General News

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program is launching Water Wednesdays. The project intends to help HUD project officers and HUD grantees incorporate water efficiency into their programs and projects.

A property that was under development in Baltimore by the Woda Group was destroyed in a massive fire. The development, which was 45% complete, plans to replace a blighted block with 61 units of affordable senior housing and service, counseling, and job training space.

Congress passed a bill that will implement new measures to encourage building owners and tenants to use more cost-effective energy efficiency and water efficiency measures. The bill is a more modest version of a larger efficiency bill sponsored by Senators Portman and Shaheen.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released the 2009-2011 National Rental Dynamics Report, which uses the longitudinal features of the American Housing Survey to track changes in rental housing affordability. The report examines how recent changes in affordability fit into the trajectory of the rental housing stock over the course of the recession and recovery.

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance held a hearing on private sector involvement in affordable housing. The hearing focused on opportunities to leverage large private sector investments, including the HUD Rental Assistance Demonstration program and the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC).

The Multifamily Housing Office at the Department of Housing and Urban Development offered clarifications of the policy surrounding its interest rate reductions (IRR), particularly for the Section 202 and 223(f) programs.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has begun issuing awards to applicants that were previously on the RAD first component waiting list. In response to questions from new awardees, HUD released several clarifications.

NH&RA signed on the Housing Assistance Council’s campaign to encourage appropriators in Congress to support the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) has announced that it will conduct a two-day workshop for potential applicants on April 30 – May 1, 2015 in Washington, D.C.

The California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) announced the Conduit Issuer Program, a new program that helps affordable housing developers access tax-exempt and taxable bond funds to aid in the preservation and development of affordable housing projects throughout California.

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), announced a new Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Multi-Site Bond Program in Georgia. DCA will qualify a small group of developers to work with public housing authorities (PHAs) to redevelop the PHAs’ property/ies with the majority of units as RAD units (at least 80% of total post-redevelopment units).

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preservation Action, the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers and the Historic Tax Credit Coalition are again sponsoring a national sign on letter to demonstrate support for the federal Historic Tax Credit (HTC) and influence discussions now underway in the Senate to revise the US Tax Code.