In the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998, Congress directed PHAs to submit annual and five-year plans to HUD. The PHA Plan is a comprehensive guide to the PHA’s policies, programs, operations, and strategies for meeting local housing needs and goals. Because the plan controls and sets so many major policies at the local level, the planning process is an important opportunity for legal services advocates, residents, and other community organizations to have an impact on PHA policy affecting both public housing and the Section 8 program. After it is drafted, the PHA plan may also become an important enforcement tool for housing advocates.

The five-year plan describes the goals and objectives of the PHA for the next five years. It is a long-range plan that should help you determine the PHA’s future direction. For example, you may be able to tell if your PHA is planning to shift its mission to providing housing for moderate-income persons instead of using most of its resources to house extremely low-income persons. The details of the PHA plan will be in the one-year plans.

The annual plan is a public document that must be prepared in consultation with residents through one or more Resident Advisory Boards (RABs). RABs must represent the interests of both public housing residents and Section 8 residents. PHAs must make resources available to the RAB so that it may have meaningful input into the drafting of the plan. PHAs must hold public hearings to gather input from interested individuals and organizations. After the public hearings, the PHA is supposed to continue to work in partnership with the RAB in deciding whether to modify the plan after the hearings.

The annual plan is about the operations, programs, and services which the PHA will have for the upcoming fiscal year. It must contain 18 specific topics, describe discretionary policies that apply to public housing and Section 8 tenants, and describe all other rules and policies of the PHA. The one-year plan must have all the information that HUD requires and must be consistent with information and data available to HUD and the PHA, with the local Consolidated Plan, and with civil rights and other federal laws.