General News

The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies will release its annual State of the Nation’s Housing Report on November 19 and host a release event from 4-5 p.m. ET.

Don Layton authored a new paper with Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, What Should We Do with the GSEs? Common-Sense Reform Recommendations for the Biden Administration. Layton concludes that the new administration, if it is to successfully address the GSE question, must follow one of two possible paths in the next twelve to twenty-four months.

Most older Americans do not reside in livable communities, according to a joint report from the Harvard Joint Center on Housing Studies and the AARP Public Policy institute. The report said most seniors do not reside in places that score high on AARP’s Livability Index, which measures economic and social environments among other factors.

A new blog and paper by Don Layton with the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University explore whether the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) plans and actions are consistent with making the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (collectively, the Government Sponsored Enterprises or GSEs) attractive enough to equity investors, and – given the need to raise such unprecedentedly large amounts of equity – to do so globally and broadly.

A new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Household Rental Debt During COVID-19, estimates that by December 2020, 1.3 million renter households will owe $7.2 billion in rent, which is around $5,400 each.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) announced restoration of $466 million of housing cuts in FY2021 to the city’s department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). Mayor de Blasio’s decision to reverse course and restore HPD’s 2021 capital budget will produce roughly 11,000 units of affordable housing, at a time when those homes are […]

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia updated its Rental Housing Affordability Data Tool for households in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey. The newly updated data suggest that housing insecurity was widespread among lower-income renters in the Third District even prior to the Coronavirus pandemic and the associated economic downturn.

A new report from the National Leased Housing Association warns, “in the long run, the negative impacts on housing providers, if not addressed, will result in lower housing supply, reduced renter mobility and foregone benefits to low- and moderate-income communities. However, if housing providers can recover financially and restore investments in new housing developments, including affordable housing, the industry can play an important role in the economic recovery from COVID-19.”

The Bipartisan Policy Center’s (BPC) Housing and Infrastructure Project released federal policy recommendations designed to dramatically reduce the number of working families with destabilizing rent burdens and at risk of eviction, minimize the number of people experiencing homelessness, and prevent further spread of COVID-19.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) awarded 397 Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) $204.1 million in awards.

Minnesota Housing will hold a hearing on its proposed 2022-2023 QAP on October 21 from 10 to 11 a.m. CT. Minnesota Housing plans to release a revised 2022-2023 QAP Self-Scoring Worksheet, and methodologies for LIHTC and deferred projects in mid-October. The second round of public comments will run from October 12 through 5 p.m. CT on October 26.

In July, 77 percent of adults said they were doing at least OK financially, up from 72 percent in early April, and 75 percent in October 2019. This increase is likely due to some people returning to work, as well as the availability of assistance programs either from the government or from charitable organizations.