General News

Freddie Mac recently completed a regional training initiative entitled “Customer Package Training ““ How to Improve Execution” and released the training materials for download through their website.

The Council for Affordable and Rural Housing (CARH) has released a detailed summary of the recent legislation signed by President Obama to increase the debt limit from $2.1 to $2.4 trillion and create a bipartisan “super committee” tasked with developing a strategy to lower the national debt by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years.

President Barack Obama has announced his intention to appoint Dr. Clement A. Price, an eminent Rutgers University professor and historian, as Vice Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP).

Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency will be holding an information session for its 2012 PennHOMES/Low Income Tax Credit Programs on Thursday, September 15, 2011.

A new issue of Cityscape features a symposium that examines rental housing policy in the United States from a variety of forward-looking perspectives.

Kentucky Housing Corporation has updated its multifamily underwriting model for 2012. The new model is now available on KHC’s Web site, under Housing Production; Multifamily Finance; Applications, Guidelines, and Underwriting Models.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), in consultation with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), has announced a Request For Information (RFI), seeking input on new options for selling single-family real estate owned (REO) properties held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises), and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

HUD has created a new web-based mapping tool displaying the location all foreclosed properties being held by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

In order to avoid the loss of approximately $1.03 million of returned GO Zone Credits at the end of calendar year 2011, the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency (LHFA) Board of Commissioners approved the following strategies to allocate GO Zone Credits.

On July 18, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) unveiled a massive deficit reduction plan that calls for slashing federal spending, including for housing programs, and eliminating tax credit programs that promote affordable housing and community development, historic preservation, and renewable energy production.

In response to a recent White House discussion meeting which called for bold action to tackle the nation’s ongoing housing troubles, Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) has sent a letter to President Obama proposing a number of recommendations that would significantly impact the development of affordable rental housing.

The Wisconsin Housing & Economic Development Authority has issued a memorandum for multifamily housing developers intending to apply for the 2012 round of low-income housing tax credits that provides some clarification on three specific aspects of the 2012 competitive funding round.