Federal / Agency News

Last week, U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich upheld the eviction moratorium that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued on August 3.

The American Rescue Plan Act increased the amount of and number of people eligible for the Child Tax Credit. Low-income families with children are eligible for this tax relief – including those who have not made enough money to be required to file taxes.

HUD and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to enhance their enforcement of the Fair Housing Act. The MOU allows HUD and FHFA to enforce fair housing and fair lending requirements by promoting information sharing, coordination on investigations, compliance reviews and the ongoing monitoring of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Senate voted 69-31 August 10 to pass the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure package (with $550 billion in new spending), the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684). All 50 Democrats and 19 Republicans voted in favor of the bill. This legislation does not include any LIHTC provisions, but it does include several housing-adjacent provisions.

The Senate Appropriations Committee advanced its FY 2022 appropriations bill for Agriculture, Rural Development, and the Food and Drug Administration. The bill contains substantial funding increases for several USDA rural housing programs, including $1.45 billion for rural rental assistance, an increase of $40 million.

The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee voted unanimously to favorably report the nomination of Damon Smith to serve as HUD general counsel. Smith currently serves as acting general counsel and was principal general deputy counsel for HUD during the Obama administration.

HUD’s Office of Housing updated its COVID-19 Q&As on August 9 to reflect the CDC’s new eviction moratorium order announced August 3 temporarily halting evictions in counties with heightened levels of transmission.

Last week, HUD published the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Fair Market Rents (FMRs). The new rents will become effective on October 1, 2021 for the Housing Choice Voucher program and Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy program, unless HUD receives a valid request for reevaluation of specific area Fair Market Rents (FMRs).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a new federal eviction moratorium through Oct. 3 in communities experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases. As of August 1, over 80 percent of counties were experiencing substantial or high COVID cases and would be covered under the new eviction moratorium.

Coming in at over 2,700 pages, the group of 22 bipartisan senate negotiators released their $1 trillion infrastructure legislative text. While the bill does not include any items from the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, it does contain several housing-related provisions

HUD updated its Multifamily Q&A for COVID-19 on July 29. The updated questions and answers pertain to which payments are to be included in tenant income calculations for HUD-assisted Multifamily housing and the Child Tax Credit.

The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs will hold a nomination hearing to consider Julia Gordon to be Federal Housing Administration commissioner and assistant secretary for Housing at HUD at 10 a.m. ET on August 5. NH&RA sent a letter to the committee supporting Gordon’s nomination.