Housing zeitgeist, late night edition

Catching up a little more on the federal housing buzz:

- The Commerce Dept. makes public works and economic development grants available.

- CBPP says hurricane survivors are not adequately housed.

- HUD releases $24.8 million in "sweat equity" grants to Habitat for Humanity, Housing Assistance Council, Community Frameworks, and ACORN Housing Corporation. (And "sweat equity" is a fine thing but it does still have to be supplemented by debt that new low-income homeowners can barely pay. One household disaster hits, and.... what?)

- "In light of the wide public interest in the proposal...," banking regulators are extending the comment deadline by 30 days on new rules for "nontraditional mortgage products," by which they appear to mean more radically risky mortgages, including the interest-only type.

- NH&RA notes the House Committee on Govt. Reform has extensive prepared statements posted online from its Feb. 15 hearing, “Living In America: Is Our Public Housing System Up to the Challenges of the 21st Century?”

- The current HAC News notes, among other things, that the FY07 budget proposal calls for ending the Dept. of Labor's farmworker housing program.

- At housing blogger David Smith's other shop, Recap Advisors, his colleague Ethan Handelman breaks down what the White House FY07 budget proposal would do with HUD. It ain't pretty.

- NLIHC's new Memo to Members hails "positive news" on S. 190, the Senate GSEs bill. In the same document, a big-picture critique of HUD's position on Sec. 8 income limits.