HUD-9886 Authorization for Release of Information: Signing Form 9886-A

HUD Form 9886 is the Authorization for the Release of Information and Privacy Act Notice that every adult in a federally assisted housing household must sign before benefits can start or continue. Signing it lets HUD and your Public Housing Agency verify the income you report by pulling records from the Social Security Administration, the IRS, and state wage agencies. The form itself is short. Most of it is preprinted legal text, and the only real task is the signature block on page two. What matters is using the right version, knowing who in your household needs to sign, and understanding what you are consenting to.

Use Form 9886-A, Not the Older 9886

HUD updated the consent form effective January 1, 2024. If your reexamination date falls on or after that date, you sign Form 9886-A. The older Form 9886 applies only to reexaminations effective before January 1, 2024.¹ Every new applicant and every current participant going through recertification now uses the 9886-A. Your PHA should hand you the correct version. If you are downloading it yourself, take the 9886-A directly from HUD’s site.

The consent covers three programs: Public Housing, the Housing Choice Voucher program, and Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation.¹

Who Has to Sign

Every family member age 18 or older must sign. The head of household and spouse sign regardless of age. When a new adult joins the household, or when an existing member turns 18, that person also has to sign a form.² The requirement applies whether or not the person earns any income. The agency needs the ability to verify that fact, not just your word for it.

Live-in aides are not family members under HUD’s rules and have no rights to the unit or voucher. The regulations do not spell out a specific exemption for live-in aides on Form 9886, so ask your local PHA whether their administrative policy requires a signature from an aide in your household.

How to Fill Out the Form

The form is two pages. Page one is preprinted legal text describing your rights, the scope of the consent, and the penalties for misuse. There are two identifying fields near the top:

PHA requesting release of information: your Public Housing Agency’s full address, a contact person, and the date. The caseworker usually fills this in. Check that it is complete before you sign.
IHA requesting release of information: this line is for Indian Housing Authorities. Cross it out if it does not apply.

Page two is the signature block. Each signer uses the correct line:³

Head of Household: signature, date, and Social Security number.
Spouse: signature and date.
Other Family Members over 18: up to six signature lines, each with a date field.

Only the head of household provides a Social Security number. Everyone else supplies just a signature and date. If more than six adults in the household need to sign, the PHA will provide additional signature pages. Read page one before you sign. There are no checkboxes and no blanks to complete beyond the signature block itself.

Electronic Signatures

HUD permits electronic signatures on housing documents under guidance referencing the federal E-SIGN Act, and housing agencies must still offer a paper option if you prefer.⁴ Some state and local rules still require wet signatures on certain HUD consent forms. If your PHA insists on an original ink signature, that requirement is coming from local policy or state law.

When You Sign and How Long It Lasts

The timing rules changed on January 1, 2024. Under the old system, every adult had to re-sign at each annual reexamination. Now, once every adult in the household has signed a consent form on or after January 1, 2024, the family does not have to sign again at the next reexamination. New signatures are required only when a new adult joins the household, when a household member turns 18, or when HUD administrative instructions call for a new signature.²

The authorization stays in effect until the earliest of three things: a final adverse decision on your application, the end of your eligibility for assistance, or your own written revocation sent to HUD or the PHA.¹ There is no fixed 12- or 15-month expiration. As long as you remain in the program and do not revoke consent in writing, the signed form remains active.

What You Are Authorizing

The consent allows data pulls from three categories of sources, each with limits on what can be accessed:

State Wage Information Collection Agencies: wages you earned and any unemployment compensation received while getting housing assistance.
Social Security Administration (HUD only): wage and self-employment income, plus retirement income payments, as referenced in Section 6103(l)(7)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Internal Revenue Service (HUD only): unearned income only, specifically interest and dividend income.¹

The “HUD only” notation means your local PHA does not pull SSA or IRS data directly. HUD retrieves that data at the federal level and feeds relevant results into the Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system, which flags discrepancies for the PHA to look into.⁵

If You Refuse to Sign

Refusing to sign may result in denial of your application, termination of your current assistance, or both.¹ The word “may” is deliberate. Refusal does not automatically trigger termination, but there is no alternative verification path that substitutes for signed consent, so the PHA cannot move your file forward without it.

Before a denial or termination takes effect, you have due process rights. Housing Choice Voucher participants must receive a written notice stating the reasons for the decision and a deadline to request an informal hearing.⁶ At the hearing you can examine PHA documents relevant to the decision, bring a lawyer or other representative at your own expense, and present your side. The PHA must hold the hearing reasonably promptly once you request it. Public housing tenants have a similar grievance procedure under 24 CFR Part 966. The deadline to request a hearing is set by each PHA and will be stated in the termination notice, so read it carefully and respond within the time given.

If the Numbers Don’t Match

When EIV flags a difference between what you reported and what an employer or agency reported, the PHA cannot just cut your benefits. The regulation requires the agency to verify the information with you first. If you dispute the data, the PHA must investigate independently and contact the employer or income source directly.⁷

The form itself reinforces this. Agencies that receive income information through the consent “cannot use it to deny, reduce or terminate assistance without first independently verifying what the amount was, whether [you] actually had access to the funds and when the funds were received.”¹ You must be given a chance to contest any determination that results from the verified data. If a discrepancy is too small to raise an inference of fraud or justify the cost of investigation, HUD and the PHA are not required to pursue it.⁷

If you think EIV data is wrong, for example an employer reported wages for a period after you were terminated, bring your own documentation to your caseworker: pay stubs, a termination letter, tax records. There is no single federal timeline for how quickly the PHA has to resolve the dispute, but the agency is expected to work it out during the reexamination and document its findings in your tenant file.

Privacy Protections

HUD must handle any income information obtained through this consent in accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, and your local PHA is bound by the state privacy law that applies in your jurisdiction.¹ The data cannot be shared beyond the people who need it to determine your eligibility and rent.

Under the Privacy Act, any government employee who knowingly and willfully discloses protected records to someone not entitled to receive them commits a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $5,000. The same penalty applies to anyone who obtains records under false pretenses.⁸ HUD regulations add a parallel provision, and the affected person may bring a civil action for damages.⁹ Your signed original stays with the PHA or Indian Housing Authority that requested it.

1
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD Form 9886-A – Authorization for the Release of Information/Privacy Act Notice
2
eCFR. 24 CFR 5.230 – Consent by Assistance Applicants and Participants
3
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD Form 9886 – Authorization for the Release of Information/Privacy Act Notice
4
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Electronic Signature, Transmission and Storage – Guidance for Multifamily Assisted Housing Industry Partners
5
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) System
6
eCFR. 24 CFR 982.555 – Informal Hearing for Participant
7
eCFR. 24 CFR 5.236 – Procedures for Termination, Denial, Suspension, or Reduction of Assistance Based on Information Obtained From a SWICA or Federal Agency
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 USC 552a – Records Maintained on Individuals
9
eCFR. 24 CFR Part 5 – General HUD Program Requirements; Waivers