Federal / Agency News

Assistant Secretary for Housing and Federal Housing Commissioner Brian Montgomery issued a video message regarding COVID-19. Commissioner Montgomery said that while his goal “to keep this segment of the economy moving and to ensure that American’s have access to safe, decent and affordable housing” stakeholders should expect processing delays as FHA employees transition to work from home.

The following groups have submitted legislative and/or regulatory asks. Please email Kaitlyn Snyder to add information. 

The ACTION Campaign, of which NH&RA is a member, sent this letter to Congress with housing related requests to include in the COVID-19 pandemic response legislation. The statutory requests include:

Immediate one-year extension for three key deadlines:
10 percent test deadlines
Placed in service deadlines
Rehabilitation expenditure deadlines
Enact a minimum four percent LIHTC rate

President Trump directed HUD to suspend evictions and foreclosures for single-family homes with FHA-insured mortgages for the next 60 days. Similarly, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to suspend foreclosures and evictions for at least 60 days due for homeowners with an Enterprise-backed single-family mortgage.

The majority of the House of Representatives has cosponsored the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, H.R.3077, with a total of 221 members signed on to the bipartisan legislation.

HUD announced the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Tenant Protection Voucher (TPV) award amounts for the Housing Choice Voucher Program.

HUD extended the comment period for its proposed rule on the Adoption of Additional Safe Harbors for the Fair Housing Act Design and Construction Requirements. Comments were originally due on March 15 and are now due on April 13 and can be submitted here.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) posted the draft chapter three and its corresponding appendix of the updated Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) Guide.

To protect ourselves and our families from the spread of COVID-19 and in accordance with guidance issued by the Office of Personnel Management, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund’s (CDFI Fund’s) employees will be utilizing maximum telework flexibilities beginning Tuesday, March 17, 2020.

The offices of Multifamily Housing and Public and Indian Housing (PIH) at HUD are suspending REAC inspections until further notice in light of COVID-19. Where there is an exigent circumstance or reason to believe that there is a threat to life or property at a specific location, inspections will be conducted by HUD quality assurance inspectors.

HUD released updated Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 fair market rents (FMRs) for six areas based on new survey data: Asheville, NC HUD Metro FMR Area (HMFA), Eugene-Springfield, OR Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), Portland, ME HMFA, Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA MSA, Worcester, MA HMFA and Guam. The revised FY 2020 FMRs for these six areas are effective on April 10, 2020.

Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced the Revitalizing Economies, Housing and Business (REHAB) Act of 2020 along with Reps. Mike Kelly (R-PA), Darin LaHood (R-IL) and Dan Kildee (D-MI).