How to Fill Out the Housing Choice Voucher Portability Form (HUD-52665)

The HUD-52665 portability form is the document that moves your Housing Choice Voucher from your current Public Housing Agency to a PHA in the area you’re relocating to. You do not fill it out yourself. Your caseworker completes Part I, sends it along with your voucher and your most recent HUD-50058 to the receiving PHA, and the receiving PHA completes Part II once you arrive. Your job is to give written notice that you want to move, keep your file accurate, end your current lease properly, and follow up with the new agency so nothing stalls.

Who Can Port a Voucher

If you already have a Housing Choice Voucher and you live in your current PHA’s jurisdiction, federal law gives you the right to move that voucher to any area served by another PHA with a tenant-based voucher program.¹ Across town or across the country, the initial PHA cannot block the move unless you have violated your family obligations or left your unit in violation of the lease.

One restriction affects nonresident applicants — families who did not live in the initial PHA’s jurisdiction when they first applied. These families generally cannot port during the first 12 months after admission. The initial PHA may waive that restriction, but it doesn’t have to.¹ Victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking are exempt from the 12-month wait when the move is needed to protect the health or safety of the family.

Start With Written Notice to Your Current PHA

Tell your caseworker in writing that you intend to move to another PHA jurisdiction, and give them the name and contact information of the receiving PHA as early as you can. Your caseworker needs the receiving PHA’s portability coordinator to send the paperwork to the right person.

Before the packet goes out, make sure your household composition, income, and contact information are current. Recent job changes, a new baby, a household member moving out — get all of it on record first. Corrections after the fact create a second cycle of paperwork and leave your future landlord waiting for payments that haven’t been set up.

End your current lease properly. Give the notice your lease requires and settle any balance you owe. Walking away without notice, or leaving money on the table with your landlord, can lead the PHA to deny the portability request or terminate your assistance.²

What Goes on the Form

The form has two parts. Your initial PHA completes Part I; the receiving PHA completes Part II after you arrive. Knowing what’s on each part lets you check the details before the packet leaves.

Part I: The Initial PHA’s Certification

Part I certifies that you are eligible for portability. It carries your head-of-household name, Social Security number, the voucher unit size you qualify for, your total annual family income, your voucher expiration date, and the initial PHA’s administrative fee rate.³ The caseworker pulls most of it from your file and your most recent HUD-50058.

Before your caseworker signs, look at the family-specific lines. The voucher size drives the maximum subsidy in your new area. The expiration date sets your search clock; federal rules require an initial voucher term of at least 60 calendar days.⁴ If your planned move date doesn’t leave you enough time to find a unit, ask for an extension before the packet ships.

Part II: The Receiving PHA’s Response

Part II is split in two. Part II-A records the date you reported to the receiving PHA, the bedroom size they assign under their own subsidy standards, and their administrative fee rate. Part II-B covers the billing side: the Housing Assistance Payment amount, the HAP contract effective date, and whether the receiving PHA will bill your initial PHA each month or absorb the voucher into its own program.³

The Portability Packet and the Handoff

Your initial PHA assembles a packet that includes Part I of HUD-52665, a copy of the voucher they issued to you, and your most recent HUD-50058 with the income verification documents that support it.³ It usually goes by encrypted email, secure fax, or registered mail.

Once the packet is sent, contact the receiving PHA yourself to confirm they got it and to schedule your intake. Your initial PHA should give you the name, phone number, and email of the receiving PHA’s portability coordinator.⁵ Don’t wait for a call. Reaching out promptly is the difference between a smooth transfer and a packet sitting on a desk while your voucher term runs down.

What the Receiving PHA Does

The receiving PHA schedules a portability briefing that covers their local payment standards, utility allowances, and any policies that differ from your old PHA’s. They then issue you a new voucher. Its expiration date must be at least 30 calendar days after the expiration date on your initial PHA’s voucher, giving you added search time in the new area.⁶

The receiving PHA does not redetermine your eligibility if you were already a program participant. But their local policies now govern your voucher — payment standards, subsidy standards, and inspection procedures all follow the new agency.⁶ Your voucher bedroom size can change, and the dollar amount of your subsidy almost certainly will, because it’s tied to the new area’s fair market rent and payment standard.

Once you find a unit, you submit a request for tenancy approval. The unit has to pass a Housing Quality Standards inspection before the receiving PHA will execute a HAP contract with the landlord. If it fails, you can ask the landlord to make repairs and get re-inspected, or keep searching within your voucher term. The clock on your voucher pauses from the date the PHA receives your tenancy request until they notify you in writing whether the unit was approved.⁵

Billing or Absorption

After the HAP contract is signed, the receiving PHA decides whether to bill your initial PHA each month or absorb the voucher into its own funding. The choice belongs entirely to the receiving PHA and depends on their budget, leasing rate, and preferences.⁵

For you as a tenant, the choice makes little practical difference. Either way, you deal only with the receiving PHA after the move, and their local policies govern your voucher. The distinction matters to the agencies, not to your rent.

When a PHA Can Deny the Move

A PHA must deny portability if you have violated your family obligations or moved out of your assisted unit in violation of the lease.¹ Beyond that, the PHA has discretion to deny for several reasons:

You owe money to your current PHA or another PHA in connection with the voucher program or public housing.
A PHA paid your landlord for rent, damages, or other charges you owed under the lease, and you haven’t paid the PHA back.
You have already moved or received a voucher within the last 12 months and the PHA’s administrative plan limits moves to once per year.
The move is to a higher-cost area, the receiving PHA won’t absorb the voucher, and the sending PHA would otherwise have to terminate current participants to stay within its budget.⁵

Owed money is the most common obstacle. If you have a balance with any PHA, clear it or set up a repayment agreement before you request the move.

Two categories of families cannot be denied even when the usual grounds exist. If you or a household member is a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking and the move is needed for safety, the PHA cannot block it. That protection overrides the 12-month residency rule, one-move-per-year policies, and insufficient-funding denials.¹ If the move is needed as a reasonable accommodation for a disability, the PHA must grant it unless doing so would impose an undue financial and administrative burden, evaluated case by case.⁵

Mistakes That Slow the Process Down

Most delays trace back to a short list of avoidable problems. Outdated income or household information forces a correction cycle before your PHA can certify Part I. Leaving your unit before the lease is properly terminated can trigger a program violation that blocks the move. Failing to contact the receiving PHA after the packet is sent lets the paperwork sit while your voucher clock keeps running.

On the PHA side, the most common issue is a mismatch between the voucher size on Part I and the receiving PHA’s subsidy standards. If the receiving PHA assigns a different bedroom size, the subsidy amount shifts, sometimes by a lot. Ask the receiving PHA about its payment standard before you commit to the move. Your rent share can be higher in the new jurisdiction because of different payment standards, utility allowances, and local housing costs, and knowing the numbers in advance is the only way to plan for it.

1
eCFR. 24 CFR 982.353 – Where Family Can Lease a Unit With Tenant-Based Assistance
2
eCFR. 24 CFR 982.552 – PHA Denial or Termination of Assistance for Family
3
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD-52665 – Family Portability Information
4
eCFR. 24 CFR 982.303 – Term of Voucher
5
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Housing Choice Voucher Program Guidebook – Moves and Portability
6
eCFR. 24 CFR 982.355 – Portability: Administration by Initial and Receiving PHA