How do PHAs calculate prorated rental assistance for mixed-status households step-by-step?
Executive summary
Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) prorate rental assistance for “mixed” households—those that include both HUD‑eligible and ineligible immigration-status members—by reducing the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) in proportion to the number of eligible people in the household, while still counting all household members’ income in income calculations [1] [2]. The practical steps are: identify eligible members, calculate the HAP the household would receive, apply the proration factor (eligible/total members) to that HAP, then assign the unpaid portion to the family as additional tenant rent, subject to program rules like payment standards, utility allowances, and the 40% initial‑occupancy limit [3] [4] [5].
1. What makes a household “mixed” and what law requires proration
A mixed household contains at least one member who is a U.S. citizen or an eligible noncitizen and at least one member who is not in an eligible immigration category; federal regulation 24 C.F.R. §5.520 requires PHAs to offer prorated assistance to mixed families that request it and prescribes the basic proration method used across HUD programs [1] [6].
2. Step 1 — Establish household composition and count eligible members
The PHA first verifies household composition and immigration eligibility for each person; this yields two basic counts used in the formula: the numerator (number of eligible family members) and the denominator (total number of household members) — the proration factor is the numerator divided by the denominator [7] [2].
3. Step 2 — Compute the unprorated HAP: payment standard, rent reasonableness, utilities
Before proration the PHA determines the gross rent and the Payment Standard for the appropriate bedroom size, checks rent reasonableness, and subtracts any tenant utility allowance decisions to establish the HAP the household would otherwise receive under normal voucher rules (payment standard minus tenant contribution), using PHA payment standards and utility allowances as baseline inputs [3] [4] [8].
4. Step 3 — Apply the proration factor to the HAP
For voucher tenancies the PHA multiplies the unprorated HAP by the proration factor (eligible members ÷ total members) to find the prorated HAP the PHA will actually pay on behalf of the mixed family; HUD guidance and the e‑CFR examples use this multiplication explicitly [2] [1].
5. Step 4 — Determine the family share and what the family must pay
Proration does not change the contract rent owed to the owner; the family must pay the portion not covered by the prorated HAP. PHAs still calculate Total Tenant Payment (TTP) and annual adjusted income using all household members’ incomes—even incomes of ineligible members are included in income calculations—so the family share may be higher because the subsidy is smaller while full income is counted [7] [3] [9].
6. Practical constraints and the “40% rule” at initial occupancy
When the requested rent plus utilities exceeds the PHA’s payment standard, PHAs apply the 40% initial maximum rent burden rule, which requires that the family’s share not exceed 40% of monthly adjusted income at initial move‑in; if proration produces an outcome that would violate this, the household and PHA must follow program limits and rent reasonableness checks that can affect unit selection and allowable subsidy [5] [4].
7. Appeals, PHA discretion, and local administrative detail
HUD requires PHAs to notify mixed households that assistance will be prorated and to offer an informal review if applicants contest eligibility or proration determinations; however, PHAs have administrative discretion for implementation details and local administrative plans may add procedures, so exact monthly dollar outcomes can vary by jurisdiction [5] [10] [11].
8. Limits of reporting and what remains program‑specific
The cited federal guidance and HUD materials define the formula and required inputs, but precise dollar amounts depend on PHA payment standards, the chosen unit rent, utility allowances, and local rent‑reasonableness determinations—these program‑specific inputs are not uniform nationwide and must be obtained from the local PHA for an exact calculation [3] [8] [10].