Understanding the new Uniform Relocation Act (URA) rule
DownloadWhen the federal government provides funding for activities that result in the displacement of different entities—such as persons, businesses, non-profits, or agriculture—there are federal protections that ensure the displaced entities are fairly compensated and reestablished in new residences or operations. The Uniform Relocation and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, or URA, is the regulation that directs these efforts.
URA and its amendments outline the basic requirements of regulations that project administrators must comply with if using federal funds to acquire private property or displace private property owners or tenants. In May 2024, the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published updates to the URA rule, and these updates went into effect on June 3, 2024.
With decades of experience in housing and transportation policy, our team knows firsthand the amount of time it takes to both review revised regulations and process the implications of these changes to your work and your projects. We’ve distilled the changes in the updated URA rule to the most important, timely, or otherwise significant updates.
We focus here on the two primary applications of this cross-cutting regulation: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) projects and non-HUD projects. As HUD is one of the largest agencies funding projects where URA applies, it has its own layer of guidance in addition to the rules issued by the FHWA. The existence of this extra guidance effectively splits URA projects into the two major categories that we’ll discuss today. Note that while the rule already went into effect, agencies including HUD have yet to publish their own updated guidance.
For a detailed breakdown of the changes brought about by this update to URA, we’ve also developed a side-by-side comparison of the original URA regulatory text and the updated language. Where text was removed or added without a direct revision of the text, we’ve made a note indicating what, if any context, most readily fits the change.
Notable highlights
This most recent update to the URA regulations incorporates a number of changes, ranging from the significant, such as how benefits are calculated, to the nuanced, such as the updated ability to use electronic transmission (e.g., email) as an official way to distribute required notices. However, when looking at the changes overall, there were four key groups of modifications made to the URA:
1. Improvements to equity and fairness to displaced property owners or those who must move temporarily because of federal projects or projects receiving federal funds.
2. Increases to maximum payment levels to compensate displaced persons more fairly and equitably for the negative impacts they experience due to a federal or federally assisted project.
3. Adjustments to better align with current URA implementation needs and eliminate duplicative and outdated regulatory language in that rule.
4. Simplifications to the overall process by reducing paperwork and administrative burdens of federal government regulations on agencies.
While not an exhaustive list, below we present a high-level look at some of the key changes.
Updates to definitions
The URA definitions are located in Section 24.2 of the Act. The definition changes noted below are only the definitions that have been changed based on the updated regulations.
- Initiation of Negotiations for Voluntary Acquisitions
- Establishes date of voluntary acquisitions as the binding contract.
- Designated Representative
- Clarifies roles and responsibilities for entities implementing the URA.
- Subrecipient
- Removes the terms grantee and subgrantee and replaces with the term “subrecipient.”
- Displaced Person
- Broadens the definition to now include persons or entities who are temporarily displaced.
- Comparable Replacement Dwelling
- Clarifies requirements for kitchens to include fully useable sinks with sewage drainage.
- Alien not lawfully present
- Removes U.S. Attorney General and inserts Secretary of Homeland Security as the department authorizing stays of non-citizens in the United States.
Assurances, monitoring, and corrective actions
The requirements for assurances, monitoring, and corrective actions are located in Section 24.4 of the Act. Before a federal agency may approve any grant to, or contract, or make agreement with an agency that will result in real property acquisition or displacement, the agency must provide appropriate assurance that it will comply with the URA.
Manner of notices and electronic signatures
The requirements for the manner of notices are located in Section 24.5 of the Act. A federal funding agency may now approve a process to permit the displaced person to choose to receive required notices by electronic delivery in lieu of the use of certified or registered first-class mail, return receipt requested, or personally served notices, when an agency demonstrates a means to document receipt of such notices by the property owner or occupant.
Adjustments to limits and payments
FHWA as the Lead Agency can now make adjustments more often than every five years. If adjustments are determined to be necessary, the head of the Lead Agency will publish the new maximum benefit limits in the Federal Register Notice.
Applicability of URA requirements for acquisition
The applicability of the relocation requirements for voluntary acquisitions is in Section 24.101 of the Act. Relocation assistance is not applicable to owner-occupants in voluntary acquisition; it is applicable to tenants who must permanently relocate because of an acquisition as they are deemed “displaced persons.”
Basic acquisition policies – low value properties
The requirements for using an appraisal waiver valuation are in Section 24.102 of the Act. When an appraisal is determined to be unnecessary because the valuation problem is uncomplicated and has a low fair market value, the agency shall prepare a waiver valuation.
Applicability – temporary relocation
The requirements for temporary relocation are in Section 24.202. Relocation assistance for temporary displacement is to receive all the same services as permanent relocation.
Moving and related expenses
The requirements for covering actual reasonable moving expenses are in Section 24.301 of the Act. This section provides the requirements for both self-moves and commercial moves for both persons and businesses. The new rule expands eligible costs and raises the caps for business search expenses.
Reestablishment expenses for nonresidential moves
The requirements for covering nonresidential reestablishment costs are in Section 24.304 of the Act. These payments are in addition to personal property move costs and actual, reasonable, and necessary additional costs such as connection to available utilities at the replacement site.
Replacement housing payment
The requirements for covering residential housing replacement costs are in Sections 24.402 and 403. These payments are in addition to move costs.
Next steps and immediate actions
Now that we’ve reviewed the changes, you might be wondering what actions you can or should take immediately and what actions can be deferred. When evaluating your projects and determining immediate next steps, consider the following three steps. First, evaluate your project timeline and planned needs. Next, update key programmatic materials (e.g., policies, notices, and relocation budget). Lastly, educate your team and your clients or subrecipients on the new requirements and timelines for compliance and programmatic updates.
As is always the case with questions regarding HUD policies and compliance, a HUD representative is another great resource, and we encourage you to contact your local HUD Regional Relocation Specialist with questions.
Evaluate
What stage is your project? If you are a grantee, in what stages of planning or implementation are your own or your subgrantees’ projects?
As HUD has not yet published guidance on the updated URA rule, a safe course of action, based on our experience with HUD and associated audits, is to document your efforts to analyze the current stage of your project, assess any negative impacts on the project timeline, and provide a written justification of your determined path forward.
For example, are you at the early stage of providing General Information Notices (GIN), or are you at the tail end of the project and finishing up paying relocation and moving claims? If you have only provided GIN notices at this point, then you will need to use the new funding amounts when calculating claims. If you have already started paying out claims, then it may be justifiable to leave the amounts based on previous calculations.
You should reach out to your HUD or funding agency representative to confirm or approve your approach. If you are somewhere in between just starting and finalizing a project, then you will need to rationalize your approach in a written analysis and justify why are following the old or new rule. Once you have decided your course of action, include the approach in your relocation plan, and continue with your project plans.
Update
Revise acquisition and relocation plans to reflect updated regulations
Clarify in your plan the point in time that the new rules will apply to any current or ongoing relocation activities. If approved to use electronic signatures, develop a process that meets the documentation requirements in the new rule. Align current URA assistance with the new caps. Provide updated calculation methods for determining awards under the new rule.
Address back-end system of record items
Provide guidance for users of the system of record regarding new or increased awards. Work with your systems teams to develop new business requirements, including updates for logic and dependencies, to handle use cases not previously eligible (e.g., tenants applying for replacement housing can now be reimbursed up to $1,000 for those expenses). Update data rules and logic to reflect caps that have been raised on appraisal waiver valuations, moving benefits, housing replacement and rental assistance, reestablishment expenses for businesses, and a new category for properties with a reverse mortgage.
Revise programmatic material
Update URA policies and standard operating procedures to reflect changes to the URA requirements and train staff on the new procedures. Also update communications materials like brochures, required notices, and handouts to reflect changes made to URA awards. Ensure all forms and letters used by the program are updated to reflect any new requirements.
Educate
What sorts of training or technical assistance needs do your leaders, program staff, subgrantees, or vendors need to understand and take action on as a result of the new rule?
Coordinate and educate your finance teams to make sure they understand the changes to the new URA award amounts and reevaluate budgets to understand the overall program impact. This may require additional funding sources to complete your relocation program.
Share resources to inform clients and team members around the circumstances that will trigger using the old rule versus the new rule. It is critical that all persons with roles across the project understand the changes and when to implement them, otherwise you risk providing different amounts of assistance within the program.
Take action to be proactive about meeting with teams, clients, or subgrantees to review and discuss new regulations and strategize on ways to evaluate and update program materials. Work with your outreach teams to clearly message changes to the public and be clear on who will be affected by new requirements.
Summary of changes
Understanding the new URA rule is no easy task, but we hope this guidance streamlines the process for you. Don’t forget to download this guide to see the summary of changes along with a side-by-side comparison of the original URA regulatory text and the updated language.