News

HUD has issued a call for entries for the 2013 Housing & Community Design Awards. The awards, which are co-sponsored by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the HUD Office of the Secretary, recognize excellence in affordable housing, community-based design, participatory design, and accessibility.

HUD has issued a Notice of Intent to conduct an Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing program in the Baltimore, Maryland Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA). The Agency will make available certain incentives to developers in order to encourage the production and availability of more affordable housing units in “communities of opportunity,” as defined in the Thompson vs. HUD settlement, in the Baltimore SMSA.

The New Mexico Housing Mortgage Finance Authority will be hosting a mandatory 2013 QAP and Application Training for all prospective applicants for the 2013 Low Income Housing Tax Credit program.

The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency is considering future changes for its 2014 Qualified Allocation Plan. Minnesota Housing has published a memorandum to outline some of the considered changes in advance of the anticipated release of the draft 2014 QAP in January 2013.

HUD has published its final Fair Market Rents (FMRs) for the Housing Choice Voucher Program and Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy Program and any other programs requiring their use for Fiscal Year 2013. The FY 2013 FMRs are based on using 5-year, 2006-2010 data collected by the American Community Survey (ACS).

HUD recently issued Housing Notice 2012-14 which offered guidance on use of “New Regulation” Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) Contracts Residual Receipts to offset Project-Based Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments.

The Montana Board of Housing (MBOH) has released a draft of its 2013 Qualified Allocation Plan following its QAP Work Session held on August 16, 2012. The proposed 2013 QAP includes several revisions from previous years.

Oregon Housing and Community Services is currently seeking public comments on its proposed 2013 Annual Action Plan and its proposed Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Method of Distribution.

The US House of Representatives recently passed a continuing resolution (CR) (HJ Res 117) on September 13, 2012 by a vote of 329-91, followed by passage in the Senate by a vote of 62-30 on September 22, 2012. The CR effectively delays final decisions for fiscal year (FY) 2013 spending until after the elections and will allow, if necessary, the Federal government to run uninterrupted through March 27, 2013 until a new Congress takes office.

HUD has issued Notice H 2012-18 and H 2012-19 extending an original Notice H 2010-26 which established policy and procedures for the review of requests to subordinate Section 202 direct loans in cases where refinancing these loans is not feasible.

HUD has issued a notices designating its 2013 “Difficult Development Areas” (DDAs) for purposes of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. HUD makes DDA designations annually.

On March 8, 2012, at 77 FR 14029, HUD published in the Federal Register a notice announcing HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program and the publication of PIH Notice 2012-18 on the RAD Website.