- The U.S. Census Bureau released its economic indicators for the first quarter of 2015, both rental and homeownership vacancy is down compared to the first quarter of 2014. The Homeownership rate of 63.7% is also down.
- The Counselor to the Treasury Department’s Secretary for Housing Finance Policy, Dr. Stegman’s remarks before Fitch Ratings 2015 House View Conference on Residential Mortgage Backed Securities in which he discussed efforts to catalyze the development of a vibrant, responsible private label MBS channel.
- The U.S. Treasury Department’s letter responding to questions from Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), on the timeframe for ending the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in which he clarifies the relationship.
Author Archives: Serenna McCloud
Thurday’s Advocacy & Think Thank Round-Up
- Federal Reserve Bank of NY Study Insolvency after the 2005 Bankruptcy Reform finds that the decline in bankruptcy filings resulted in a rise in the rate and persistence of insolvency as well as an increase in the rate of foreclosure.
- Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies’ Eradicating Substandard Manufactured Homes: Replacement Programs as a Strategy, this paper aims to make recommendations for the design of nonprofit-based programs for the replacement of older, substandard manufactured housing and its potential as an affordable housing solution.
- The Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC) and the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) released Creating New Integrated Permanent Supportive Housing Opportunities for ELI Households: A Vision for the Future of the National Housing Trust Fund. This report highlights important innovations in affordable housing financing policy designed to benefit Extremely Low Income (ELI) households, including people with significant and long term disabilities who need Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH). According to the authors, PSH approach is a highly cost-effective best practice housing strategy that combines ELI housing with voluntary community-based support services.
Tuesday’s Regulatory & Legislative Round-Up
- The House recently passed H.R. 4383 which would cap the budget of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and mandate creation of a Small Business Advisory Board, this is essentially a budget cut despite the fact that The CFPB receives its funding as transfers from the Federal Reserve and is not part of the congressional appropriations process.
- The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced changes to the Distressed Asset Stabilization Program, DASP will now require a loan servicer to wait 1 year before commencing disclosure proceedings. The changes will also include strict compliance requirements and harsher penalties for non-compliance by servicers.
Thursday’s Advocacy & Think Tank Round-Up
- Enterprise Community Partners and the National Low Income Housing Coalition and 45 other affordable housing advocates signed a letter to the appropriations committees of the house and senate urging them to pride at least $1.2 billion for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME). a block grant that provides states and localities critical resources to help them respond to affordable housing challenges.
- A recent study by the National Association of Realtors finds that formerly distressed homeowners with restored credit are re-entering the housing market, nearly a million of these former owners have likely already purchased a home again, and an additional 1.5 million are likely to become eligible and purchase over the next five years, representing an additional source of buyer demand for the housing market.
- National Association of Realtors also released it’s March Realtor Confidence Index which finds gains in home sales and prices but noted concern over lender delays and tight inventory, especially for affordable units.
Tuesday’s Regulatory & Legislative Round-Up
- Enterprise Community Partners made comments to the Senate Finance Committee’s Community Development and Infrastructure Tax Reform Working Group, as part of a New Market Tax Credit Coalition, which is calling for preservation of the credit as it has been critical to the development of affordable housing.
- Federal Housing Finance Agency finds, after studying the matter, “no compelling economic reason” to change the guarantee fees charged by Fannie May and Freddie Mac. FHFA’s review focused on reaching an appropriate balance between FHFA’s statutory obligations to: 1) ensure the safety and soundness of the Enterprises, and 2) foster a liquid national housing finance market.
Friday’s Government Reports
There is a dearth of reports to report today, I have decided to post a beautiful poem in honor of Spring and Earth Day by Emily Dickinson:
A Light Exists In Spring
A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period —
When March is scarcely here
A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.
It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.
Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the Formula of sound
It passes and we stay —
A quality of loss
Affecting our Content
As Trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a Sacrament.
Thursday’s Advocacy & Think Tank Round-Up
- Harvard’s Joint Center for Houses Studies released its Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) which predicts a deceleration in remodeling activity due to sluggish home sales, the LIRA also projects annual spending for home improvements will increase a more modest 2.9% in 2015.
- National Association of Realtors’ testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Hearing titled Regulatory Burdens to Obtaining Mortgage Credit, argues that unnecessary burdens prevent qualified buyers from obtaining mortgages in today’s market.
