Newsroom
Treasury Issue Brief: Housing Finance Reform Must Address Affordable Housing Access
Housing finance system reforms must preserve and expand support for affordable housing options, the U.S. Treasury Department argues in an issue brief released last week. The brief was written by Antonio Weiss, Counselor to the Secretary of Treasury, and Karen Dynan, the Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy.
NCSHA Recommends Further Improvements to State Fair Housing Assessment Tool
Today, NCSHA submitted comments to HUD on the second iteration of the proposed Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Assessment Tool for States and Insular Areas, which HUD released for a 30-day comment period in late September. HUD initially published the proposed state assessment tool in March for a 60-day comment period, then revised the tool based on the comments it received, including those NCSHA provided in May.
FHA Implements New Occupancy Requirements for Condo Loans
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) yesterday released a Mortgage Letter (ML 2016-15) establishing new owner occupancy requirements that condominium projects must meet for mortgages on their single-family units to be eligible for FHA insurance. The new standards take effect immediately.
IRS Releases 2017 Inflation Adjustments for Housing Credits and Bonds
For calendar year 2017, the state Housing Credit ceiling will be the greater of $2.35 multiplied by the state’s population or $2,710,000. While the multiplier remained at the same level as in 2016, the minimum increased slightly from its 2016 level of $2,690,000.
HUD Proposes Energy Benchmarking Requirement for Multifamily Housing
HUD issued a notice in the Federal Register October 4 requesting public comments on a proposed requirement for owners of HUD-funded multifamily housing to implement energy benchmarking in their properties, consistent with the President’s Climate Action Plan and other Administration and HUD initiatives to improve energy efficiency in HUD-assisted properties.
MSRB Seeks Public Input on Strategic Goals; EMMA website
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) filed a regulatory notice last week seeking public comment on how it should focus it regulatory and educational efforts in the coming years. MSRB filed the notice to collect input on its biennial strategic planning process, which is set to begin in January. MSRB is also seeking input on how it can improve its Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA®) website.
Congress Passes Continuing Resolution Through December 9
On September 28 — just two days before the government would be forced to shut down for lack of funding — Congress approved a short-term continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through December 9. The CR will fund all federal agencies at Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 levels with a 0.5 percent reduction to stay within the spending limits imposed by the budget agreement Congress reached last year, which applied to FY 2016 and FY 2017 spending.
Senator Wyden Formally Introduces Middle-Income Housing Tax Credit Legislation
On September 22, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced S. 3384, the Middle Income Housing Tax Credit Act of 2016 after circulating a discussion draft of the legislation earlier that day. The bill as introduced is identical to the discussion draft, which NCSHA described in our September 22 blog post. NCSHA has not taken a position on the legislation.
Senators Introduce Bill to Classify Municipal Bonds as High-Quality Liquid Assets
Earlier this week, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced legislation (S. 3404) that would allow large banks to count some of their municipal bond investments as high-quality liquid assets under federal bank liquidity standards. The bill is sponsored by Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD), who introduced it with Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY). All three are members of the Senate Banking Committee. Other cosponsors include Jon Tester (D-MT), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Tim Scott (R-SC), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and David Vitter (R-LA). NCSHA joined several organizations, including the National Governors Association, Government Finance Officers Association, and National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers, to co-sponsor this bill.
HUD Issues Proposed State Fair Housing Assessment Tool; Announces Fair Housing Pilot Program in Collaboration with NCSHA
NCSHA is currently evaluating the state assessment tool and will submit comments by HUD’s October 28 deadline. HFAs should provide feedback to NCSHA’s Jennifer Schwartz by Friday, October 14 to inform NCSHA’s comments.
FHA Proposes New Condominium Loan Requirements
Earlier this week, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) released a proposed rule that would revise the requirements that condominium projects must meet for their single-family units to be eligible for FHA mortgage insurance. The proposal contains several provisions that could allow FHA to insure more condominium mortgages.
Senate Banking Committee Examines HUD Monitoring of PBRA Properties
On September 22, the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development held a hearing titled "Oversight of the HUD Inspection Process" to highlight concerns with HUD's monitoring of project-based rental assistance (PBRA) properties in the wake of federal and local investigation of three properties in Florida managed by Global Ministries Foundation.
