October 27, 2015
Tuesday’s Regulatory & Legislative Round-Up
- The Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed a new rule, Quid Pro Quo and Hostile Environment Harassment and Liability for Discriminatory Housing Practices Under the Fair Housing Act. HUD seeks to clarify the standards for use in investigating and adjudicating accusations of harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status or disability under the Fair Housing Act. The proposed standards would specify how HUD would evaluate complaints of quid pro quo (“this for that”) harassment and hostile environment harassment and provide for uniform treatment of Fair Housing Act claims raising such allegations in the federal courts. According to the rule “quid pro quo” and “hostile environment harassment,” as prohibited under the Fair Housing Act, it also adds illustrations of discriminatory housing practices that constitute such harassment.
- The U.S. Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund has announced the availability of $5 billion for the 2015 allocation round for New Market Tax Credits (NMTC) Program (applications are available until 12/16/2015). The NMTC program is used to offer 7 year tax credits to attract private investment in the development of low income housing and is widely considered to be a very effective tool for the development of affordable housing.
