Phase I requirements for a Section 8 or RAD transfer

Notice H 2024-10 of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), issued December 17, 2024, sets the environmental report an owner submits for five kinds of multifamily transaction, among them transfers of Section 8 rental assistance and of Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) assistance. Every project requires a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA); the notice says when an existing one may do and what a new one must meet. This page rests on the notice as issued. HUD's list of housing notices, read October 9, 2026, shows none that amends or supersedes it by title.

Who the rule binds

The covered transactions (Notice H 2024-10, I, II):

Section 8(bb) Transfers of budget authority.
Section 209 Transfers of rental assistance, with debt HUD holds or insures, use restrictions or both.
RAD Transfers of Project Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) after conversion.
RAD Demolition and New Construction at a RAD PBRA covered project after its initial conversion.
Chapter 15 Renewals: Section 8 renewals with capital repairs, under Chapter 15 of HUD's Section 8 Renewal Policy Guide.

Who acts:

The owner, or its representative, submits the Environmental Report in HEROS, the HUD Environmental Review Online System (Notice H 2024-10, IV.D, XIII).
HUD reviews under 24 CFR part 50, and a part 58 review cannot stand in. HUD keeps final discretion on the report's level and completeness (Notice H 2024-10, VII, XIV).

What it asks

Level of review. Two levels: categorically excluded subject to the federal laws and authorities (CEST), or environmental assessment (EA). Any new construction takes an EA. A transfer to an existing building with no rehabilitation above maintenance is CEST. Rehabilitation at an existing building stays CEST where unit density changes by no more than 20 percent, land use does not change from residential to non-residential, and the rehabilitation cost estimate is under 75 percent of the estimated total replacement cost after rehabilitation; otherwise an EA is required. An EA adds compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act to every CEST step, and the notice says most EA reviews call for a new Phase I as well (Notice H 2024-10, IV.C, VIII, X, XI).
Beside the Phase I. A CEST review documents compliance with the laws and authorities of 24 CFR 50.4, the policy of 24 CFR 50.3(i), and Office of Housing requirements, including: a lead-based paint survey and an asbestos survey, each with an abatement plan, an operations and maintenance (O&M) plan or both if the material is present; a radon report, with a remediation plan and an O&M plan if radon is detected; and consideration of further site-specific nuisances and hazards. The notice cites the first three to Chapter 9.5.A, 9.5.B and 9.5.C of the Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) Guide, whose 2021 revision heads those subjects 9.6.1 to 9.6.3: lead-based paint, asbestos, radon (Notice H 2024-10, IX).
When a new Phase I is required. All projects require a Phase I. A new one is required where the project involves any of these: significant ground disturbance or construction beyond what the original application contemplated, or incompatible with the engineering or institutional controls in place; a change in land use that the original site mitigation did not cover; site expansion or addition; any other activity that may create a contaminant exposure pathway, that the original application did not contemplate, or that is incompatible with the current engineering or institutional controls; or transfer to a site for which no Phase I under ASTM E-1527-13 or -21, or a more recent edition listed at 40 CFR 312.11, has been prepared before (Notice H 2024-10, XII.A).
What a new Phase I must meet. It must follow ASTM E 1527-21, or the latest edition that 40 CFR 312.11 lists; include a Vapor Encroachment Screen that complies with ASTM E 2600-22 or its most recent version; contain a completed User's Questionnaire and a completed Owner's Questionnaire; and list HUD as an Authorized User (Notice H 2024-10, XII.B).
Its dates. It must be conducted within 1 year of its submission to HUD, counted from the earliest of the site visit, the records review documents and the interviews. One conducted more than 180 days before submission, but inside the year, must be updated under that standard's Section 4.6. One prepared more than 1 year before submission is not acceptable, even one updated within 180 days of it. In specific circumstances HUD may require updates or further analysis (Notice H 2024-10, XII.B.2).
An existing Phase I. HUD may accept a previously completed final Phase I where the project meets none of the criteria for a new one. HUD staff may still require a new Phase I, a Phase II or both over any concern about contamination on the site that the older Phase I does not sufficiently address. The notice's examples are site disturbance since that Phase I, activities there involving toxic chemicals, a newly designated superfund or brownfields site on or next to the property, and information missing from the report (Notice H 2024-10, XII.B).
The Phase II. The notice describes it as sampling for contaminants and gives no trigger of its own beyond HUD staff's power to require one (Notice H 2024-10, XII.B, XII.C).

What it means for the Phase I and the consultant

Dates. The standard counts its 180 days and its year back from the date of acquisition or, where there is none, of the intended transaction; the notice counts back from submission to HUD (E1527-21, 4.6.1, 4.6.2). The standard's update covers five components; the notice sends the update to that section and lists none (E1527-21, 4.6.2).
An existing Phase I. The notice gives no age for one and leaves its acceptance to HUD; the dating rule stands among the requirements for a new Phase I (Notice H 2024-10, XII.B).
Beyond the standard. The standard does not require application of the E2600 guide (E1527-21, 3.2.53.1). Its user questionnaire is optional, and its text names no owner's questionnaire (E1527-21, 6.1, Appendix X3).
The MAP Guide. The notice says chapter 9 of that guide details its requirements further, with variances by program (Notice H 2024-10, II); see the guide's Phase I list.

What the rule says

HUD environmental review of multifamily and non-residential properties shall include evaluation of previous uses of the site and other evidence of contamination on or near the site, to assure that occupants of proposed sites are not adversely affected by the hazards listed in paragraph (i)(1) of this section.

24 CFR 50.3(i)(2), edition revised as of April 1, 2025

This page is general reference for environmental professionals. It does not review any project. The regulation is the authority, and the determinations of HUD or of the entity responsible for the review govern.