General News

On April 27, the Colorado State Senate passed HB19-1228 to Increase Tax Credit Allocation for Affordable Housing on a 32-2-1 vote. The bill will now advance to Governor Jared Polis (D) for his signature.

Southwest Minnesota celebrated the effective end of chronic homelessness and Lexington, KY celebrated the effective end of veteran homelessness! In 2017, the Southwest Minnesota Continuum of Care celebrated the end of veteran homelessness and is now one of only four communities to end both veteran and chronic homelessness.

This blog from Glenn A. Graff, Dan Klaff, Eric Mittereder and Ben Swartzendruber with Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen highlights some of the questions addressed by the second set of OZ regulations.

Forrest David Milder with Nixon Peabody released this alert on the second round of Opportunity Zone Guidance released by the Department of the Treasury.

Fannie Mae and research firm Penn Schoen Berland (PSB) released survey data that found most Americans are struggling to find affordable housing near their job, better schools, childcare and job opportunities.

The National Council of State Housing Agencies sent a letter to the Department of the Treasury and IRS urging them to expedite guidance to HUD on how it should establish income limits for the 20, 30, 40, 70, and 80 percent of area median income (AMI) levels necessary for Housing Credit projects that elect to use the average income test for their minimum set-asides.

The Colorado Senate Finance Committee passed HB19-1228, Increase Tax Credit Allocation Affordable Housing, on a unanimous 7-0 vote.

The National Housing Conference (NHC) released its 2018 edition of Paycheck to Paycheck, a database allowing users to discover the rental and homeownership affordability challenges of workers in 81 occupations in 259 metro areas nationwide. The accompanying report highlights the affordability challenges of five workers in the construction industry face: carpenters; electricians; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) mechanics; maintenance workers and plumbers.

NH&RA member Michael Novogradac, CPA, discussed the second tranche of opportunity zones (OZ) guidance released by Treasury in a Notes from Novogradac blog post. The post is Part I of a two-part series reviewing the issues addressed in the release, as well as some of the open questions that remain.

On April 8, the Woda Cooper Companies opened its new Shepard Greene housing community in Zebulon, NC. The 50-unit apartment community offers age-in-place features and energy-efficient apartments for residents aged 55 years and older who are at 60 percent area median income or less.

The Virginia General Assembly approved an amendment from Governor Northam (D) to increase appropriations for the Virginia Housing Trust Fund (VHTF) by $4 million in FY 2019 and FY 2020. T

A new national survey on the connection between homes and health from NH&RA member Enterprise Community Partners Inc. (Enterprise) finds that more than half of renters surveyed have delayed care because they couldn’t afford it and 100 percent of medical professionals surveyed have had at least some of their patients express concerns about affordable housing.