News

President-elect Joe Biden intends to nominate Janet Yellen to serve as his administration’s Treasury Secretary, according to media reports. If confirmed, Yellen would be the first woman to hold that position. She previously served as Federal Reserve Chair from 2014-18 under the Obama Administration, and was a Federal Reserve Board Governor, President of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank and Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Clinton Administration.

HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing published Housing Notice (HN) 2020-11, opening a second application period for owners of Multifamily-assisted properties to apply for CARES Act supplemental funds to offset property expenditures to safely serve residents in light of COVID-19. The notice allows owners to submit payment requests for expenses incurred through November 30, 2020. Requests are due to HUD or the Contract Administrator by December 11, 2020,

NH&RA joined with 33 other organizations to submit comments on HUD’s proposed rule on its Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) program. The comments are aimed at expanding the scope and impact of the FSS program so that it can support a broader share of families living in federally subsidized housing to build savings and reach their goal.

NH&RA joined with 139 other organizations to support the National Council of State Housing Agencies’ (NCSHA) letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of the Treasury calling for an extension to the temporary COVID-related LIHTC relief.

Enterprise Community Partners (Enterprise), HUD, Fannie Mae, and Bellwether Enterprise are holding a webinar from 1:30 – 3 p.m. ET on December 10 to discuss their new Ready to Respond: Business Continuity Toolkit. The toolkit equips multifamily affordable building owners & managers with a plan to address crisis as many housing communities confront risks associated with natural disasters and other risks that affect tenants and business resiliency, such as COVID-19.

The Counselors of Real Estate published an article by James Burling, vice president of legal affairs at Pacific Legal Foundation, on America’s Sordid History of Exclusionary Zoning. Burling traces the history state-sponsored, racially motivated exclusionary housing laws via George McMechen’s efforts to obtain a home in the suburbs.

The Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition (AHTCC) is circulating a sign-on letter to support the National Council of State Housing Agencies’ (NCSHA) letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of the Treasury calling for an extension to the temporary COVID-related LIHTC relief. The deadline to sign-on is Friday, November 20. NH&RA joined the […]

In just seven years since the first public housing property converted under the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) and their partners have cleared another major milestone—surpassing more than $10 billion for the improvement and replacement of converting public housing properties.

The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies will release its annual State of the Nation’s Housing Report on November 19 and host a release event from 4-5 p.m. ET.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently published a report on Opportunity Zones (OZ’s), which calls on Congress to consider providing Treasury with authority and responsibility to collect data and report on OZ’s performance.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced that the 2021 multifamily loan purchase caps for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) will be $70 billion for each Enterprise. NH&RA applauds the increased caps and looking forward to working with FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure sufficient liquidity in the multifamily mortgage market during this economic downturn.

Don Layton authored a new paper with Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, What Should We Do with the GSEs? Common-Sense Reform Recommendations for the Biden Administration. Layton concludes that the new administration, if it is to successfully address the GSE question, must follow one of two possible paths in the next twelve to twenty-four months.