General News

The Arizona Department of Housing has issued a first draft of its 2013 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP). Major changes to the QAP include

HUD has published Comprehensive Housing Market Analyses for three new metropolitan areas, Wichita, Kansas; Oakland, California; and Salinas, California.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report entitled “Mortgage Financing: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s Multifamily Housing Activities Have Increased,” which examines the role that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have played in providing financing for multifamily properties with five or more units.

HUD recently published Housing Notice 2012-20, FHA Underwriting Instructions for Projects Converting Assistance under the Rental Assistance Demonstration.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that 17 communities across the country have been awarded $4.95 million in Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants. HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods Initiative promotes a comprehensive approach to transforming distressed areas of concentrated poverty into viable and sustainable mixed-income neighborhoods.

California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed several bills into law, all of which will have a significant impact on the multifamily housing development industry. The Southern California Association of Nonprofit Developers (SCANPH) estimates that these approved measures could provide up to $80 million in funding for housing-related development.

HUD has issued a call for entries for the 2013 Housing & Community Design Awards. The awards, which are co-sponsored by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the HUD Office of the Secretary, recognize excellence in affordable housing, community-based design, participatory design, and accessibility.

HUD has issued a Notice of Intent to conduct an Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing program in the Baltimore, Maryland Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA). The Agency will make available certain incentives to developers in order to encourage the production and availability of more affordable housing units in “communities of opportunity,” as defined in the Thompson vs. HUD settlement, in the Baltimore SMSA.

The New Mexico Housing Mortgage Finance Authority will be hosting a mandatory 2013 QAP and Application Training for all prospective applicants for the 2013 Low Income Housing Tax Credit program.

The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency is considering future changes for its 2014 Qualified Allocation Plan. Minnesota Housing has published a memorandum to outline some of the considered changes in advance of the anticipated release of the draft 2014 QAP in January 2013.

HUD has published its final Fair Market Rents (FMRs) for the Housing Choice Voucher Program and Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy Program and any other programs requiring their use for Fiscal Year 2013. The FY 2013 FMRs are based on using 5-year, 2006-2010 data collected by the American Community Survey (ACS).

HUD recently issued Housing Notice 2012-14 which offered guidance on use of “New Regulation” Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) Contracts Residual Receipts to offset Project-Based Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments.