Federal / Agency News

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), an original sponsor of Opportunity Zone legislation, and Reps. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) and Ron Kind (D-WI) sent a letter to the Treasury’s acting inspector general to requesting an investigation into recent reports from The New York Times, The Washington Post and ProPublica that found that White House and Treasury officials might […]

The Supreme Court agreed to review a challenge to the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) authority. Plaintiff, Sheila Law LLC, is arguing that a legal provision stipulating that the director can only be removed by the President for cause violates the constitutional separation of powers. The CFPB director, like the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director, serves in a five-year role and cannot be fired at will. The Supreme Court’s decision will have implications for both the CFPB and FHFA.

The Senate is expected to vote on the four-bill spending package today and lawmakers are now considering a not-so-short-term CR that would fund the government through the new year.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released the 2019 Strategic Plan for the Conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and a new 2020 Scorecard for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Common Securitization Solutions.

On Tuesday, the Senate advanced a spending FY 2020 funding package that includes funding for Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment and Transportation-HUD. The full Senate is expected to vote on the package this week or early next week.

The Federal Housing Administration released three draft chapters of its Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) Guide: Chapter 1 Introduction, Chapter 10 Management Analysis and Chapter 14 LIHTC Guidance. Comments should be provided on the Response Worksheet and emailed to HSNG_MF_2019MAPGuide-DraftingSuggestions@hud.gov. Comments are due by November 15.

Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced the Historic Tax Credit (HTC) Growth & Opportunity Act (S. 2615). The bill would eliminate the HTC basis adjustment requirement, increase the HTC from 20 percent to 30 percent for properties with rehabilitation expenses of less than $3.75 million (capped at $750,000), make it easier to meet the substantial rehabilitation test and create greater flexibility for nonprofits to partner with developers.

The Rural Housing Service (RHS) published a Final Rule that would eliminate the requirement for the annual publication of a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for its Section 538 Guaranteed Rural Rental Housing program. The rule becomes effective on November 14, 2019. The Section 538 program will follow procedures similar to other Rural Development guaranteed […]

The Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) of Harvard University released a working paper by Don Layton, a senior industry fellow at JCHS titled “What the FHFA Needs to Get Right in Its GSE Capital Rule.”

The House Committee on Appropriations’ Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies will hold an oversight hearing on HUD’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program on October 17 at 2 pm EDT. The hearing will feature HUD’s Irv Dennis, chief financial officer, Jeremy Kirkland, counsel to the inspector general, and David […]

HUD released a Revised Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Notice, with comments due on November 12. The notice announces the posting of the fourth revision to the RAD notice and solicits public comment on the removed restrictions on certain HOPE VI properties that are under ten years old and the elimination of the selection of applications […]

HUD is seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the information collection for its Opportunity Zone Grant Certification Form. Comments are due by December 9. The form will be used to provide preference points for certain competitive federal grants.