HOTMA sections 102 and 104 do not simply change how a housing authority calculates rent. They hand the agency a set of choices, and several of them are only available to an agency that has written down which choice it made. Discretion you never adopted is discretion you do not have.
This page lists every one of those choices — seventeen in the catalogue — with the CFR section it comes from and the regulation's own words. It is the same catalogue the free Decision Sheet and the paid adoption pack read, so nothing here is a summary of what we sell; it is what we sell, with the drafting removed.
Before anything else: this may not apply to you
HUD Notice PIH 2026-15 exempts two populations — Moving to Work demonstration agencies, and PHAs that submit Form HUD-50058 exclusively through HUD’s Family Reporting Software. Neither is settleable from any file HUD publishes: there is no FRS roster at all, and HUD’s MTW layer has not been updated since 2018, so it misses the later expansion cohorts.
So we do not tell you the deadline applies to your agency, here or anywhere else. Unless your agency is in MTW or files exclusively through FRS, HUD begins enforcing sections 102 and 104 on 1 January 2027 — and the date that actually bites is earlier than that one. PIH 2026-15 puts it plainly: “PHAs who begin annual reexaminations 120 days prior to the effective date of the reexamination will need to begin using HOTMA policies to collect and verify family income beginning in September 2026.”
There is a second clock behind it. 24 CFR 903.17(b) requires, not later than 45 days before the public hearing, both that the proposed policy be available for inspection at your principal office during normal business hours and that a notice be published saying so. Both halves, 45 days, before the hearing — which is what puts the real deadline on your board calendar rather than on HUD’s.
That clock and the five procedural steps around it are a separate page, because deciding an election and adopting it are separate problems. The adoption timeline walks the whole sequence — the notice, the Resident Advisory Board consultation, the open board meeting and HUD’s 75-day review — with the same verbatim citations.
The HOTMA adoption timeline, step by step
A model ACOP or model Administrative Plan sold as a HOTMA template gets you the regulation’s wording for these elections and stops there — the choice on each one, and the whole adoption sequence, are still yours. That trade is worth its own page too.
What a HOTMA policy template does and does not cover
Four of them fail an audit by absence
Most of the seventeen are genuine elections: the regulation permits something, and adopting a policy is how the agency takes it up. Four are different. For these the regulation requires a written policy to exist — the agency chooses what it says, not whether to say it — so silence is itself the finding:
Definition of hardship and of inability to pay rent — 24 CFR 5.611(e)(1).
When families must report changes in income or composition — 24 CFR 960.257(b)(5).
Continued occupancy policy for over-income families — 24 CFR 960.507(a), (b), (d).
Whether this amendment is a significant amendment under your own criteria — 24 CFR 903.21(a), (b); 24 CFR 903.7(s)(2)(ii).
The 17 elections
Each entry gives the decision, why the regulation leaves it to you, and the regulation’s own words. Which of them your agency actually faces depends on the programs it runs: a Low-Rent agency amends its ACOP, a Section 8 agency its HCV Administrative Plan, and an agency HUD records as running both amends both.
1. Whether to enforce the $100,000 net-asset limit
When recertifying a family whose net assets exceed the limit, will your agency enforce the restriction, decline to enforce it, or enforce it with written exceptions?
This is an election. HOTMA 102 bars assistance to a family whose net assets exceed $100,000 (adjusted annually by CPI-W). But § 5.618(c) lets the agency decline to enforce that at recertification, or carve out exceptions — and only if it has adopted a policy saying so. No policy means no discretion.
24 CFR 5.618(a)(1)(i), (c): “When recertifying the income of a family that is subject to the restrictions in paragraph (a) of this section, a PHA or owner may choose not to enforce such restrictions, or alternatively, may establish exceptions to the restrictions based on eligibility criteria. ... The PHA or owner may choose not to enforce the restrictions in paragraph (a) of this section or establish exceptions to such restrictions only pursuant to a policy adopted by the PHA or owner.”
Your choices: Enforce the restriction as written; Do not enforce at recertification; Enforce, with written exceptions.
The chapter must state the election, and if exceptions are chosen, list the eligibility criteria explicitly. § 5.618(c)(3) allows separate treatment by family type; the policy must say which factors it uses rather than leaving it to staff judgment.
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 5.618(a)(1)(i), (c) on eCFR
2. Real-property ownership restriction and its exceptions
How will your agency apply the bar on assisting a family that owns real property suitable for occupancy?
This is an election. The rule itself lists four exceptions (homeownership-option property, jointly-owned property where the non-household co-owner lives there, victims of domestic violence, and property offered for sale) and five grounds on which a family can show a property is NOT suitable. Staff need written guidance on how a family demonstrates each, and on whether the agency accepts a self-certification of no ownership.
24 CFR 5.618(a)(1)(ii), (a)(2), (b)(2): “A property will be considered “suitable for occupancy” under paragraph (a)(1)(ii) of this section unless the family demonstrates that it: (i) Does not meet the disability-related needs for all members of the family ...; (ii) Is not sufficient for the size of the family; (iii) Is geographically located so as to be a hardship for the family ...; (iv) Is not safe to reside in because of the physical condition of the property ...; or (v) Is not a property that a family may reside in under the State or local laws of the jurisdiction where the property is located.”
Your choices: Accept a family self-certification of no ownership interest; Verify ownership through a records check; Accept self-certification, verify on a defined sample or trigger.
Whatever is chosen, the chapter must also carry the § 5.2007 confidentiality handling for a family asking about the domestic-violence exception — the agency MUST accept a self-certification there and may not demand more.
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 5.618(a)(1)(ii), (a)(2), (b)(2) on eCFR
3. Delay before eviction or termination for asset noncompliance
Will your agency use the permitted delay before starting eviction or termination for a family over the asset limit, and for how long?
This is an election. The rule caps the delay at six months but sets no floor and requires no delay at all. An agency with no stated period will be asked by its auditor what it does, and inconsistent answers across families are a fair-housing exposure.
24 CFR 5.618(d): “The PHA or owner may delay for a period of not more than 6 months the initiation of eviction or termination proceedings of a family based on noncompliance under this provision unless it conflicts with other provisions of law.”
Your choices: No delay — proceed immediately; Delay the full 6 months; A shorter stated period.
State the period as a fixed number of months, not 'up to six months at the discretion of the Executive Director' — a discretionary ceiling is not a policy and invites inconsistent application.
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 5.618(d) on eCFR
4. Self-certification of net family assets at or under $50,000
Will your agency accept a family's declaration that its net assets are $50,000 or less without further verification?
This is an election. This is the single biggest workload lever in HOTMA 102. Accepting the declaration removes asset verification for most families. The threshold is adjusted annually by CPI-W, so the policy should reference the adjusted amount rather than hard-code $50,000.
24 CFR 5.618(b)(1); 24 CFR 982.516(a)(3): “A PHA or owner may determine the net assets of a family based on a certification by the family that the net family assets (as defined in § 5.603) do not exceed $50,000, which amount will be adjusted annually in accordance with the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, without taking additional steps to verify the accuracy of the declaration. The declaration must state the amount of income the family expects to receive from such assets; this amount must be included in the family's income.”
Your choices: Accept the declaration without further verification; Verify assets for every family regardless.
Two things must appear in the chapter and are routinely missed: the declaration must state the income the family expects from those assets (and that income still counts), and for HCV the 3-year third-party verification cycle under § 982.516(a)(3) still runs.
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 5.618(b)(1) on eCFR
5. Permissive additional deductions from annual income
Will your agency adopt any additional deductions from annual income beyond the mandatory ones?
This is an election. HOTMA lets a PHA adopt its own deductions, but it must absorb the cost: no increase in Capital Fund or Operating Fund formula grants for public housing, and no increase in HCV renewal funding. For a small agency this is usually a decision to decline, and the file should show it was considered.
24 CFR 5.611(b)(1): “For public housing, the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) and the Section 8 moderate rehabilitation programs ... a PHA may adopt additional deductions from annual income. (i) Public housing. A PHA that adopts such deductions will not be eligible for an increase in Capital Fund and Operating Fund formula grants based on the application of such deductions. The PHA must establish a written policy for such deductions.”
Your choices: Adopt no additional deductions; Adopt one or more additional deductions.
If none are adopted, say so in one sentence rather than omitting the topic — an absent section reads to an auditor as an unmade decision.
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 5.611(b)(1) on eCFR
6. Definition of hardship and of inability to pay rent
How will your agency define what constitutes a hardship, including a family's inability to pay rent?
A written policy is required here. This one is not optional. The regulation requires the responsible entity to establish the policy. An agency that adopts the hardship relief provisions without defining the terms they turn on has an unenforceable chapter.
24 CFR 5.611(e)(1): “Responsible entity determination of family's inability to pay the rent. The responsible entity must establish a policy on how it defines what constitutes a hardship under paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section, which includes determining the family's inability to pay the rent, for purposes of determining eligibility for a hardship exemption under paragraph (d) of this section.”
Your choices: A stated rent-burden threshold; An enumerated list of qualifying circumstances; Both — a threshold plus an enumerated list.
§ 5.611(e)(2) additionally requires prompt WRITTEN notice to the family of the changed adjusted income and rent, and of when the exemption begins and expires. The notice obligation belongs in the same chapter section as the definition.
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 5.611(e)(1) on eCFR
7. Extending health/medical and attendant-care hardship relief
Will your agency extend general hardship relief beyond the initial 90 days, and in how many additional periods?
This is an election. HOTMA raised the health and medical expense deduction threshold from 3% to 10% of annual income. General hardship relief drops the family back to a 5% threshold, but it expires after 90 days unless the agency extends it — and extension is discretionary, in 90-day blocks.
24 CFR 5.611(c)(2)(ii): “The family will receive a deduction for the sum of the eligible expenses in paragraph (a)(3) of this section that exceed 5 percent of annual income. ... The family's hardship relief ends when the circumstances that made the family eligible for the relief are no longer applicable or after 90 days, whichever comes earlier. However, responsible entities may, at their discretion, extend the relief for one or more additional 90-day periods while the family's hardship condition continues.”
Your choices: No extension — relief ends at 90 days; Extend in 90-day periods while the condition continues; Extend, up to a stated maximum number of periods.
Keep this distinct from the phase-in relief at § 5.611(c)(1), which is a separate, non-discretionary transition for families who held the deduction at the 3% threshold as of 1 January 2024 and steps 5% → 7.5% → 10% over 24 months. The pack writes both, and conflating them is the most common drafting error in this area.
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 5.611(c)(2)(ii) on eCFR
8. Extending the child care expense deduction hardship exemption
Will your agency extend the child care deduction hardship exemption beyond the initial 90 days?
This is an election. A family losing the child care deduction can ask to keep it if it cannot pay the rent without it and the expense is still necessary. The exemption runs up to 90 days; extending it is the agency's call.
24 CFR 5.611(d): “The hardship exemption and the resulting alternative adjusted income calculation must remain in place for a period of up to 90 days. Responsible entities, at their discretion, may extend such hardship exemptions for additional 90-day periods based on family circumstances.”
Your choices: No extension beyond 90 days; Extend in additional 90-day periods.
The family must show BOTH that it cannot pay the rent without the deduction AND that the child care expense is still necessary even though the family member is no longer employed or in school. Both limbs belong in the chapter.
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 5.611(d) on eCFR
9. Interim reexamination threshold for income decreases
Will your agency use the 10% floor for declining an interim reexamination on a decrease, or a lower threshold?
This is an election. The agency MAY decline an interim reexamination when it estimates the family's adjusted income will fall by less than 10%. Setting a lower threshold means processing more interims and giving relief to more families sooner; keeping 10% means less work.
24 CFR 960.257(b)(2); 24 CFR 982.516(c)(2): “The PHA may decline to conduct an interim reexamination of family income if the PHA estimates the family's adjusted income will decrease by an amount that is less than ten percent of the family's annual adjusted income (or a lower amount established by HUD by notice), or a lower threshold established by the PHA.”
Your choices: Decline below a 10% decrease; Adopt a lower threshold; Conduct an interim on any decrease.
Note the direction of the discretion: the agency may decline BELOW the threshold, and must conduct AT OR ABOVE it. A chapter that says 'interims are conducted for decreases of 10% or more' is correct; one that says 'decreases under 10% are not considered' overstates it, because a family may still request one under § 960.257(b)(1).
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 960.257(b)(2) on eCFR
10. Counting earned-income increases after an interim decrease
After processing an interim decrease, will your agency consider subsequent increases in earned income within the same reexamination cycle?
This is an election. HOTMA generally bars counting earned-income increases between annual reexaminations. The public housing rule opens one narrow exception — but only on the agency's established written policy. No policy, no exception.
24 CFR 960.257(b)(3)(i); 24 CFR 982.516(c)(3)(i): “The PHA may not consider any increase in the earned income of the family when estimating or calculating whether the family's adjusted income has increased, except that, based on the PHA's established written policy, the PHA may consider increases in earned income if the PHA has processed an interim reexamination for a decrease in the family's income under paragraph (b)(1) of this section within the same annual or biennial reexamination cycle.”
Your choices: Never count earned-income increases between annuals; Count them only after an interim decrease in the same cycle.
The public housing wording (§ 960.257) and the HCV wording (§ 982.516) differ slightly in how the exception is framed. A Combined agency should not copy one chapter into the other verbatim — the pack writes each from its own citation.
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 960.257(b)(3)(i) on eCFR
11. Interim reexaminations in the last three months of the certification period
Will your agency conduct interim reexaminations for income increases during the final three months of a family's certification period?
This is an election. Declining these avoids doing an interim and then an annual within weeks of each other. The public housing rule conditions the choice on the agency having an established written policy.
24 CFR 960.257(b)(3)(ii); 24 CFR 982.516(c)(3)(ii): “The PHA may choose not to conduct an interim reexamination in the last three months of a family's certification period, in accordance with the PHA's established written policy.”
Your choices: Do not conduct interims in the last three months; Conduct them regardless.
This election covers increases the agency becomes aware of. A family may still request an interim under § 960.257(b)(1) at any time, including in the final three months.
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 960.257(b)(3)(ii) on eCFR
12. When families must report changes in income or composition
What will your agency require families to report, and within what time?
A written policy is required here. Required, not optional — and it is load-bearing. Whether a rent increase is applied prospectively or retroactively turns on whether the family reported 'in a timely manner according to the PHA's policies'. With no policy there is no such thing as an untimely report, and the retroactive provisions cannot be applied at all.
24 CFR 960.257(b)(5): “The PHA must adopt policies consistent with this section prescribing when and under what conditions the family must report a change in family income or composition.”
Your choices: Within 10 calendar days of the change; Within 30 calendar days of the change; Another stated period.
State the reporting window, the method (in writing / on a form / by portal), and what counts as the date of the change. These three feed directly into the effective-date rules at § 960.257(b)(6).
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 960.257(b)(5) on eCFR
13. Retroactive application of rent decreases
When a family reports late, will your agency apply the resulting rent decrease retroactively?
This is an election. Late reporting makes rent INCREASES retroactive automatically. Making decreases retroactive is discretionary and only available under conditions the agency has written down.
24 CFR 960.257(b)(6)(ii), (iii); 24 CFR 982.516(c)(4)(ii): “However, a PHA may apply rent decreases retroactively at the discretion of the PHA, in accordance with the conditions established by the PHA in written policy and subject to paragraph (b)(6)(iii) of this section.”
Your choices: Never apply decreases retroactively; Apply retroactively under stated conditions; Always apply retroactively.
§ 960.257(b)(6)(iii) is a hard floor whatever the election: a retroactive decrease may not reach earlier than the later of the first of the month following the date of the change, or the effective date of the family's most recent previous reexamination. The pack states that limit alongside the election.
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 960.257(b)(6)(ii), (iii) on eCFR
14. Streamlined income determination for families on fixed income
Will your agency elect the streamlined income determination for families receiving fixed income?
This is an election. For an agency whose population is largely elderly or disabled and on Social Security or a pension, this is the second-biggest workload lever after asset self-certification: apply a COLA rather than re-verify every source every year.
24 CFR 960.257(c); 24 CFR 982.516(b): “A PHA may elect to apply a streamlined income determination to families receiving fixed income, as described in paragraph (c)(3) of this section.”
Your choices: Elect the streamlined determination; Do not elect it.
The chapter must reproduce the 90% split: at 90% or more fixed income the agency applies COLAs and need not separately determine non-fixed income; below 90% it applies COLAs to each fixed source and determines everything else normally. It must also state the 3-year third-party verification cycle.
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 960.257(c) on eCFR
15. Using other means-tested programs' income determinations
Will your agency accept income determinations made for other federal means-tested programs?
This is an election. HOTMA 102 lets an agency take a determination already made in the previous 12 months for TANF, Medicaid, SNAP, EITC, LIHTC, WIC, SSI and certain other programs, instead of re-deriving income itself.
24 CFR 5.609(c)(3): “The PHA or owner may, using the verification methods in paragraph (c)(3)(ii) of this section, determine the family's income prior to the application of any deductions applied in accordance with § 5.611 based on income determinations made within the previous 12-month period for purposes of the following means-tested forms of Federal public assistance ...”
Your choices: Use them where available; Determine income independently in all cases.
Two limits belong in the chapter: the determination must be obtained by appropriate third-party verification, and if that verification is unavailable or the family disputes the figure, the agency must calculate income under part 5 subpart F itself.
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 5.609(c)(3) on eCFR
16. Continued occupancy policy for over-income families
After 24 consecutive months over the income limit, will your agency terminate the tenancy or charge the alternative non-public-housing rent?
A written policy is required here. There is no third option and no option to do nothing — the rule says the PHA must do one or the other, according to its continued occupancy policy. The over-income limit is 2.4 times the very-low-income limit, and the clock runs 24 consecutive months with written notices at the initial determination, 12 months and 24 months.
24 CFR 960.507(a), (b), (d): “Families participating in the public housing program must not have incomes that exceed the over-income limit, as determined by paragraph (b) of this section, for more than 24 consecutive months. ... The over-income limit is determined by multiplying the applicable income limit for a very low-income family as defined in § 5.603(b) of this title, by a factor of 2.4.”
Your choices: Charge the alternative non-public-housing rent; Terminate the tenancy.
The three notices are where agencies actually fail this. Each is due no later than 30 days after the income examination that triggered it, each must state the consequence of continuing over-income for 24 months, and each must offer the § 966 subpart B hearing opportunity. The 12-month notice must also carry an estimate of the alternative rent if that is the agency's election. Note too that over-income families may not sit on a resident council and may not receive a utility allowance.
Applies to public housing only. Written into your ACOP.
Read 24 CFR 960.507(a), (b), (d) on eCFR
17. Whether this amendment is a significant amendment under your own criteria
Do your agency's published significant-amendment criteria capture a HOTMA policy rewrite of this size?
A written policy is required here. This decides whether the whole procedural chain applies. If the amendment is significant, it cannot be adopted except at a duly called board meeting open to the public, and it is subject to the Resident Advisory Board consultation and the 45-day-notice public hearing. The criteria are the agency's OWN — HUD does not set them, so nobody outside the agency can answer this for it.
24 CFR 903.21(a), (b); 24 CFR 903.7(s)(2)(ii): “If the amendment or modification is a significant amendment or modification, as defined in § 903.7(r)(2), the PHA: (1) May not adopt the amendment or modification until the PHA has duly called a meeting of its board of directors (or similar governing body) and the meeting, at which the amendment or modification is adopted, is open to the public ... (b) Each significant amendment or modification to a plan submitted to HUD is subject to the requirements of §§ 903.13, 903.15, and 903.17.”
Your choices: Yes — treat it as a significant amendment; No — our criteria do not capture it; Our criteria do not clearly address it.
§ 903.21 still cross-references paragraph (r)(2); the criteria requirement now sits at § 903.7(s)(2)(ii) after redesignation. Cite both so a reader checking the CFR does not think the citation is wrong.
Applies to public housing and Housing Choice Voucher. Written into your ACOP and HCV Administrative Plan.
Read 24 CFR 903.21(a), (b) on eCFR
Where this comes from
Every quotation above was fetched from the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations and is verbatim. Catalogue version 2026-07-28; source edition eCFR title 24, 2026-07-01 edition, fetched 2026-07-28. The regulation text on this page was re-verified against the current eCFR issue of title 24 on 29 July 2026.
The dollar figures move. Both the $100,000 net-asset limit at 24 CFR 5.618(a)(1)(i) and the $50,000 self-certification threshold at 24 CFR 5.618(b)(1) are adjusted annually by HUD in line with the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. That is why the chapters we draft cite the provision “as adjusted annually” rather than typing this year’s number into your adopted policy — a chapter naming a stale figure is worse than one naming the rule.
QuorumFile is not affiliated with HUD, with any HUD field office, or with your Resident Advisory Board, and nothing on this page is legal advice. Whether your amendment is a significant amendment is decided by criteria your own agency published under 24 CFR 903.7(s)(2)(ii) — not by HUD, and not by us.
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