News

NH&RA joined an industry letter calling on HUD to implement the $25 million for the Family Self-Sufficiency program that was appropriated in the Fiscal Year 2021 budget. The letter also reiterates key points from shared comments on the new FSS regulations that were submitted with broad support in November 2020.

Fannie Mae announced that it is offering Sponsor-Initiated Affordability (SIA) incentives for multifamily borrowers, with the aim of preserving naturally occurring affordable housing (NOAH) and workforce housing. Property owners seeking Fannie Mae financing will be encouraged for rent and income restrictions for residents living in conventional workforce housing.

A new report on Household Rental Debt During COVID-19 from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia estimates that in March 2021, 1.8 million renter households, representing 5 million individuals, will owe $11 billion in rent—approximately $6,100 per household. That number represents 5.4 percent of all renter householders and 15 percent of those who experienced job loss due to COVID-19.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) released its annual report, The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes, which finds that extremely low-income renters in the U.S. face a shortage of nearly seven million affordable and available rental homes.

On April 14 from 1 – 3 p.m. ET HUD will host a webinar on environmental review procedures as a part of its public housing repositioning Wednesday webinar series. This webinar will discuss environmental review procedures as Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) plan and implement public housing repositioning.

HUD updated the fair market rents (FMRs) for the Housing Choice Voucher Program, Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy Program and other programs for Fiscal Year 2021 for four areas based on new survey data: Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX HUD Metro FMR Area (HMFA), Knox County, ME, Lincoln County, ME and Waldo County, ME. Further, HUD responds to comments received on the FY 2021 FMRs.

The 8-to-1 vote will initially make $400,000 available in $25,000 homeownership and improvement grants, as well as in mortgage assistance for Black residents, primarily those can show they are direct descendants of individuals who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969 and suffered from such discrimination.

A group of 2,272 associations, organizations and elected officials sent a letter to President Joe Biden, HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge and Centers for Disease Control Director Rochelle Walensky urging improving and extending the current CDC eviction moratorium through “the end of the pandemic.”

National Housing & Rehabilitation Association joined more than 30 organizations in a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo calling for a review and remedies for lumber prices that have nearly tripled in the past year.

Eviction moratoriums at the federal, state and local level have helped reduce eviction filings, but some eligible renters may not be aware of programs and further outreach is needed, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report issued March 15.

On March 9 the National Park Service published its FY-2020 Annual Report for the Historic Tax Credit Program. Last fiscal year, the NPS processed 989 Certifications of completed work (Part 3) resulting in an estimated $6.54 billion in rehabilitation costs.

On March 15, 2021, the IRS published Notice 2021-19, which advises state a local housing credit agencies and issuers of private activity bonds of the state population figures that are used to calculate the annual state allocation for the 9% LIHTC as well as the state’s private activity bond cap.