Court Opinion

ID: 9746207
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 14:08:45.653735+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:11.137230
License: Public Domain

Justice NIGRO,
concurring.
I join in the holding and analysis of the majority, and write separately solely to emphasize that although HUD regulations authorize a PHA to terminate Section 8 benefits for violent criminal activity of a family member, they by no means require PHAs to do so. Compare 24 C.F.R. § 982.553(b)(l)(ii)(PHA “must immediately” terminate assistance when a household member has been convicted of drug-related criminal activity on the premises of federally assisted housing) with 24 C.F.R. § 982.553(b)(2)(PHA need only establish standards that “allow” the PHA to terminate assistance if a household member has engaged in violent criminal activity). In fact, the regulations make clear that in exercising its discretion to determine whether to terminate assistance, the PHA:
may consider all relevant circumstances such as the seriousness of the case, the extent of participation or culpability of individual family members, mitigating circumstances related to the disability of a family member, and the effects of denial or termination of assistance on other family members who were not involved in the action or failure.
24 C.F.R. § 982.552(c)(2)®. Moreover, when only certain family members are culpable for the criminal activity giving rise to the threat of termination, the PHA is specifically authorized to:
impose, as a condition of continued assistance for other family members, a requirement that other family members who participated in or were culpable for the action or failure will not reside in the unit. The PHA may permit other *578members of a participant family to continue receiving assistance.
24 C.F.R. § 982.552(c)(2)(ii).
Given these additional regulations, I believe that it is incumbent on PHAs to consider “all relevant circumstances” before terminating a family’s assistance based on the errant conduct of less than all of its members.