News

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Vulnerable Veterans Housing Reform Act of 2012 (HR 6361) which would exclude in-home disability care payments from veterans’ income calculations for some HUD housing programs.

The National Housing & Rehabilitation Association (NH&RA) has announced five winners and ten finalists across ten competitive categories for this year’s J. Timothy Anderson Awards for Excellence in Historic Rehabilitation. The “Timmy Awards” will be presented at an awards luncheon and ceremony on Tuesday, October 30 at the Langham Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, held in conjunction with the association’s Annual Fall Developers Forum. The winners and finalists represent fourteen different communities in ten states””Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia””as well as the District of Columbia.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued a notice for public comments on Form 8611: Recapture of Low-Income Housing Credit. Owners of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) projects are able to claim a credit against their income tax. However, if the property is disposed or if it fails to meet certain requirements over a 15-year compliance period and a bond is not posted, the owner must use Form 8611 to recapture part of the LIHTCs claimed.

In a recent letter, twelve Freshman House Republicans urged House Leadership to extend the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program. While these GOP Representatives note that they do not support extending all tax credits, they do contend that the NMTC is a critical source of financing for a wide variety of businesses and community facilities that provides much-needed support for vulnerable low-income communities during an especially difficult time.

HUD released an updated Section 8 Renewal Policy Guide and Summary of Changes on May 18, 2012 and has since issued a request for comments on the updated guide in the Federal Register. The Section 8 Renewal Policy Guide governs how expiring Section 8 project-based assistance contracts are renewed, an essential component to preserving low income rental housing affordability and availability. Comments on the updated guide are due to HUD by November 13, 2012

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a study that assesses the efficiency and cost effectiveness of multiple federal housing programs with similar goals, products and often parallel delivery systems. GAO proposes that there are opportunities to further increase collaboration and alignment among the agencies that administer these programs.

The Governing Board of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs has approved drafts of the 2013 Uniform Multifamily Rule, Qualified Allocation Plan, and Multifamily Housing Revenue Bond Rule.

On September 13th, the Alabama Housing Finance Authority (AHFA) Board of Directors approved drafts of its 2013 HOME Investment Partnerships Program Action Plan and the LIHTC Qualified Allocation Plan. AHFA will be hosting a public hearing on Tuesday, October 2, 2012

The Kentucky Housing Corporation along with TheoPRO Compliance & Consulting, Inc. will be hosting a Low Income Housing Tax Credit Training Thursday and Friday October 4-5, 2012 in the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Auditorium (Room C105), 200 Mero Street, Frankfort, KY.

The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) has issued a Request for Responses (RFR) for 150 housing vouchers from the Massachusetts Rental Voucher program (MRVP) to serve homeless families.

HUD has announced the creation of the Partners in Housing Advanced Preservation Training series for multifamily Owners and senior level Property Management company staff. The HUD workshops will focus on advanced approaches to preserving affordable multifamily properties and builds upon the Basic “Partners in Housing” course.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on behalf of the White House recently released a report which details the potential effects sequestration, or across-the-board cuts to the budget, could have on both defense and non-defense programs. In August 2011, both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate voted for the threat of sequestration as a mechanism to force Congress to act on reducing the deficit by $1.2 trillion as required by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA).