News

HUD designated Difficult Development Areas (DDAs) and Qualified Census Tracts (QCTs) for 2020. DDAs are areas with high land, construction and utility costs relative to the area median income and are based on Fair Market Rents, income limits, the 2010 census counts, and five-year American Community Survey (ACS) data. QCTs are areas where either 50 […]

HUD announced the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will offer several incentives to encourage greater development of hospitals and healthcare facilities located in Opportunity Zones in Notice H-2019-10. Effective immediately, FHA is giving priority to Section 232 applications for facilities located in Opportunity Zones. FHA will provide expedited underwriting for Section 232 applications. FHA is also reducing application/exam fees for all Section 242 and Section 232 transactions for facilities in Opportunity Zones.

Last week the Senate passed, and President Trump signed into law, a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the government through November 21, 2019, averting a government shutdown as Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 comes to a close. The Senate passed the measure (H.R. 4378) with a 81-16 vote.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) released a draft housing bill, A Just Society: A Place to Prosper Act of 2019. The bill calls for national rent control, right to counsel in tenant eviction proceedings, amending the Fair Housing Act of 1968 to bar source-of-income discrimination, withholding highway funds for jurisdictions not supporting equitable growth and eliminating the ability of states and Public Housing Authorities to add work requirements to housing assistance.

The White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council launched its new website, www.OpportunityZones.gov, which will serve as an information resource for those engaged with the Opportunity Zones initiative. The Opportunity Zones website includes an interactive map of the 8,764 Opportunity Zones nationwide; links to the Opportunity Zone-focused website of each State and Territory; comprehensive Federal tools […]

The Supreme Court of Georgia decided in Heron Lake II Apartments, LP et al. v. Lowndes County Board of Tax Assessors that LIHTCs do no constitute “actual income.” The decision centers around the argument that investors do not receive more money from anyone for tax credits rather, they merely pay less in taxes to the […]

Last week the House passed a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the government through November 21, 2019, averting a government shutdown as Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 comes to a close. The measure (H.R. 4378) passed the House with a veto-proof majority vote of 301-123. The Senate is expected to pass the measure and the President is expected to sign the bill before the end of the fiscal year.

HUD published the FY 2020 Fair Market Rents (FMRs) here. The FY 2020 FMRs will be effective October 1, 2019, unless there is a request for reevaluation by September 30, 2019. The Federal Register notice contains the procedures for such reevaluation requests. These FMRs are used in the Housing Choice Voucher, the Moderate Rehabilitation Single […]

The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University released a working paper, which details the dramatic decline of low-cost rental units over the past three decades. The number of units renting for less than $600 per month, adjusted for inflation, fell by almost 4 million between 1990 and 2017. The data also show that […]

The Council of Economic Advisers released The State of Homelessness in America report. The report raises serious methodological concerns, cherry-picks data that supports the reports positions and relies on outdated studies. The report’s primary argument posits that the deregulation of 11 housing markets would lead to a reduction of 71,709 people experiencing homelessness. The report takes aim at municipalities that have implemented right-to-shelter policies and policies that affect the tolerability of living on the streets for decreasing the demand for housing and increasing homelessness.

Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) released his expansive Housing for All plan, which is guided by the belief that every American must have a safe, decent, accessible and affordable home as a fundamental right. The plan proposed to build 7.4 million affordable units that will remain affordable in perpetuity through a ten-year, $1.48 trillion investment in the National Housing Trust Fund.

HUD is offering hands-on group learning and individualized technical assistance (TA) to multifamily assisted housing owners and management agents to help implement Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) programs. The TA will include coaching, education and hands-on guidance from an expert in FSS program implementation over a nine-month period. This TA will help housing providers successfully develop the program framework, access needed resources and launch their FSS programs.