News

The White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) will hold a conference call on Thursday, July 12 to gather input on how the new SC2 National Resource Network program (SC2 Network) ““ a critical component of the SC2 initiative ““ can assist economically distressed communities. HUD plans to make approximately $5 million available for the SC2 Network to help strengthen local communities and spur economic growth.

The latest Metro Monitor report from the Brookings Institution finds that from January to March 2012, employment growth accelerated across most of the nation’s 100 largest metro areas, while output growth weakened.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently completed a study entitled “Efforts to Identify and Reduce Improper Rental Assistance Payments Could Be Enhanced” in order to examine improper rental assistance payments within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Housing Service (RHS).

The Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) recently announced the availability of $100,000 in Individual Development Account (IDA) tax credits for purchase by individuals or companies and subsequently issued clarifications about the difference between Individual Development Account (IDA) tax credits and the IDA program in general.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently released Notice 2012-44 to provide guidance regarding Qualified Energy Conservation Bonds (QECBs). State and local governments were first authorized by the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 to issue QECBs to finance certain eco-friendly projects.

The Colorado Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) is seeking public input for the development of its 2013 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) for the allocation of Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC).

The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) is seeking comments on new draft program documents for its Multifamily Energy Efficiency and Housing Affordability-EmPOWER (MEEHA-EmPOWER) Program.

Alaska’s Governor Sean Parnell recently signed new legislation (SB 66) into law that will create a new markets tax credit (NMTC) loan guarantee and leveraged loan assistance program within the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA).

The Senate recently agreed to an amendment (S.AMDT.2242) to the Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012, the Farm Bill (S. 3240) to amend Section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949 to revise the census data and population requirements for areas to be considered as rural.

HUD has published its quarterly notice of all regulatory waivers that the Department has approved for the Office of Community Planning and Development, the Office of Housing ““ Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and the Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH).

At the end of the 2012 legislative session, the Minnesota legislature enacted several affordable housing-related bills, including one measure that approved $37.5 million in bonding authority to be used by the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) for housing and homeless programs.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report which examines how the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) determine veteran eligibility for the HUD-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program, what data VA and HUD collect and report on HUD-VASH, their data reliability efforts, and what is known about HUD-VASH performance.