Comment Submitted by Danilo Pelletiere, National Low Income Housing Coalition

July 13, 2010 Office of the General Counsel, Rules Docket Clerk Departmnent of Housing and Urban Development 451 Seventh Street, SW Room 10276 Washington, D.C. 20410-0001 Re: Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program – Demonstration Project of Small Area Fair Market Rents in Certain Metropolitan Areas for Fiscal Year 2011. Docket No. FR-5413-N-01 Dear Sir/Madam The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) is pleased to submit these comments in response to the request published in the Federal Register May 18, 2010 by the Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research. These comments summarize NLIHC’s support for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program Small Area Fair Market Rents Demonstration Project and provide responses to a selection of the questions asked in the request for comments. The comments conclude with additional actions that NLIHC believes HUD should take in designing and implementing the demonstration project. Chief among these actions are to 1) exempt tenants with Housing Choice Vouchers and Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contracts at the time the new FMRs are implemented from declines in payment standards; and 2) to commit to phasing in the year-to-year changes in the FMR. If necessary, this second action should occur in advance of any eventual passage of the Section Eight Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA), which contains a similar provision. ...