“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

• The Center on Budge and Policy Priorities (CBPP) released report on the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2015, finding that the bipartisan housing bill would make rental assistance programs more effective.
• The National Housing Conference released a report, How Investing in Housing Can Save on Health Care.

• The Urban Institute released a report, Helping Families Involved in the Child Welfare System Achieve Housing Stability, which examines how the Family Unification Program is implemented.
• Enterprise Community Partners released An Investment in Opportunity, establishing a long-term platform for policy changes at all governmental levels in order to tackle the growing rental housing crisis in America.
• The Urban Institute released a report, Health Conditions in Five Choice Neighborhoods, finding that residents, especially those living in public housing, face significant health challenges.

• Multiple Job Holding, Local Labor Markets, and the Business Cycle, Barry T. Hirsch, Muhammad M. Husain & John V. Winters, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Research Paper Series No. 16-01.
• A Renter or Homeowner Nation?, Arthur Acolin, Laurie S. Goodman & Susan M. Wachter, Cityscape, Forthcoming.
• Borrowing Constrains and Homeownership, Arthur Acolin, Jesse Bricker, Paul S. Calem & Susan M. Wachter, American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, Forthcoming.
• Maximizing Capital Gains in Real Estate Transactions, Bradley T. Borden & James M. Lowy, N.Y.U. 73d Ins. Fed. Tax’n (2015); Brooklyn Law School, Legal Studies Paper No. 436.
• The Effect of Relisting on House Selling Price, Karen M. Gibler, Velma Zahirovic-Herbert & Patrick S. Smith, Journal of Real Estate and Economics, Vol. 52, No. 2, 2016.
• Certifications Matters: Is Green Talk Cheap Talk?, Shaun A. Bond & Avis Devine, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Vol. 52, No. 2, 2016.
• Green Buildings: Similar to Other Premium Buildings?, Spenser J. Robinson & Andrew Sanderford, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Vol. 52, No. 2, 2016.
• Infrastructural Entitlements and the Civil Right to Technology, Sonia Katyal, UC Berkeley Public Law Research Paper No. 2716368.
• Zoning and Market Externalities, Amnon Lehavi.

• The Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act of 2015 (R. 3700) received unanimous bipartisan approval in the House of Representatives. It aims to reform existing rental assistance programs.
• HUD would like public comment on a new rule it is considering that would ensure that families in public housing, whose incomes increase over time, actually need public housing.

• Bank of America settles for $6.2 million in notice class actions suit, in which class members accuse the bank of systematically failing to give timely mortgage satisfaction notices.
• Morgan Stanley will pay $63 million to the FDIC in state and federal claims that it misrepresented residential mortgage-backed securities.
• Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. will not escape the entire $3.1 billion Royal Park Investments class action suit. A NY federal judge dismissed only the derivative claims.
• Wells Fargo settles for $1.2 billion in suit for defrauding the FHA.
• HSBC settled, in multiple settlements, for $601 million with state and federal regulators and enforcement agencies in suits related to mortgage origination, servicing and foreclosure activities.

• The D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute released a report finding that more than half of D.C.’s public housing needs major renovation, estimating costs for upgrades and replacements at about $1.3 billion.
• The Commerce Department released a report at the end of January finding that the U.S. economy grew at a 0.7 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter of 2015 bringing the total economic growth in 2015 to 2.4%.