Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio at Columbus.
No. 2:20-cv-02475—Michael H. Watson, District Judge.
Argued: June 9, 2022
Decided and Filed: August 24, 2022
Before: MOORE, STRANCH, and LARSEN, Circuit Judges.
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OPINION
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JANE B. STRANCH, Circuit Judge. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) oversees the Section 8 low-income housing assistance program. Owner
New Lansing renewed its Section 8 contract with Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority in
2014. In 2019, at the contractual time for its fifth-year rent adjustment, New Lansing submitted
a rent comparability study (RCS) to assist CM Authority in determining the new contract rents.
Following the 2017 HUD Section 8 Guidebook, CM Authority forwarded New Lansing’s RCS to
HUD, which obtained an independent RCS. Based on the independent RCS undertaken pursuant
to HUD’s Guidebook requirements, the Housing Authority lowered New Lansing’s contract
rents amount. New Lansing sued for breach of contract and declaratory judgment. The district
court granted the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss. For the reasons that follow, we AFFIRM. |