- Authorities partnered with NGOs to create “Community and Supportive Services” Programs (CSS) under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE VI) grants for public housing redevelopment. A study analyzed the programs in Nashville and Atlanta, and found several shortcomings.
- The S. Census Bureau released information from 2014, finding that there was no significant change in median household income or official poverty rate since 2013, but the percentage of people without health insurance decreased.
Tag Archives: HUD
Friday’s Government Reports
- The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report, Affordable Rental Housing, which points out that there are initiatives on the state, local and federal level which address this issue, however they are not always well coordinated, often overlap, and there is “incomplete information to assess performance.” Without sufficient information, the GAO argues it is impossible for Congress or other agencies to set appropriate spending priorities and assess performance. GOA’s recommendation is for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to work with state and local entities to develop a coordinated assessment and reporting structure.
- Also from the GAO, Pay for Success: Collaboration Among Federal Agencies Would be Helpful as Governments Explore New Financing Mechanisms is a report which describes Social Impact Bonds (SIBs). SIBs are a mechanism by which investors pay for social outcomes and receive an agreed upon return based on the success of the program or as GAO put it, “contracting for social outcomes.” According to the GAO SIBs can be useful in reducing the cost of providing social services while improving success. While the use of SIBs has been limited so far the Office of Management and Budget has been encouraging Federal Agencies to test their potential effectiveness. This GAO report analyzes SIBs that have already been piloted, for example the Department of Labor awarded $24 Million in grants in 2013 to reduce recidivism in New York and Massachusetts. One fear is that SIBs could create perverse incentives. SIBs could eventually be used to finance affordable housing development.
Friday’s Government Reports Roundup
- According to the Family Outcomes Study conducted by HUD, Housing Choice Vouchers are critical in families maintaining housing. Children from homeless families that receive vouchers “are less likely to miss school, and they experience lower rates of hunger and domestic violence.”
- The Office of the Inspector General for HUD released report, “Overincome Families Residing in Public Housing”, which finds that 1.1 million families currently living in public housing units have incomes that exceed the threshold, showing extreme examples.
- The Census Bureau released an edition of “Facts for Features” comparing the New Orleans area prior to Hurricane Katrina and now, including number of housing units, business establishments, employment, etc.
Bank Settlements and the Arc of Justice
MLK Memorial in DC
Martin Luther King, Jr. said that the “arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” A recent report by SNL Financial (available here, but requires a lot of sign-up info) offers us a chance to evaluate that claim in the context of the financial crisis.
SNL reports that the six largest bank holding companies have paid over $132 billion to settle credit crisis and mortgage-related lawsuits brought by governments, investors and other financial institutions.
In the context of the litigation over the Fannie and Freddie conservatorships, I had considered whether it is efficient to respond to financial crises by allowing the government to do what it needs to do during the crisis and then “use litigation to make an accounting to all of the stakeholders once the situation has stabilized.” (121)
Given that the biggest bank settlements are now in the rear view window, we can now say that the accounting for the financial crisis comes in at around $132 billion give or take. Does that number do justice for the wrongs of the boom times? I don’t think I have my own answer to that question yet, but it is certainly worth considering.
On the one hand, we should acknowledge that it is a humongous number, a number so big that that no one would have considered it a likely one at the beginning of the financial crisis. This crisis made nine and ten digit settlement numbers a routine event.
On the other hand, wrongdoing (along with good old-fashioned boom mentality) during the financial crisis almost sent the global economy into a depression. It also wreaked havoc on so many individuals, directly and indirectly.
I look forward to seeing metrics that can make sense of this (ratio of settlement amounts to annual profits of Wall Street firms; ratio to bonus pools; ratio to home equity lost), but I will say that I am struck by the lack of individual accountability that has come out of all of this litigation.
Individuals who made six, seven and eight figure paychecks from this wrongdoing were able to move on relatively unscathed. We should think about how to avoid that result the next time around. Otherwise the arc of justice will bend in the wrong direction.
Thursday’s Advocacy & Think Tank Round-Up
- Community Builders, an initiative of the Sonoran Institute has released Place Value: How Communities Attract, Grow and Keep Jobs and Talent in the Rocky Mountain West recommends walkability and quality of life conscious development of communities .
- According to the National Association of Realtor’s analysis of the New Housing Starts data homebuilders are increasingly developing high density housing with “walkability” suburban and single family housing has been deemphasized.
- The Urban Institute released its Housing Finance at a Glance monthly chartbook, which Prof. Reiss finds to be a very helpful holistic view of the mortgage industry.
- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Office of Policy Development and Research has developed the Creating Connected Communities: A Guidebook for Improving Transportation Connections for Low and Moderate Income Households in Small and Midsize Cities – the guidebook contains recommendations geared toward cities with 250,000 or fewer residents which among other things suggest a refocus of financial resources on critical needs and improvement of the alignment between housing and transportation investments.
- Zillow has announced that home prices are rising faster than incomes for most Millenials (no surprise there). This report also finds that first time home buyers rent for longer before buying typically more expensive homes which are paid for with a larger share of income.
Friday’s Government Reports Roundup
- HUD releases report of its activities, for instance, to assess its efforts on homelessness, housing vouchers, energy efficiency in multifamily housing.
- The Government Accountability Office releases report, which finds that “qualified mortgage (QM) and qualified residential mortgage (QRM) regulations are unlikely to have a significant effect on the availability or securitization of mortgages in the current market.”
- CFPB releases “2015 Plain Writing Act Compliance Report”, which gives information about what documents executive agencies are required to use plain language in.
- CFPB releases report on eClosings, finding that they can benefit consumers.
Friday’s Government Reports Roundup
- HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research released paper, which describes its “Bridge to Family Self-Sufficiency” Program. The program is intended to determine if low-income families in public housing improve their overall stability, with the right support.
- HUD released public, Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, which is intended to more efficiently further the purposes and policies of the Fair Housing Act.
