HUD

A key element in the development or acquisition of a low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) property is the real estate appraisal.

HUD recently issued guidance about combining Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contracts that contain similar provisions and those that contain differing provisions for Multifamily Field Office Staff.

HUD recently released a Notice in the Federal Register announcing guidelines for Housing Credit Agencies (HCAs) to follow in implementing subsidy layering reviews in accordance with the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA).

HUD recently published a Notice in the Federal Register to release a new assessment tool for grantees to take advantage of when preparing Affirmatively Further Fair Housing (AFFH) plans.

More than 120 enthusiastic energy- and cost-concerned representatives from a variety of affordable housing companies and organizations filled a conference room in a building adjacent to Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station on April 3 for a frank and incisive, daylong look at the true financial benefits that can be reaped from best practices in energy and […]

HUD recently released Housing Notice 2014-10 to make updates to certain procedures published in Notice 2011-18 “Processing Guidance for the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly and Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities Programs.”

Housing authorities that are seeking alternate energy sources or new funding streams will be particularly interested in HUD’s latest PIH notice. It ushers in a number of programmatic changes in an effort to increase the use of on-site renewable energy technology at federally subsidized housing projects. http://www.ballardspahr.com/alertspublications/legalalerts/2014-08-20-hud-notice-has-potential-to-encourage-broad-pha.aspx

FHA Commissioner Carole Galante recently announced she will leave her role as HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Housing and FHA Commissioner in the fall. In January, she will assume the I. Donald Terner Distinguished Professorship in Affordable Housing and Urban Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and will also serve as the Director of the Berkeley Program in Housing and Urban Policy and co-chair the Fisher Center on Real Estate Policy Advisory Board.

A recent memo released by HUD dated August 7, 2014, addresses the use of a lender ordered MAP appraisals in lieu of a separate Rent Comparability Study (RCS) for Mark-Up-To-Market transactions. The Department plans to change the current RCS guidelines upon publication of the long awaited updated Section 8 Renewal Policy Guide to allow for the use of a lender ordered MAP appraisal that will serve a dual purpose; serving as an RCS and for use in underwriting an application for HUD mortgage insurance.

Representative Pete Gallego (D-TX) recently introduced H.R. 5198 to amend Section 42(d)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide an appeal process  for designation as qualified census tracts (QCTs) and difficult development areas (DDAs) under the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. This legislation would allow any State or local government agency to […]

Representatives Dennis Ross (R-FL), Jim Himes (D-CT), John Delaney (D-MD) , Sean Duffy (R-WI), Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) and Ann Wagner (R-MO) recently introduced “Pay-for-Success” legislation (H.R. 5104 ) to increase energy efficiency in multifamily rental housing.

Effective Friday July 18, 2014, Mark Van Kirk, the Director of Asset Management for the Office of Multifamily Housing Programs, will be departing HUD and Margaret Salazar will also be stepping down as Director of the Office of Affordable Housing Preservation (OAHP) to assume the role of Field Office Director for HUD’s Portland, OR office in August.