News

The Ohio Housing Finance Agency has announced that it will host a roundtable discussion with a selection of housing partners that will explore goals and priorities for the agency’s 2012 low-income housing tax credit program.

The House Financial Services Committee Subcommittee on Capital Markets Chairman Scott Garrett announced today the Subcommittee will convene a hearing on reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The House Financial Services Committee Subcommittee on Capital Markets Chairman Scott Garrett announced today the Subcommittee will convene a hearing on reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The hearing will be held on Wednesday, February 9th at 2:00 p.m.

The Brookings Institute has released a new white paper that offers a “magic pill” for the federal government by suggesting the possibility of over $1 billion in annual savings, improved building longevity, health, and affordability, as well as thousands of new jobs through retrofitting the federally subsidized multifamily portfolio in order to increase energy and water efficiencies and reduce operating costs.

Fannie Mae has announced the introduction of a new Guaranteed Multifamily Structures, or Fannie Mae GeMSTM, an expanded multifamily mortgage-backed securities (MBS) execution that will include DUS Megas, DUS REMICs and syndicated DUS Megas.

NH&RA Historic Preservation Development Council Member MacRostie Historic Advisors has posted an excellent state historic tax credit update on its website.

The Virginia Housing Development Authority has issued a reservation application update for 2011 LIHTCs. The update addresses the locality notification information summary, an additional EarthCraft Multifamily Training Session (February 25), Universal Design training (February 17), and several minor corrections to the 2011 application.

The White House today announced that the Obama Administration’s fiscal 2012 budget will propose an expansion of the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program to $5 billion from $3.5 billion to encourage investments in startup companies and small businesses based in low-income areas.

The National Housing Conference (NHC) and its research affiliate, the Center for Housing Policy recently announced the release of two reports that identify specific regulatory and administrative changes the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) could adopt to improve access to mainstream supportive services by residents of subsidized housing and facilitate and encourage the development and preservation of affordable and workforce housing in location-efficient areas.

The Center for American Progress, an influential policy think-tank, has issued a new report titled “A Responsible Market for Housing Finance: A Progressive Plan to Reform the U.S. Secondary Market for Residential Mortgages.”

Joseph Smith, President Obama’s nominee to run the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), has withdrawn his nomination after strong opposition from Republican Senators.

The Urban Institute has issued a new report of annotated literature review that surveys the research on mixed-income housing and the impact on low-income children and adults.