News

Fred Karnas, Director of the Arizona Department of Housing (ADOH) for the past two years, has been named as a Senior Advisor to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino on March 3 unveiled his third, three-year strategy for producing and preservation additional housing in the city of Boston during 2009-2012, including affordable units.

President Obama on February 26 issued his proposed federal budget for Fiscal Year 2010, which begins October 1, 2009. The budget request proposes $47.5 billion for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), an increase from the approved $47.1 billion appropriation for FY 2008 and the stopgap spending level of $40.1 billion for FY 2009.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has issued a new report, entitled “Decade of Neglect Has Weakened Federal Low-Income Housing Programs: New Resources Required to Meet Growing Needs.”

The California Tax Credit Allocation Committee (TCAC) has rescheduled its application workshops for its 2009 low-income housing tax credit program in order to draft changes to modify its qualified allocation plan in responses to provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund has created a new section on its Web site providing information about the Fund’s implementation of pertinent portions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Metropolitan reports (in PDF format) from the 2007 American Housing Survey are available for download at the U.S. Census Bureau’s Web site.

The National Multi Housing Council has sent a letter to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke urging the Federal Reserve Board to purchase Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac multifamily mortgage-backed securities (MBS) as part of its announced $500 billion commitment to buy Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae MBSs.

The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund has posted on its web site instructions on how potential applicants can access and utilize the online Allocation Application now available for the 2009 competitive funding round for the federal New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced the appointment of Rafael Cestero as the new Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

The District of Columbia Department of Housing and Community Development has released its new qualified allocation plan (QAP) for its low-income housing tax credit program.

A bill (SB 199) has been introduced in the Oregon state legislature that would increase by $4 million the cap on the amount of Oregon Affordable Housing Tax Credits that may be outstanding in any fiscal year, from $17 million to $21 million.