What is the 1-Year Plan?

The 1-year plan is about your housing authority’s operations, programs and services for the upcoming fiscal year. This is where the details are. All 1-year plans must:

Address 18 specific topics
Describe discretionary policies that apply to public and Section 8 residents.
Spell out all other rules and policies.

There is a lot in the 1-year plan. While you need to pay attention to the details of various policies, don’t get overwhelmed by feeling you have to address all 18 topics. Work with residents to pick the issues that most concern people and focus on those.

What Does HUD Say a 1-Year Plan Should Include?

HUD’s rules say that there are four major standards that 1-year plans must meet. If your housing authority does not meet these standards, Resident Advisory Boards may challenge the entire plan or portions of it.

HUD’s rules state that 1-year plans must:

Have all the information that HUD requires.
Be consistent with information and data available to HUD.
Be consistent with your local Consolidated Plan.
Be consistent with civil rights and other federal laws.

The 1-year plan must also be consistent with the 5-year plan. Don’t take this for granted. If it is not, your housing authority must explain in the 1-year plan "any substantial deviation" from the goals stated in the 5-year plan.

Do All Housing Authorities Have to Submit Full-Blown 1-Year Plans?

No. HUD’s rules say that housing authorities can submit what are called streamlined plans. These are 1-year plans that do not have to contain certain information, such as information about conversion of public housing to Section 8 tenant-based housing and grievance procedures, despite the fact that these issues are very important to residents.

Your housing authority is eligible to submit a streamlined 1-year plan if it is a:

High performing housing authority.
Small housing authority with less than 250 public housing apartments and is not designated as troubled.
Does not own or operate public housing, but only administers Section 8 vouchers.

Keep in mind - even if your housing authority is eligible to submit a streamlined plan, HUD’s rules say that it must provide residents and the public with "reasonable means" to obtain the basic information that the full 1-year plans must include.

No matter how well a housing authority is performing, if an issue you are concerned about does not have to be in a streamlined plan, urge your housing authority to address it anyway. No matter how well a housing authority is performing, resident input can strengthen how a housing authority is managed and maintained.