News

National Housing & Rehabilitation Association (“NH&RA”) proudly announces a major new educational initiative to provide owners of multifamily affordable rental properties with resources, training and technical assistance to aid them in improving the utility performance of their properties. The Preservation Through Energy Efficiency Project, is being developed by the Association’s Council for Energy Friendly Affordable Housing and is partially supported with a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Its components include five regional forums as well as the creation of an online “Knowledge Exchange” where owners and energy finance and retrofit experts can convene virtually to exchange knowledge and experiences.

The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs announces the availability of up to $21,692,495 in funding from the HOME Investment Partnerships Program for the development of affordable multifamily rental housing for low-income Texans.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that it is waiving certain limitations for projects financed with Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) or exempt facility bonds so that owners and operates across the United States can provide housing to victims of severe storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides in Colorado that began September 11, 2013.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund announced Wednesday $3.5 billion in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) awards nationwide. Treasury will provide 85 organizations with tax credit allocation authority under the tenth award round of the NMTC Program.

The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Appropriations Committees have both approved the T-HUD Subcommittee versions of the fiscal year (FY) 2014 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD) and FY 2014 Agriculture and Rural Development funding bills.

HUD has released a Notice in the Federal Register to announce revisions to the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Program and to solicit comments on eligibility and selection criteria. The Notice proposes updates to PIH 2012-32, originally issued on July 26, 2012, which provided for full implementation of the RAD program.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) recently distributed a “Dear Colleague” letter outlining a “blank slate” approach to tax reform. This method approaches tax reform with the assumption that all special provisions will be eliminated unless there is clear evidence they should be kept in the code.

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and a group of bipartisan Senators together re-introduced S. 1442, which would amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make permanent the minimum low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) rate for unsubsidized buildings and provide a minimum 4 percent credit rate for existing buildings.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently issued a call for public input on strategies for reducing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s presence in the multifamily housing finance market in 2014.

HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Multifamily Housing Ben Metcalf recently released a letter announcing that the agency has exhausted its $25 billion commitment authority limit allotted for fiscal year (FY) 2013 to operate its FHA Multifamily Risk Share and Healthcare programs.

HUD has issued a notice announcing that mortgage insurance premiums (MIPs) for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Multifamily, Healthcare Facilities, and Hospital mortgage insurance programs that have commitments to be issued or reissued in FY-2014 will remain the same as in FY-2013.

CohnReznick, Nixon Peabody, and the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency present the webinar “Utilizing 4% Credits in RAD Transactions” on Thursday, September 26 from 10:00 am-11:00 am EST. Presenters John Mackey (CPA, Partner CohnReznick), Susan Belles (Manager of Loan Programs, Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency), and Michael Reardon (Partner, Affordable Housing Nixon Peabody LLP) will share their practical experience and insights in helping public housing authorities finance RAD conversions, rehabilitation, and new construction projects by integrating 4% tax-exempt bonds.