Newsroom
National Housing Conference Report Finds Housing Cost Burdens Remain Widespread among Working Households
The National Housing Conference’s (NHC) Center for Housing Policy released its Housing Landscape 2016 Report February 18. The report uses the latest American Community Survey data to evaluate severe housing cost burdens of low and moderate income working households, defined as households in which members work at least 20 hours a week on average and total household income does not exceed 120 percent of area median income. The report finds extensive housing cost burdens among working households, especially renter households.
Watt: GSEs Face Future Challenges Under Conservatorship
In a keynote address delivered at the Bipartisan Policy Center yesterday, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Mel Watt warned that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) will face increasing challenges and risks if they remain in conservatorship in the coming years. The only way to address these challenges, Watt suggested, is for Congress to advance a plan to reform the GSEs and the housing finance system.
The Bollinger Foundation Accepting Scholarship Grant Nominations
Earlier this week, The Bollinger Foundation announced it is accepting nominations for scholarship grant awards for children of at least one deceased parent. The Foundation awards scholarship grants annually to families in which the deceased parent worked or surviving parent continues to work in the field of public housing, affordable housing, community development, or economic development.
Clinton Unveils Economic Revitalization Initiative with Housing Policies
Presidential candidate Secretary Hillary Clinton on February 12 released her “Economic Revitalization Initiative,” which includes a number of housing-related policy proposals she would support should she be elected president. The plan envisions an investment of $25 billion in various initiatives supporting community revitalization, connecting high-poverty neighborhoods to opportunity, removing barriers to homeownership, and increasing the supply of rental housing.
HUD Announces February 26 PBCA Industry Day in DC and Satellite Locations
On February 11, HUD announced that it will hold an “Industry Day” on its Performance-Based Contract Administration (PBCA) program contracting process on Friday, February 26, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time in Washington, DC, with satellite locations in San Francisco, Fort Worth, Chicago, Atlanta, and New York. Interested parties must register by 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday, February 19.
House Subcommittee Examines FHA
The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance held a hearing yesterday to examine the current and future status of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and its affordable housing programs. The hearing included testimony from Edward Golding, who currently oversees FHA as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Housing.
Administration Releases FY 2017 Budget
On February 9, 2016 the Administration sent Congress its Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Budget, proposing funding for all federal programs, including HUD and the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) rural housing programs. The Budget proposes a total of $1.1 trillion in discretionary spending for FY 2017, abiding by the discretionary caps negotiated as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.
USDA Releases Final Regulations for Single-Family Guarantee Program
Earlier today, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a final rule that implements several key changes to its Single Family Housing Loan Guarantee program (SFHGLP). The final rule is largely identical to an interim rule that USDA released in December 2013, with several minor modifications. NCSHA summarized the interim rule on our blog.
House Unanimously Passes Rental Assistance Reform Bill
Yesterday, in a rare unanimous vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3700, the Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA), which would make various reforms to rental housing assistance programs, including streamlining Housing Choice Voucher program inspections, simplifying the requirements for project basing vouchers, and providing public housing agencies (PHAs) greater flexibility to transfer funding between their operating and capital funds.
House Passes Legislation to Classify Muni Bonds as High-Quality Liquid Assets
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation (H.R. 2209) that would allow large banks to count some of their municipal bond investments as high-quality liquid assets under federal bank liquidity standards. The legislation was passed by voice vote.
FHA Cuts Multifamily Insurance Rates for Affordable and Energy-Efficient Housing
On January 28, HUD announced that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will reduce its multifamily insurance rates to stimulate the production and rehabilitation of affordable rental housing. These rate reductions, effective April 1, will apply to the FHA-HFA Risk-Sharing program and other FHA multifamily housing programs that help finance properties housing low-income families and developments installing energy-efficient systems or building within federal energy guidelines. Multifamily insurance rates for financing of market-rate properties that are not energy efficient will remain unchanged.
Urban Institute Analysis Finds Tight Credit Standards Prevented Millions From Getting Mortgages
Unusually tight credit standards in the current housing market may have prevented over 5 million borrowers from taking out a mortgage, according to an analysis released earlier this week by the Urban Institute. The analysis finds that, between 2009 and 2014, 5.2 million more loans would have been originated if credit standards had been similar to what they were in 2001.
