News

On January 4, California Assembly Bill 643 was amended to include the creation of a California New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program.

The Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) is now accepting applications for Round 2 of the 2012 Housing Tax Credit program, of which approximately $500,000 in tax credits are available.

NH&RA was saddened to learn of the passing of former FHA Commissioner Lawrence B. Simons on December 29, 2011.

Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) has rewritten and restructured the process documentation to help applicants navigate the Consolidated Funding Cycle process for 2012.

On December 31, the Rental Policy Working Group (RPWG) released its administrative proposals for the realignment of federal affordable rental housing programs. The report, called “Federal Rental Alignment Administrative Proposals” proposes ways to reduce the cost and burden of various affordable housing programs operated by the Departments of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Treasury and others.

Maryland’s Public Service Commission (PSC) has ordered the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) to become the sole provider of weatherization and energy retrofitting programs for low income households throughout the state.

The California Supreme Court recently upheld bill AB 26X as constitutional, allowing the state to eliminate 400 local redevelopment agencies and struck down AB 27X, which would have enabled the redevelopment agencies to stay in business if they agreed to pay a big chunk of their revenues to the state.

The Colorado Housing Finance Agency (CHFA) has released the final draft of the state’s 2012 Qualified Allocation Plan for the allocation of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs).

The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) recently announced that it has lowered its permanent lending rate for LIHTC developments to 6.90%. The agency has indicated that competitive LIHTC applicants should use this rate, along with a 30 year amortization, in LIHTC underwriting.

The most recent December 2011 issue of ResearchWorks, the official newsletter of HUD’s Office of Policy Development & Research, examined the geographic distribution of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) projects in 10 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs).

According to a senior Treasury official, Michael Stegman, a housing and domestic policy director at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, will join the Treasury Department in January 2012 as a counselor to Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has named Aaron Gornstein as the new undersecretary for Housing and Community Development. Gornstein replaces Tina Brooks, who left the position earlier this year to become the executive vice president of programs for Local Initiatives Support Corporation.