Federal / Agency News

President Trump officially nominated Brian Montgomery to be deputy secretary of HUD. Montgomery has served as acting deputy secretary since the former Deputy Secretary, Pamela Patenaude, left in January of this year. Montgomery has also been serving as assistant secretary for Housing and Commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration.

The House Financial Services Committee (HFSC) released its October hearing schedule. On October 22 at 10:00 am EDT the full Committee will convene for a hearing entitled, “The End of Affordable Housing? A Review of the Trump Administration’s Plans to Change Housing Finance in America.” On October 29 at 10:00 am EDT the Subcommittee on […]

Last week HUD submitted its report on Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Partnership Challenges and Opportunities at the Local, State, and Federal Level to the House and Senate Appropriations committees. The report identifies the following challenges and opportunities to building partnerships with local organizations.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) released the application data for the fiscal year (FY) 2019 round of its Capital Magnet Fund program. A total of 113 organizations submitted applications requesting more than $522 million in funding. The applicants propose to serve 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.  In total, 58 percent of the applicants are certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), and the remaining 42 percent of the applicants are nonprofit affordable housing organizations.

Representative Nydia Velázquez (D-NY) introduced the Public Housing Emergency Response Act (H.R. 4546), which would authorize an additional $70 billion to HUD’s Public Housing Capital Fund. The bill claims the national public housing capital needs backlog was over $70 billion in April of 2019, including $32 billion for the New York City Housing Authority.

Representative Ed Case (D-HI) introduced the Protecting Local Authority and Neighborhoods Act (H.R. 4232), which would hold tech platforms like Airbnb and HomeAway responsible for illegal short-term rentals. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) prevents tech companies from being held legally responsible for most content posted by third parties. State and local governments have passed legislation banning short-term rentals that can deplete the stock of affordable housing, but tech rental platforms are using Section 230 of the CDA to sue or delay the laws from being implemented.

Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Tina Smith (D-MN) introduced the Rural Housing Preservation Act of 2019 (S. 2567). The bill would expand U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development (RD) rental assistance programs, permanently authorize the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Multifamily Housing Preservation and Revitalization program, and direct RD to better align its policies […]

It’s been a busy week for the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). During the American Credit Union Mortgage Association’s Annual Conference, Director Mark Calabria shared his concerns about volume-based pricing discounts on Guarantee Fees (G-Fees). FHFA issued a confidential administrative directive to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac restricting competition on G-Fees

FHFA sent a letter to the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) instructing them that, as of December 31, 2019, they should stop purchasing investments in assets tied to London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) with a contractual maturity beyond December 31, 2021.

FHFA announced modified Preferred Stock Purchase agreements with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that allow the GSEs to retain capitals of up to $25 billion and $20 billion, respectively. The move ends the capital sweep on earnings above $3 billion that was put into place in 2008 when the GSEs entered conservatorship.

Finally, FHFA announced an agreement with Simone Grimes who accused former director Melvin Watt of sexual harassment.

HUD designated Difficult Development Areas (DDAs) and Qualified Census Tracts (QCTs) for 2020. DDAs are areas with high land, construction and utility costs relative to the area median income and are based on Fair Market Rents, income limits, the 2010 census counts, and five-year American Community Survey (ACS) data. QCTs are areas where either 50 […]

HUD announced the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will offer several incentives to encourage greater development of hospitals and healthcare facilities located in Opportunity Zones in Notice H-2019-10. Effective immediately, FHA is giving priority to Section 232 applications for facilities located in Opportunity Zones. FHA will provide expedited underwriting for Section 232 applications. FHA is also reducing application/exam fees for all Section 242 and Section 232 transactions for facilities in Opportunity Zones.

Last week the Senate passed, and President Trump signed into law, a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the government through November 21, 2019, averting a government shutdown as Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 comes to a close. The Senate passed the measure (H.R. 4378) with a 81-16 vote.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) released a draft housing bill, A Just Society: A Place to Prosper Act of 2019. The bill calls for national rent control, right to counsel in tenant eviction proceedings, amending the Fair Housing Act of 1968 to bar source-of-income discrimination, withholding highway funds for jurisdictions not supporting equitable growth and eliminating the ability of states and Public Housing Authorities to add work requirements to housing assistance.