report will be developed in Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) for this purpose. Multifamily expects to send letters in February when the EIV report is ready for use, but no action is needed until an owner/agent receives a letter.” HUD also sent a letter to PHAs and to Multifamily Housing owners on January 12 with a reminder of HUD’s current immigration-related rules for subsidy eligibility. HUD has not changed its eligibility policies; in fact, the agency confirmed to LeadingAge that the letter was simply a reminder of existing policy, which requires owners to verify immigration status and prorate subsidy for various household members based on eligibility. More info here.
**Update 2/6/2026: LeadingAge has gotten reports of HUD staff reaching out to properties about upcoming enforcement actions coordinated with local law enforcement. We are investigating the situation and will report back as soon as we have additional information. Please reach out to Juliana Bilowich, LeadingAge Vice President of Housing Policy, if you are contacted by HUD about enforcement actions at your HUD properties.
House votes to pass remaining appropriations bills, ending shutdown. On Feb 3, the House voted by a narrow margin — 217-214 — to fund the federal government, reopening key agencies that were shut for four days. All departments, including HUD and HHS, but not DHS, are funded for the duration of FY2026, which runs through September 30, 2026. DHS is funded for two weeks to allow for more negotiations around Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol guardrails and that funding expires on February 13, 2026. The bill also contains a number of health extenders including a two-year extension (through December 31, 2027) of telehealth flexibilities in Medicare and a 5-year extension of the Acute Hospital at Home program. More information on what is in the legislation can be found in our FY2026 appropriations serial post. President Trump signed the bill into law on Tuesday Feb 3.
HUD Posts 2026 Operating Cost Adjustment Factors. On February 3, months later than usual, HUD posted the factors used by affordable housing providers to adjust property budgets for 2026. The factors, called Operating Cost Adjustment Factors (OCAFs), are used by certain HUD-assisted housing communities, including those participating in the agency’s project-based Section 8 and Section 202/8 programs. The factors are based on nine market factors analyzed by HUD and are used to offset cost increases for property operations while keeping the rents affordable for residents with low incomes. Usually posted in October, HUD told LeadingAge that both the government shutdown from the Fall and the shifts in staff capacity impacted the agency’s ability to release the OCAFs on time; in January, LeadingAge sent a letter alongside other housing groups urging HUD to immediately release the factors. The OCAFs are effective February 11, 2026, and stipulate a 5.1% increase to budgets on average across the country, up slightly from last year’s national average of 4.8%. View the OCAFs by state here. HUD’s Utility Allowance Factors are still delayed.
HUD Restarts Office Hours for GRRP. Following new guidance from HUD in late January 2026 to move forward with the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP), the agency has scheduled training webinars and office hours for GRRP awardees as follows:
- For Elements and Leading Edge awardees, February 10, 2026, from 1-2pm ET for an overview of program changes that impact Elements and Leading Edge awards. No registration is necessary: Elements and Leading Edge Training Webinar
- For Comprehensive awardees, February 19, 2026, from 2-3:30 ET for an overview of program changes to the Comprehensive awards. Registration can be found here. We’re requiring registration so we can try to check that all impacted awardees learn about this Notice and the program updates.
- For all cohorts, weekly office hours running February 25th through March 25th, 2026, from 1-1:30pm ET. No registration is necessary: GRRP Office Hours.
HUD has also restarted its GRRP listserv. To subscribe to HUD’s GRRP updates, visit: Office of Housing and select “GRRP.”
HUD Announces Delayed FY 2026 Income Limits. In a February 4 statement, HUD announced that the fiscal year 2026 income limits will be released May 1 – one month later than the standard April 1 target date for release. The income limits are used to determine eligibility for many of HUD’s affordable housing programs, as well as for properties funded through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). The statement reads: “Since FY 2011, HUD has based its median family income estimates on data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS). HUD obtains special tabulations of the ACS and uses the most recent data in its annual calculation of new median family income estimates and income limits. On November 26, 2025, the Census Bureau announced a delay in its release of 2024 ACS 5-year data from December 11, 2025 to January 29, 2026.1 As a result of this decision by the Census Bureau, it will be necessary for HUD to delay the release of FY 2026 median family incomes and income limits by one month, from April 1, 2026 to May 1, 2026.” The ACS survey delay was due to the government shutdown in the Fall. More information on the income limits is available here.
OMB Ordered Once Again to Disclose Apportionment Information. Following the abrupt removal of its Public Apportionments Database in March 2025, entities filed a lawsuit against the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Director Russell Vought, claiming that its removal violated federal law. In January 2026, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted the motion to enforce, requiring the Trump Administration to disclose apportionment information and restore the publicly accessible database. In part due to apportionment delays, affordable housing communities faced late HUD subsidy payments last year, including communities serving older adults. These housing communities rely on monthly rental assistance to pay housing staff, property mortgages, community utilities, and more. This court’s decision sets an important precedent that OMB must follow the law, ensuring stronger safeguards around transparency related to spending the funds that Congress appropriates. More info here.
Reminder: LeadingAge Housing Network and Workgroups Resume for 2026! LeadingAge's affordable housing policy team will restart our network and discussion groups in early January of 2026. More information is available here.
Need a Housing staff compliance checklist? See:
CM ACM Training Worksheet
December 2024 Calendar Worksheet
