HUD

HUD has issued Notice H 2012-18 and H 2012-19 extending an original Notice H 2010-26 which established policy and procedures for the review of requests to subordinate Section 202 direct loans in cases where refinancing these loans is not feasible.

HUD has issued a notices designating its 2013 “Difficult Development Areas” (DDAs) for purposes of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. HUD makes DDA designations annually.

On March 8, 2012, at 77 FR 14029, HUD published in the Federal Register a notice announcing HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program and the publication of PIH Notice 2012-18 on the RAD Website.

HUD has announced the expansion of its FHA Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Pilot program by increasing the number of participating HUD Hub Processing Offices by five and to make the pilot available to LIHTC projects in all parts of the country. The added HUD offices are in Atlanta, Denver, Fort Worth, San Francisco, and Seattle. They join the original participating Hub Offices in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, and Los Angeles.

HUD has opened the competitive application period for conversions under the first component of the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Vulnerable Veterans Housing Reform Act of 2012 (HR 6361) which would exclude in-home disability care payments from veterans’ income calculations for some HUD housing programs.

HUD released an updated Section 8 Renewal Policy Guide and Summary of Changes on May 18, 2012 and has since issued a request for comments on the updated guide in the Federal Register. The Section 8 Renewal Policy Guide governs how expiring Section 8 project-based assistance contracts are renewed, an essential component to preserving low income rental housing affordability and availability. Comments on the updated guide are due to HUD by November 13, 2012

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a study that assesses the efficiency and cost effectiveness of multiple federal housing programs with similar goals, products and often parallel delivery systems. GAO proposes that there are opportunities to further increase collaboration and alignment among the agencies that administer these programs.

HUD has announced the creation of the Partners in Housing Advanced Preservation Training series for multifamily Owners and senior level Property Management company staff. The HUD workshops will focus on advanced approaches to preserving affordable multifamily properties and builds upon the Basic “Partners in Housing” course.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on behalf of the White House recently released a report which details the potential effects sequestration, or across-the-board cuts to the budget, could have on both defense and non-defense programs. In August 2011, both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate voted for the threat of sequestration as a mechanism to force Congress to act on reducing the deficit by $1.2 trillion as required by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA).

HUD has released a revised Chapter 14 of the Asset Management and Project Servicing handbook, which is the primary tool used by Field Office Loan Management multifamily staff in carrying out asset management and loan servicing responsibilities in monitoring and assisting owners/managing agents to maintain projects in good physical and financial condition.

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed by a vote of 402-7 the FHA Emergency Fiscal Solvency Act of 2012 (HR 4264), a measure which would help shore up the fiscal solvency of the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) mortgage insurance programs. The bill, introduced by Judy Biggert (R-IL), Chair of the House Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity Subcommittee, places a minimum on annual FHA mortgage insurance premiums and enhances FHA risk and enforcement measures to protect against fraud and abuse, among other provisions.