- President Obama recently signed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act into law. The legislation contains numerous provisions related to housing including, “pay for success” housing demonstration in which private contractors will enter into contracts to upgrade the efficacy of federal housing, and be compensated based on the effectiveness of their work.
- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed a new rule aimed at combating gender discrimination in the provision of housing services. Among other things, Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs, Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity prohibits inquiries into the gender and sexual status of tenants by housing providers.
Tag Archives: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Friday’s Government Reports Roundup
- S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released its 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, estimating the latest national one-night of homelessness.
- The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) released its report, “A Rare Occurrence: The Geography and Race of Mortgages over $500,000”, finding that only 5% of the 20 million mortgages that originated between 2012 and 2014 were in an amount over $500,000.
Tuesday’s Regulatory & Legislative Round-Up
- The Department of Housing and Urban Development has released a notice to the Federal Register to announce the Designated Difficult Development Areas and Qualified Census Tracks for purposes of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, which become effective July 1st 2016. This is the firs time that the Department has used Small Area Market Rents (SAMRs) as opposed to Metropolitan Area Market Rents for designation of Difficult Development Areas. The use of SMARs will allow a more granular assessment of rent differences within Metropolitan areas.
- Representatives Blum and Aguilar sent a letter, signed by 34 members of the U.S. House of Representatives urging Congress to act quickly to extend the 2014 Tax Extenders Legislation. Enterprise Community Partners Blog details how this extension would affect the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and the New Market Tax Credit, which have been utilized successfully by developers of affordable housing.
Friday’s Government Reports
- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its Annual Report to Congress on the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, an independent actuarial analysis that found capital reserves at 2.7%. Congress mandates a minimum 2% reserve. The findings also reveal a 3rd consecutive year of growth for the fund which is now worth 23.8 Billion (up 19 billion from 2014).
Monday’s Adjudication Roundup
- Union pension funds have filed a petition for cert in the U.S. Supreme Court to consider whether Bank of New York Mellon Corp. is liable for failure in oversight of 26 trusts of over $30 billion in residential mortgage-backed securities.
- S. Securities and Exchange Commission rejects claims that its in-house court is unconstitutional in suit against Atlanta investment adviser, Timbervest LLC.
- The D.C. Circuit allows reconsideration of HUD’s disparate-impact defense in American Insurance Association case, where the lower court had interpreted the Fair Housing Act to allow suits in which seemingly neutral actions have a discriminatory impact.
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.
Tuesday’s Regulatory & Legislative Update
- The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) released a final notice, The Small Buildings Risk Sharing Initiative invites private sector lenders to partner with the FHA to provide long term fixed rate capital to small building owners with mortgages of $3 – 5 million. Lending under this initiative will be limited to properties which are willing to meet affordability requirements. The FHA will guarantee 50% of the mortgages. The FHA is also pursing a change to Section 542(b) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992 to allow SBRSI lenders to access capital through Ginnie Mae and to authorize securitization of the loans. In the mean time lenders can access low interest long term capital through the U.S. Treasury’s Federal Financing Bank.
- The Mayor of Seattle has released an Action Plan to address the affordability crisis in that city, where 15-20% of the population is severely rent burdened and minorities are disproportionately impacted. The Mayor’s goal is to create 50,000 units over the next 10 years.
- The U.S. Department of the Treasury has proposed a rule which, “provides for the enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964…to that end no person in the United States shall on the grounds of race, color, or national origin be denied participation in, be denied benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program or activity that receives Federal financial assistance from the Department of the Treasury.” The rule, open for comment until September 11, provides guidance to recipients and provisions for “consistent and appropriate enforcement.” The proposed ruled covers 12 programs including the Community Developments Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI).