The owner must have written occupancy standards, assign each family a unit of appropriate size, and count anticipated children and live-in aides but not nonfamily members

s8.tenant_selection.occupancy_standards_and_counting_members · v1.0.0

Owners must develop and follow occupancy standards taking into account the size and number of bedrooms needed for the number of people in the family, and occupancy standards must be part of the owner's tenant selection procedures. Owners of all properties subject to the handbook, including subsidized housing cooperatives, must assign a family to a unit of appropriate size taking into consideration all persons residing in the household, and must have written standards describing the project eligibility criteria. HUD does not prescribe the standard: generally a two-persons-per-bedroom standard is acceptable, and an owner may establish a different standard based on specific characteristics of the property. The standards must comply with federal, state and local fair housing and civil rights law, tenant-landlord law, zoning restrictions and HUD's equal opportunity requirements, must not exclude families with children, and must not extend to social judgements about a family's sleeping arrangements. Where a family would qualify for more than one unit size the owner must allow the family to choose. In counting family members the owner must count all full-time members and all anticipated children -- expected births, children being adopted, children whose custody is being obtained, foster children who will reside in the unit, children temporarily in a foster home who will return, and children in joint custody present 50 percent or more of the time -- must count live-in aides and foster adults, may count children away at school who live at home during recesses, may set reasonable standards for counting a member temporarily in a correctional facility, and must not count nonfamily members such as adult children on active military duty, permanently institutionalised family members or visitors.

Confidence

high

Effective from

2013-08-07

Last reviewed

2026-09-01