Who Counts as a "Displaced Person" Under the URA?

The Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act (URA) protects people who are forced to move by federally assisted projects. Its benefits, including advisory services, moving payments and replacement housing payments, flow to a "displaced person" as defined in the regulations at 49 CFR 24.2(a)(9). Classification errors are among the most expensive mistakes in a relocation, so it pays to get this right for every household.

The basic test

Generally, a person is displaced if they move permanently from real property, or move their personal property, as a direct result of one of the following for a federally assisted project:

• a written notice of intent to acquire, or the initiation of negotiations to acquire, the property;
• the acquisition of the property; or
• rehabilitation or demolition of the property, where the move follows a written notice from the agency or owner.

In each case the move has to be a direct result of the project.

Temporary moves can become displacement

A tenant who is required to relocate temporarily is generally not displaced unless the temporary relocation lasts more than 12 months. At that point the household may be treated as displaced and must be offered permanent relocation assistance. This rule is why schedule slippage on rehabilitation projects matters so much.

Who usually is not displaced

The regulations list categories of people who do not qualify. Common examples include:

• people who moved into the property after the initiation of negotiations and were given proper notice that they would not be eligible;
• people who move for reasons unrelated to the project;
• people evicted for cause, such as serious or repeated lease violations, where the eviction was not undertaken to avoid relocation obligations;
• people not lawfully present in the United States, subject to limited hardship exceptions;
• tenants who are temporarily relocated for 12 months or less and return.

Each exclusion has conditions. An eviction that looks like a way around relocation duties will not hold up.

Why the date matters

Eligibility is tied to key dates, especially the initiation of negotiations (ION). For HUD programs, Handbook 1378 explains how the ION date is set for different program types. Anyone who occupies the property on that date is generally a potential displaced person. New move-ins after that date need written notice that they may be required to move without URA assistance.

Practical steps

• Fix the ION date early and record it in the project file.
• Survey every occupant, including non-residential tenants, and document occupancy status as of that date.
• Issue move-in notices to new tenants after the ION.
• Revisit classifications whenever a temporary move might run past 12 months.