General News

A new Senate bill introduced September 2012, S. 3538, would reduce administrative burdens and complexities for certain local public housing agencies (PHAs) that administer federal low-income housing programs. The purpose of the legislative measure is for PHAs to realize administrative savings, but the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) says the measure could present other, more harmful challenges.

HUD has published a list of workshop materials that were used at the Public and Indian Housing (PIH) Region IV Network Mixed Finance/Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Workshop.

HUD has published its Final Fair Market Rents for the Housing Choice Voucher Program for Small Area Fair Market Rent Demonstration Program Participants for FY-2013. Effective Date: The FMRs published in this notice are effective on October 1, 2012.

On November 13 Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick outlined a bold new plan to produce 10,000 new multifamily housing units a year through 2020.

NH&RA Member firm Lancaster Pollard recently published an article “HUD Updates: Refinancing 202 Properties” which details the recent changes HUD has made to the Section 202 program.

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Office of Affordable Housing (OAH) has released a draft version of its 2013 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP), as well as draft appendices for its threshold criteria and competitive scoring criteria.

The Arizona Department of Housing (ADOH) has published its final 2013 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) for the allocation of federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs).

Due to Hurricane Sandy, New York State’s Home & Community Renewal (HCR) has announced that it will extend its deadline for Unified Funding applications from November 29, 2012 to January 8, 2013.

American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) recently released a report entitled Renewable Energy in the 50 States which provides an executive summary on the status of renewable energy implementation at the state-level.

The National Park Service (NPS) and Department of Energy (DOE) have released separate guidance on installing solar panels at historic properties in a way that meets the standards of the Department of Interior.

The Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University (NYU), has released the preliminary results of its analysis of the incomes, rent burdens, and economic diversity of tenants residing in LIHTC developments.

Due to the widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, the President has declared that major disasters exist in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. In a press release on November 5, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that the agency will waive certain low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) rules in order to allow owners of low-income housing to provide temporary shelter to victims of Hurricane Sandy who do not qualify as low-income.