- Citylab finds that urban farmers and real estate developers are teaming up in an unlikely alliance to create housing which incorporates on site food production, the latest in trendy, locavore hip.
- Enterprise Community Partners has launched a national sign on letter to oppose Cuts, lift spending caps and restore funding to the Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME). HOME, according to Enterprise, is “the only Federal Housing Program exclusively focused on providing states and localities flexible gap financing for affordable housing development” for the low and very low income populations (seniors, the disabled, etc.)
- A New York Times editorial argues that the relief promised to homeowners facing foreclosure only materialized for banks, who unloaded toxic loans on the government, and private equity firms, who are now purchasing loans back from the government, at a discount and continuing to foreclose.
- National Association of Realtors finds that most Zombie homes (think unoccupied – long term vacancy) are not foreclosures but owned free and clear of mortgages.
Author Archives: Serenna McCloud
Tuesday’s Regulatory & Legislative Round-Up
- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) new Know Before you Owe mortgage disclosure rule went into effect this week. The new rule was implemented as a reform under Dodd-Frank. Borrowers now have to be allowed three days to consider a mortgage loan, under certain circumstances, and Lenders are required to make a number of disclosures via forms mandated under the Truth in Lending Act. The CFPB has released this video to explain the new rule.
- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) continues its recent flurry of grant making activity by awarding $138 Million to over 100 groups to fight housing discrimination. The grants were made under the auspices of the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP). The awardees will use the funds to support education, outreach, investigations and capacity building.
Friday’s Government Reports
- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Monthly Complaint Snapshot focuses on consumer complaints related to mortgages. The CFPB found that consumers have particular difficulty with mortgage servicing – especially when applying for loan modifications to avoid foreclosure. The report also takes a close look at compliants coming out of the Denver, CO area.
- The U.S. Treasury has announced $327 million in CDFI Bond Fund Gaurantees, which were awarded to CDFI’s to issue bonds, the funds of which are intended to be used to finance projects in low income communities. Among the initiatives guaranteed include senior and long term care development in latino communities and residential and commercial development in Native American communities.
Thursday’s Advocacy & Think Tank Round-Up
- The Furman Center has released discussion 16, A New Approach to Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing in its ‘The Dream Revisited’ Series, a “slow debate.” Discussion 16 contains five essays on the subject of affirmatively furthering fair housing. This Author recommends HUD’s New AFFH Rule: The Importance of the Ground Game, by Michael Allen, which argues the HUD lacks the resources to enforce its rule which requires grant recipients not just avoid housing discrimination but “affirmatively further fair housing.” Allen believes that the only way to hold the public housing agencies and block grant recipients accountable is through grass roots and legal advocates implementing their own enforcement strategy, through litigation if necessary.
- The National Association of Realtors’ Pending Home Sales Index is up for the 12th straight month, year over year, despite a slight decline from July to August. The index decreased 1.4 percent to 109.4 in August from 110.9 in July but is still 6.1 percent above August 2014 (103.1). Watch NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun discuss his view of the housing market.
- The National Housing Conference has released Paycheck to Paycheck a database that compares wages for selected occupations to assess the affordability of housing for full-time employees in different areas of the United States. A companion report, A Snapshot of Metropolitan Housing Affordability for Millennial Workers explores housing affordability for millennials in five occupations, including: administrative assistant, retail cashier, e-commerce customer service representative, food service manager, and cardiac technician.
Tuesday’s Regulatory & Legislative Round-Up
- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced that the Choice Neighborhoods Program (CNP) has selected five cities to receive $150 million to revitalize distressed HUD housing. CNP is a part of the White Houses’ Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, which seeks to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty through public/private partnerships and broad collaboration to promote healthier neighborhoods. The CNP program specifically seeks to work closely with stakeholders, such as residents; police; and educators, at the local level, to address challenges facing their communities. The goals of the program include: revitalizing housing, improving social mobility and educational outcomes, and encouraging investment in the community. The CNP grants have been made to Atlanta, Georgia; Kansas City, Missouri; Memphis, Tennessee; Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Sacramento, California. All five cities submitted a comprehensive neighborhood revitalization plan to transform an area of concentrated poverty.
Thursday’s Advocacy & Think Tank Round-up
- A joint study by Enterprise Community Partners and the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, Projecting Trends in Severely Cost Burdened Renters: 2015 – 2025 predicted that, in the coming decade, little would change with respect to 1 in 4 renters being severely rent burdened. The researchers examined a number of factors, including: a predicted 10% population increase, declining homeownership rates, and a predicted rise in demand for rental housing. They also looked at a number of possible scenarios to determine how salary gain and population growth would affect the percentage of severely rent burdened households. Even the most optimistic of scenarios would only result in a 1.4% decrease.
- According to analysis by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Existing Home sales fell by 4.8% from July to August despite slowing price growth and a slightly lower interest rate. On the other hand NAR points out that Existing Home sales are 11% higher than August of last year.
- The Turner Center for Housing innovation at U.C. Berkley has released analysis entitled Housing Highlights from the 2014 American Community Survey (ACS) which culls the housing related data from the ACS which is released by the Census Bureau and provides statistical trend charts relating to homeownership, cost and vacancy rates. The Turner Center’s analysis finds, among other things homeownership continuing to slide it is now at 63.1% following its peak in 2006 when it was at 67.3%. But it also finds that the overall housing cost burden is at its lowest point following the bubble.
- According to a recent study by Zillow student debt only reduces chances of homeownership for non-graduates.
Tuesday’s Regulatory & Legislative Round-Up
- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has finalized changes to Mortgage Rules as applied to small lenders that operate primarily in underserved and rural areas. This change eliminates some of the prohibitions under the Ability- to-Repay Rule thereby allowing income to debt ratios as high and 43% and balloon payments, as long as the creditor holds the loan in their own portfolio. The Rule also allows more creditors to be considered small lenders because it increases the number of mortgages a small lender can hold from 500 to 2000. It would also expand the number of geographic locations which can be considered rural.
