Recipients and subrecipients may not charge program participants program fees; the only charges 24 CFR part 578 contemplates are the occupancy charge and the rent contribution

coc.fees_and_charges.program_fees_may_not_be_charged_to_program_participants · v1.0.0

RECIPIENTS AND SUBRECIPIENTS MAY NOT CHARGE PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS PROGRAM FEES. The prohibition is flat and carries no exception in the text. What a project may collect from a participant is fixed elsewhere in the part and is limited to two things: an occupancy charge, which is optional and capped by 578.77(b), and the rent contribution payable under 578.77(c) by a participant on whose behalf rental assistance is paid. Both are program income under 578.97 when collected. An application fee, an administrative fee, a service fee, a maintenance charge or a charge for participation in supportive services is not one of those two and is therefore a program fee. Adjacent limits point the same way: grant funds -- not participants -- pay a security deposit, capped at 2 months of actual rent, and damage payments are capped at one month's rent and are a one-time cost per participant incurred when the participant exits the unit.

Confidence

high

Effective from

2016-04-04

Consequence model

agency finding with cure

Last reviewed

2026-08-31