General News

In a new feature, the Urban Institute examines three cities’ plans to use Opportunity Zones to revitalize neighborhoods. The authors conclude that while Fresno, CA; Cleveland, OH and Washington, DC have each taken a different approach to regulating land use, they share a common strategy to leverage Opportunity Zones to accelerate their existing community and […]

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Coalition released a report on program’s impact and funding need. The report finds that the CDBG program has invested nearly $64 billion in local economies since 2000 and every $1.00 of CDBG funding leverages another $4.09 in public and private funding. It also shows that over 92 percent of […]

The ACTION Campaign released a series of short videos providing an overview of each of the provisions in the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2019. The ACTION Campaign also released updated fact sheets for congressional districts that show the impact of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, sent a letter to President Donald Trump on recommendations to end homelessness after the president said the following on homelessness in an interview with Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, “It’s disgraceful. I’m going to maybe and I’m looking at it very seriously.”

The Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) launched the Zoning for Great Neighborhoods project, an initiative aimed at helping Vermont cities and towns break down the regulatory barriers preventing them from meeting the housing needs of Vermonters. The project’s next steps will involve meeting with communities, analyzing typical local regulations, and proposing alternatives that can support the types of homes needed. The full toolkit for municipalities will be completed by the spring of 2020.

The 2019 Pennsylvania Tax Act signed by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf on June 28, 2019— made several changes to Pennsylvania tax laws. The Act adds Opportunity Zone conformity for personal income tax, adopts new sales tax provisions and amends other tax and credit provisions. Read more in this analysis from Ballard Spahr.

The New Markets Tax Credit Coalition released the 2019 version of its annual New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Progress Report. It shows that in 2018, community development entities used $3.2 billion in NMTC allocation to finance 286 projects in 48 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. This financing resulted in the creation of 58,360 total jobs, including 32,917 permanent full-time-equivalent jobs and 25,443 construction jobs.

Enterprise Community Partners and NeighborWorks America has published a new report titled, “On the Path to Health Equity: Building Capacity to Measure Health Outcomes in Community Development.”   The report highlights the findings of an innovative national demonstration project designed to build the capacity of 20 community-based organizations to measure the health outcomes of their work. […]

The RetrofitNY team is proud to share a study conducted by Ian Shapiro of Taitem Engineering assessing the transferability of the Energiesprong concept to New York State – Energiesprong: A Dutch Approach to Deep Energy Retrofits and Its Applicability to the New York Market. Based on numerous site visits and interviews in the Netherland, Ian’s […]

The Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition will host a webinar at 3:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, July 12, 2019 on advocating for the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, legislation to expand and improve the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit). This bill has the potential to increase affordable housing production and preservation by more than […]

A recent post on the Urban Institute website by Solomon Greene and Jorge Gonzalez highlights how local governments are “increasingly recognizing that restrictive zoning and outdated land-use regulations can suppress housing supply, drive up housing costs, and widen racial and economic disparities. Leveraging smart zoning reforms and easing building restrictions can unleash housing supply to help meet the […]

On July 31 LISC Boston will host its Opportunity Zone Showcase & Toolkit Release in Massachusetts.  As of 7/9, LISC Boston had not announced the event location, which will run from 9 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.  The event will: Showcase Massachusetts Opportunity Zone communities, strategies, and opportunities. Connect stakeholders to drive inclusive investment. Who should […]