Section 8 Annual Recertification: What to Send and What HOTMA Changed

Return your housing authority's recertification forms by the due date on its letter, signed by every adult, with proof of each household member's income and assets and any child care or medical costs you want deducted. The agency checks your answers against federal income records, sets your new rent share, and can end the voucher of a family that fails to supply what it asked for. Today, list everyone in your home and every source of money, then pull the documents below.

The rules your housing authority works under

Your public housing agency (PHA) must review your household's income and makeup at least once a year. You must give it any information it requests for that review, and everything you give must be true and complete. At each annual review the PHA pulls wage, unemployment and Social Security figures from HUD's Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system. List every job and account, even small ones.

Your new rent share takes effect on the first of a month no more than 12 months after your last annual review. Most PHAs match it to your lease anniversary or program start date.

What to send

• Every form in the packet, signed and dated. That includes HUD's consent form, HUD-9886-A. Each adult, plus the head and spouse at any age, signs it once from 2024 on; after that, a new adult member or a child who turns 18 signs one. If any member refuses, federal rules require the PHA to end the household's assistance.
• Pay. Recent consecutive pay stubs for each working adult, or an employer letter showing pay rate and hours. For self-employment or gig work, send your latest federal tax return and 1099s.
• Benefits. A current award letter for Social Security or SSI, unemployment, TANF, VA benefits or a pension, plus child support records. Download a Social Security benefit verification letter from your online account, or call 1-800-772-1213 and say "proof of income."
• Children and students. For children under 18, report only money paid for them, such as child support or SSI; their wages stay out of the count. For an adult dependent in school full time, send a school letter: the PHA counts that student's wages only up to the dependent deduction in the next section.
• Assets. All pages of recent bank statements, plus statements for investments, life insurance policies and any real estate.
• Expenses you want deducted. Child care receipts or a provider statement, and, if your household gets the medical deduction below, receipts for out-of-pocket medical costs, premiums and prescriptions, plus receipts for disability care or equipment that lets someone work. The PHA must verify each deduction with a third party or record why it could not.
• Household changes. Report anyone who has moved out, and send birth, adoption or custody papers for a new child. Anyone else moving in needs PHA approval before joining the household.

What HOTMA changed, and when

At housing authorities, HUD enforces the income and asset rules of the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA) for every voucher and public housing review that takes effect on or after January 1, 2027, so PHAs that start reviews 120 days ahead began using them in September 2026. Moving to Work agencies and agencies on HUD's Family Reporting Software get a later date from HUD. The dollar figures are HUD's amounts for reviews taking effect in 2027 under the new rules; they do not yet apply at those agencies or to a review that takes effect in 2026.

• Income looks back. The PHA counts what the household received over the previous 12 months, then adjusts for any change it has yet to process. Send proof of a lost job, cut hours or a new benefit so the figure matches today.
• Small asset totals can be self-certified. If your net assets total $54,898 or less, the PHA can accept your signed statement saying so, with the income the assets earn, in place of statements. It verifies assets with third parties every third year.
• Some savings stay out of the total: IRAs, 401(k)s and other retirement accounts, 529 and ABLE accounts, Family Self-Sufficiency accounts, and federal tax refunds for 12 months after you receive them.
• An asset cap applies. Net assets above $109,797, or owning a home your family could live in and has the legal power to sell, end eligibility at review unless the PHA's written policy makes an exception.
• Fixed incomes get a shortcut. When 90 percent or more of household income comes from Social Security, SSI, pensions, annuities or similar steady payments, the PHA can apply the cost-of-living increase once you certify that share and that your sources are unchanged. Full third-party checks come every three years.
• Deductions changed. The PHA subtracts $525 per dependent, and $575 when the head, co-head or spouse is 62 or older or has a disability. Out-of-pocket medical costs of that household, and any household's costs for care or equipment a member with a disability needs so someone can work, count only above 10 percent of annual income. Any household deducts reasonable child care that lets a member work or go to school.

What to do today

1. Find the due date and filing method on the PHA's letter: portal, mail or drop-off. No packet? Call your caseworker for one.
2. Write "0" or "none" on lines that fit nobody, so no blank comes back to you.
3. Copy everything, then send it with proof. Upload and screenshot the confirmation, get a date-stamped copy at the counter, or mail it with tracking. Put the cover letter below on top.

Planning a move? Start with our portability guide. An inspection booked with your review? See the failed inspection guide.

Where your case splits

• If a private owner's management office, not a housing authority, runs your recertification, you have project-based Section 8, and HUD moved those owners to the new income and asset rules on January 1, 2028. The 2027 figures above apply to you only if your owner switched early.
• If a document will be late, send everything else by the due date with a written request for more time that names the missing item, who holds it and when you asked. Your signed HUD-9886-A lets the PHA get records directly from employers, banks and the state wage agency, and lets HUD check IRS and Social Security records.
• If a disability makes the deadline or the process hard, ask in writing for a reasonable accommodation: more time, a mail-in or home review in place of an office visit, or help with the forms. The PHA must hold the review in another format when a disability rules out an office interview, and it must consider accommodation before ending assistance.
• If your assets or property cross the cap, ask for the PHA's written asset policy. The PHA can wait up to six months before starting termination. A home stays outside the rule if it is for sale, co-owned with a non-household member who lives there, owned by a survivor of domestic or dating violence, sexual assault or stalking, or shown to be unsafe, too small, too far from work or school, or wrong for a member's disability.
• If the new rules push your rent out of reach, ask in writing for hardship relief. A family with a medical deduction as of January 1, 2024 phases into the medical threshold at 5 percent for a year, then 7.5 percent for a year. A household that gets the medical deduction or includes a member with a disability can deduct costs above 5 percent for 90 days when care costs rise or circumstances change. A household losing its child care deduction keeps it up to 90 days by showing it still needs the care and cannot pay the rent otherwise. The PHA can extend both.

What you can get, and your leverage

• Money back for PHA mistakes. If the PHA's income math overcharged you, it must credit or repay you. If its mistake undercharged you, you owe nothing back.
• A hearing on your figures. Disagree with the income or rent share on your notice, or got a termination notice? Use our informal hearing guide.
• A landlord held to your share. The owner must return any rent you pay above the tenant share the PHA set; see our guide to extra rent charges.
• A fair housing complaint. If the PHA refuses a disability accommodation, file with HUD's fair housing office within one year.

Call free legal aid through LawHelp.org the day a termination notice or a demand to repay unreported income arrives.

Cover letter for your packet

To: [PHA name and address]. Re: Annual recertification due [date]. Head of household: [name]. Client or voucher number: [number].

Enclosed is my household's annual recertification: [list each item, such as signed forms; pay stubs for (name) dated (dates); benefit letter for (name); bank statements for (months)].

[If it applies: I requested (document) from (holder, address, phone) on (date). Please extend my deadline for that item to (date).]

[If it applies: Because of a disability, I request this reasonable accommodation: (more time / a mail-in or home review / help completing the forms).]

Please confirm receipt in writing and list anything still needed. Reach me at [phone, email, mailing address].

[Signature] [Printed name] [Date]

Today

1. Mark the due date and list every income source.
2. Request missing letters and statements.
3. Send the signed packet with the cover letter and keep proof.

What comes back: a request for anything missing, then a written notice of your new rent share and the PHA's payment, which your landlord also receives.