News

On November 9, Freddie Mac CEO David Brickman notified the company’s board of directors that he would resign as CEO, effective January 8. Michael Hutchins has been appointed interim President of the company effective November 16, 2020.

The Senate returned this week and hit the ground running with Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 appropriations. Funding for the federal government runs out on December 11 and both Republicans and Democrats have stated their desire for full FY 2021 appropriation, as opposed to another short-term or long-term continuing resolution. A COVID-19 relief package and a tax bill are widely seen as the other must-dos during the lame-duck session. All three legislative vehicles provide opportunities to attach LIHTC priorities. We’ll continue to monitor the latest developments and engage our members when action is needed.

The jockeying for cabinet and leadership positions within a Biden administration is well underway. We’ll keep a running list of names that are rumored to be in consideration, but note that this list already is out-of-date the second it is published, and that NH&RA is not endorsing any potential candidate, but rather relaying the potential candidates that we’re aware of.

In response to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published Revenue Procedure 2020-49, which provides temporary guidance on the statutory public approval requirement for tax-exempt qualified private activity bonds. The revenue procedure extends the time period during which telephonic hearings satisfy the public approval requirement from December 31, 2020, until September 30, […]

HUD successfully completed the CNA e-Tool Version 3.0 installation and data conversion. The CNA e-Tool User Interface has been re-platformed to the cloud and the most important result is that users must now enter all data in the web application, not the Excel Assessment Tool, which is now retired.

FHFA determined the Enterprises’ purchases of mortgages exceeded the benchmarks for all the 2019 housing goals. The report also concluded both Enterprises complied with their 2019 Duty-to-Serve requirements in all three underserved markets.

Most older Americans do not reside in livable communities, according to a joint report from the Harvard Joint Center on Housing Studies and the AARP Public Policy institute. The report said most seniors do not reside in places that score high on AARP’s Livability Index, which measures economic and social environments among other factors.

The Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service posted a proposed rule on the Average Income minimum set-aside election. The proposed rule would require properties electing the average income minimum set-aside to designate the imputed income limit of each low-income unit no later than the close of the first taxable year of the LIHTC period. To avoid noncompliance and recapture, owners would only be allowed to take mitigating steps with 60 days of year-end.

A new blog and paper by Don Layton with the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University explore whether the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) plans and actions are consistent with making the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (collectively, the Government Sponsored Enterprises or GSEs) attractive enough to equity investors, and – given the need to raise such unprecedentedly large amounts of equity – to do so globally and broadly.

On October 14, HUD issued a further update to its Frequently Asked Questions for subsidized multifamily housing programs to clarify and extend certain interim procedures and tie in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s order creating a national eviction moratorium for nonpayment of rent.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a stay and preliminary injunction to prevent HUD from implementing its new Disparate Impact rule. The suit claimed the new rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and drew support and declarations from over a dozen community-based organizations.

The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) posted an updated calendar year (CY) 2020 New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program Allocation Application Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document and a revised CY 2020 NMTC Program Allocation Application.