General News

The U.S. Department of Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) yesterday jointly announced their 2009-2010 Priority Guidance Plan.

During its November 16 meeting, the CDFI Fund’s Advisory Board discussed current estimated timelines for program awards and announcements.

The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate conferees have agreed to a $446.8 billion omnibus appropriations bill (HR 3288). This “˜omnibus’ legislation includes the Transportation-HUD appropriations measure as well as the Commerce-Justice-Science, Financial Services, Labor-Health and Human Services, Milcon-VA, and State-Foreign Operations bills.

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) established a Housing Trust Fund to be administered by HUD to provide grants to States to increase and preserve the supply of rental housing for extremely low- and very low-income families, including homeless families, and to increase homeownership for extremely low- and very low-income families. HUD has issued a proposed rule for allocating funds from the Housing Trust Fund.

The Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority has published a memo announcing two revisions to the 2009-2010 QAP Threshold criteria and additional guidance to help prepare the 2010A-C application.

Representative James Himes (D-Conn.) has introduced new legislation (HR 4106) to make grants or loans to owners of Federally Assisted Housing projects to make green retrofit improvements.

The National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA), in partnership with ApartmentSmart.com, has launched a new affordable housing mapping tool called NAHMA Maps.

The Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA) recently announced the opening of its new Office of Affordable Housing Research to facilitate the formation and implementation of affordable housing policy and initiatives throughout the state.

Last night (November 18), Representative Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) introduced legislation that would increase the carryback period for low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs). Representative Pascrell is a member of the majority party in the House and sits on the House Ways & Means Committee. The measure would implement the following changes…

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick recently signed into law a statute dubbed the “expiring use” bill, aimed at preserving as affordable, thousands of units of housing in Massachusetts intended to be used by low-income residents.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) recently introduced legislation to help provide more affordable housing options for military service members and their families.

Top members of the United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship recently hosted a roundtable discussion on the 2009 expiring federal tax provisions that have been critical to small business growth and stability.