Newsroom
HUD Proposes New Administrative Fee Formula for Housing Choice Vouchers
Earlier this month, HUD published a proposed rule that would substantially change the formula it uses to determine how much funding public housing agencies (PHA) receive to administer the Housing Choice Voucher (voucher) program. With this new formula, HUD aims to better capture the costs of administering the voucher program and therefore more accurately compensate administering PHAs.
Fannie Mae Announces Enhancements to HFA Preferred, HomeReady Products
Fannie Mae announced Tuesday that it will be making several adjustments to its affordable HomeReady product that it believes will allow the product to serve more low- and moderate-income borrowers. Fannie Mae has informed NCSHA that these adjustments will also be incorporated into its HFA Preferred Products.
Interactive Tool Shows Why Building Affordable Housing Absent a Government Subsidy is Uneconomic
The Urban Institute, in partnership with the National Housing Conference, has released a new online tool entitled, The Cost of Affordable Housing: Does it Pencil Out?, illustrating the gap between the cost of constructing and maintaining rental housing affordable to low-income households and the rents those families can afford to pay. The tool shows that without relying on government subsidies—in particular the Housing Credit program—it is often impossible to build and maintain housing for low-income households.
USDA’s Rural Housing Service Releases Housing Data And User-Friendly Tool
On July 21, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service (RHS) released data on the agency’s single-family, multifamily, and community facilities programs. RHS also demonstrated how the data can be accessed via a new interactive visualization tool, created by PolicyMap, designed to make the data publicly attainable and more useful.
Castro Details HUD Actions to Address Lead Poisoning
At a July 20 event hosted by the Center for American Progress (CAP), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro outlined steps HUD is taking to protect children from lead exposure, including developing procedures to contain lead hazards more effectively, improving lead-prevention policies, and partnering with other leaders and agencies to protect residents from lead poisoning. When asked why a lead problem still exists in 2016, Castro responded, "we have not dedicated the kind of resources that ought to be dedicated to the problem."
FHA Issues Guidance on Insuring Properties with PACE Assessments
On July 19, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) issued a mortgagee letter clarifying the conditions in which it will insure mortgages on properties that have Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) assessments.
Congress Passes Bipartisan Housing Assistance Reform Bill
Late yesterday, the Senate passed by unanimous consent H.R. 3700, the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA), to streamline and reform several federal housing assistance programs. While there was a Senate version of this bill, as NCSHA reported on June 23, Senate passage of the House-passed version expedites the process and now H.R. 3700 is headed to the President's desk to be signed into law.
Cantwell and Hatch Introduce Comprehensive Housing Credit Legislation
Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) on July 14 introduced S.3237, the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2016. This comprehensive bill builds on Housing Credit legislation the two Senators introduced together in May, S.2962 (also titled the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2016).
Senator Wyden Introduces First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Bill
On July 13, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the First-Time Homebuyer Credit Act of 2016, S. 3175, which would provide a refundable tax credit for first-time home buyers.
HUD Secretary Supports Housing Credit, HOME, & Housing Trust Fund at House Committee Hearing
The House Committee on Financial Services held a hearing July 13 to examine recent changes HUD made in its Distressed Asset Stabilization Program (“DASP”), which pools delinquent Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured single-family loans and sells them to investors, subject to requirements designed to help homeowners avoid foreclosure while boosting HUD’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund.
Enterprise Report and Webinar Explore QAP Approaches to Cost-Effectiveness in Housing Credit Development
Enterprise Community Partners (Enterprise) recently released Giving Due Credit: Balancing Priorities in State Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Allocation Policies, which considers how state Housing Credit allocating agencies are advancing cost effectiveness while still developing and preserving affordable housing that is well-located, durable, sustainable, and connected to good schools, jobs, transit, and health care.
HUD Magazine Highlights HFAs’ Role in Supporting Affordable Lending
An article published in the spring 2016 issue of Evidence Matters, HUD’s quarterly research publication, highlights state HFAs’ track record of supporting sustainable and affordable homeownership lending for low- and moderate-income consumers. The article, entitled “Increasing Access to Sustainable Mortgages for Low-Income Programs,” examines HFA programs and similar initiatives administered by nonprofits that prove the viability of lending to creditworthy underserved borrowers.
