News

Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus (D-MT) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) yesterday sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) with regards to expiring tax assistance provisions not included in the House-passed extenders legislation.

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) recently introduced a measure to help stimulate and resume development of renewable energy facilities, such as wind farms and solar panel factories.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has made available through its Office of Policy Development and Research special sets of American Community Survey (ACS) data that are not available through standard U.S. Census Bureau products.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Policy Development and Research recently published the overall Physical Inspection Scores of HUD-assisted and subsidized properties to the HUD USER website.

The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency’s board recently approved its qualified allocation plan (QAP) for the agency’s 2010 low-income housing tax credit program.  The agency will allocate 2010 tax credits based on the following overriding principles and preferences:

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has released a report of its Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP) activities that provides the amount of funds committed and dispersed for TCAP-funded projects, and total grant commitments for state housing agencies.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed on December 16 the Jobs for Main Street Act, which includes over $150 billion in provisions intended to spur job creation and fund various infrastructure and relief programs with targeted investments for highways and transit, school renovation, hiring of teachers, police, and firefighters, and job training.

The Alabama Housing Finance Agency’s Board of Directors approved the 2010 Qualified Allocation Plan and 2010 HOME Action Plan, for administering the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and HOME Programs, respectively, on December 16.

The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate conferees have agreed to a $446.8 billion omnibus appropriations bill (HR 3288). This “˜omnibus’ legislation includes the Transportation-HUD appropriations measure as well as the Commerce-Justice-Science, Financial Services, Labor-Health and Human Services, Milcon-VA, and State-Foreign Operations bills.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Department of Community Affairs has published a study called, Affordability and Availability of Rental Housing in Pennsylvania, which assesses the housing needs of Pennsylvania’s low-income renter households and describes how their needs vary across the state.

The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) has scheduled a public hearing to solicit questions comments on the 2010 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has signed legislation that establishes a new chapter regarding publicly assisted affordable housing, which includes a wide variety of federally and state assisted rental housing projects, including Section 8, federal and state low-income housing tax credits, Section 221(d)(4), and others.