General News

A public hearing will be held at 1:30 pm on Thursday, March 29, 2012, at the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority (NHHFA), 32 Constitution Drive, Bedford NH, in order to receive comments on the draft 2013 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC) and the HOME Rental Housing Production Program Rules.

The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) has begun its formal review and revision process for the 2013 Qualified Allocation Plan, and recently released a summary of proposed changes. MHFA’s Board will review the final QAP and procedural manual revisions at its March 22 meeting.

HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research is conducting a comprehensive study of the housing needs of Native Americans, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians, and recently announced the latest updates to the study.

HUD has published its quarterly notice of all regulatory waivers that the Department has approved for the Office of Community Planning and Development, the Office of Housing ““ Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and the Office of Public and Indian Housing.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has launched a new online green building products database, in conjunction with Home Depot.

The latest issue of HUD’s Evidence Matters: Transforming Knowledge into Housing and Community Development Policy (Winter 2012) examines how local capacity, leadership, and community connections can help regions avoid or recover from stresses, and how the federal Strong Cities, Strong Communities initiative is fostering capacity-building in some of the nation’s hardest hit areas.

The Montana Department of Commerce on March 8 published a Notice of Amendment on two proposed changes pertaining to the low-income housing tax credit program and allocation procedure.

Congressman Joe Baca (D-Rialto) introduced legislation in the House of Representatives that would give non-profit agencies and Community Development Corporations (CDCs) access to funds for affordable housing projects made available through the State Small Business Credit Initiative.

In accordance with IRS Revenue Procedure 2007-54, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) and the Kentucky Housing Corporation (KHC) have permitted owners of Section 42 LIHTC properties to provide temporary emergency housing to individuals affected by the recent floods and tornadoes.

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) Office of Affordable Housing has published the following documents for use in preparing applications in the 2012 OAH Funding Round.

HUD recently released Notice PIH-2012-18 to provide program instructions for the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD or Demonstration), including eligibility and selection criteria, and to solicit public comment on these instructions. RAD was authorized in the 2012 HUD appropriations bill, H.R. 2112. Although the Act specifies that HUD provide an opportunity for public comment only on draft eligibility and selection criteria / procedures that will apply to the selection of properties, HUD has decided to seek public comment on all program requirements.

Two pieces of affordable housing legislation, S.4758C and S.6480, were recently introduced by Senator Catharine Young in the New York State Senate.