Did Jeb Bush ease cruise ship contracts?
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Ca., who gets more political mileage than most from his Congressional Web site, has posted an open letter to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush asking about his role in lining up Carnival cruise ships as emergency Katrina housing, as hinted at by emails exchanged with J. Bush campaign donor and Carnival representative Ric Cooper. Rep. Waxman protests: It now appears that the contracts will cost federal taxpayers almost $240,000 to provide temporary shelter for a family of five. At this price, the federal government could have built permanent homes for the families. Doonesbury's fictional Uncle Duke notwithstanding, it appears the real-life residents of these cruise ships have been mainly police and other "first responders," with their families. FEMA has announced plans to move these families off the ships into other housing shortly, but there seem to be hitches, including a lawsuit to keep a non-Carnival ship, the Scotia Prince, serving residents of St. Bernard Parish. Waxman writes: The Carnival Cruise Lines contract has turned out the be enormously expensive. Much of the expense is due to the design of the contract itself. Under this contract, the taxpayers are not reimbursing Carnival for the services it actually provides, but are compensating Carnival for both the revenues the company would have earned under normal operations and any additional expenses that the company incurs under the contract. This means that the taxpayer is responsible for paying for revenues the company would have received from its casino operations, liquor and drink sales, and on-shore excursions, even though these costs have nothing to do with the primary relief mission. Sounds like new grist for the National Multi Housing Council from here. [UPDATE 3/1/06: Here's the writeup from AP.]
Could Forest Service land sales aid housing?
Whatever the political or environmental implications of this Bush Admin. proposal to sell Forest Service land, it may have importance for groups hoping to site low-income housing. Today's Federal Register carries a USDA request for comment on the proposal. Low income housing is in fact mentioned as a possible use for the land. Also on the subject of newly available land, the Defense Department today posts a final rule affecting base closures.
"Tax Tips" posted for GO Zones, EZs, RCs
Today's HUD webcast on tax incentives in Gulf Opportunity Zones, Empowerment Zones, and Renewal Communities came with a collection of "Tax Tips" freshly posted today. The recording of today's presentation should be available for viewing at HUD's webcast archive site in another day or so.
NLIHC on displacement rights, grants, more
Items in the new National Low-Income Housing Coalition Memo to Members include: a HUD oversight hearing coming up March 1 at the House Financial Services Committee... a TT-HUD Appropriations hearing in the Senate on March 2... many Katrina recovery updates... publication of a new pamphlet in English and Spanish explaining the augmented rights of displaced tenants under the "Barney Frank Amendment"... an Urban Institute study on HOPE VI displacements and senior citizens... and considerably more, including a call from the Bollinger Foundation for nominations of bereaved families to receive grants "who have lost a parent or guardian where the deceased or surviving parent or guardian worked in the field of public housing, community development, or economic development."
New Home for "Homeless Management"
HUD's "Homeless Management Information Systems" project for tracking homeless individuals through service programs has its own new Web site. [MORE: They've also set up a Google Groups discussion list for technical aspects of the program. Looks like posting is by membership only but material that is posted is public.][YET MORE: The HMIS folks further note that the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization passed in January with new protections against the disclosure of data to the HMIS system by "domestic violence providers." By which they appear to mean battered women's shelters.]
Monday mix: Pick your favorite buzzword
Fannie critic highlighted
Roger Barnes, a former manager in Fannie Mae's controller's office, is the subject of an extensive and interesting article in today's Washington Post (required free registration), which finds that his major claims about accounting irregularities at the mortgage giant have been largely substantiated by recent investigations (including the recent Rudman report). The article does, however, report that there remains differing views of how Barnes made his original complaints up the chain of command at Fannie, and how they were handled.
Reopen apartments? Not In My Back Yard...
In case the hurricane wasn't trouble enough, a subsidized effort to reopen some apartment complexes in New Orleans is now hitting NIMBY opposition. See the second item in this Times-Picayune column.
Some evacuees' HUD homes are no bargain
The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Mississippi reports that some hurricane evacuees who received "free" homes from HUD find themselves bedeviled with repair problems. Melinda Wright, for example, whose rent-free HUD house has such badly busted electrical and plumbing systems that she hasn't slept there since signing the lease back on Dec. 12. The paper reports: She recently started seeing a psychiatrist. One of the topics they've been discussing is housing.
FEMA will keep reimbursing Houston
Looks like FEMA has reversed its threatened cutoff of aid to Houston's municipal government, which has been caring for so many hurricane survivors. The agency says it will continue reimbursing the city for housing and police overtime. Don't know who pays for social worker overtime or food bank overtime, but it sounds like good news as far as it goes.
Same planet, different worlds
The "Daily Dose of Architecture" blog notes two extremely different views of Chicago public housing redevelopment.
Civil rights suit over building permit fails
Can there be a civil right to a building permit? The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals answered the question in a partial negative on Tuesday with its dismissal of a New Hampshire developer's federal civil rights suit under 42 USC Sec. 1983. Developers Henry Torromeo and MDR Corporation had alleged that when the town of Fremont, NH delayed issuing building permits to them, it violated their Constitutional rights to due process and to equal protection of the laws, and also their rights against uncompensated "takings" under the Fifth Amendment. This week the federal appeals court threw out the due process and equal protection claims, saying those allegations straightforwardly failed to describe genuine Constitutional rights violations, but it rejected the Fifth Amendment takings claim on a more technical theory: the developers had already lost on the takings theory in the state Supreme Court, and the federal court felt they were now attempting an improper end run around that previous decision. Tuesday's federal decision is Torromeo v. Town of Fremont, NH.
Ellis payment law upheld in San Francisco
A California state appeals court has upheld a San Francisco ordinance providing that tenants being evicted under the state Ellis Act must be paid relocation assistance of $4,500 per person or up to $13,500 per household, regardless of the tenants' own income levels. The SocketSite blog has several local reports on the decision. California's Ellis Act allows most residential building owners to evict tenants, including rent-controlled tenants, without cause, so long as the owners intend to take the building entirely out of the rental market. It's a process that has become more attractive to owners with the increased popularity of tenancies in common (TICs), which can be used to sell a property to multiple owner-occupants while avoiding California's burdensome legal requirements for conversion to condo or co-op status. The case name is given in one of SocketSite's sources as Pieri v. CCSF (meaning "City and County of San Francisco"). The text of the opinion doesn't seem to be posted on the state or FindLaw slip opinion pages, so either they're late posting it (may as well check back in a few days) or the decision is an unpublished opinion, in which case it'll be most easily findable through LEXIS.
House flippers flip out
There's a new sign of weakness in home prices. CNN/Money reports that tidbit against the backdrop of a rise in canceled home orders that "experts say could be a sign of an underlying weakness in the recent run in home prices." So, does that mean fewer renters will be lured away to homeownership and the world of rapidly rising home equity, or that more might be tempted if home prices stabilize or drop a wee bit while interest rates remain somewhat sane?
Friday mix: tenant tax tips and more
- Further regarding tax time for tenants: HUD's Mulifamily Housing Rental Housing Integrity Improvement Project reminds subsidized property managers that tenants' refunds from the Earned Income Tax Credit are excluded from income counted by HUD. See HUD Handbook 4350.3 REV-1, Chapter 5, Exhibit 5-1. The project also suggests that multifamily housing owners who are about to submit their March 1 annual financial statements may want to make sure in advance that the right parties have the necessary computer access and passwords. - Not sure if nonprofit-affiliated readers here do things like voter registration drives or if, as individuals, they endorse or volunteer in political campaigns. If so, however, might want to have a look at today's IRS investigation results and guidance on 2004 political activity by charities. - Sec'y Jackson is to appear Saturday at a "State of the Black Union" symposium in Houston to be led by talk show host Tavis Smiley, with many other prominent figures expected, including Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan. - This summary document, prepared as Congressional testimony, gives a pretty clear rundown on what GAO thinks of public housing and public housing authorities in general -- which in some cases, of course, is "not much". The summary is surprisingly cheerful about HOPE VI but recommends that Congress clarify the extent of HUD's oversight authority over the program.
Here's the hurricane DDAs announcement
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.
A tax-season note to CA landlords
A suggestion from a part-time poverty lawyer to managers of subsidized residential buildings in California: If your building is exempt from property tax because of, for example, government ownership -- or due to one of these famously controversial non-profit managing partners -- then your tenants probably won't qualify for California renter assistance unless the building has made "PILOT" payments in lieu of tax, and they probably won't qualify at all for the separate state non-refundable renter's credit. At this time of year, it could be a real public service for you to post a notice in the lobby describing the building's tax status and its implications for renter assistance and the renter's credit. (Do consult your attorney or tax accountant first.) As you know, a lot of low-income tenants have limited educations and hence not much patience with paperwork, so it may be a genuine help if you can save them the trouble of applying for a benefit they can't receive.
More official regret: the WH Katrina report
New DDAs named in hurricane GO Zones
Posted today at HUDUSER, and expected in tomorrow's Federal Register: the new supplemental designation of Difficult Development Areas that will bring extra low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) to affordable housing projects in the Gulf Opportunity Zones defined by this fall's hurricane relief legislation. Projects in areas on this list, if approved for LIHTC credits, can get up to 30% more than the usual level of subsidy from this source. Today's designation is good through 2008.
Fannie says, Tell us something we don't know
As noted below, Fannie's getting another tongue-lashing, this time in response to the Rudman report (or, as Fannie calls it, the "Paul, Weiss report" because of the involvement of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP). You can download copies of the report and statements from Fannie execs here. Essentially, Fannie CEO and President Daniel H. Mudd notes that his organization "is a different company than a year ago. We have been humbled, even embarrassed." He goes on to cite its new management team, new positions created to oversee compliance and risk management, its recapitalization, and a more cooperative relationship with its inquisit -- er, its regulators and Congressional overlords. He leaves it to Fannie board chairman Stephen Ashley to explain in more detail how Fannie Mae has (and is) responding to charges ranging from only paying "lip service" to ideas of corporate honest and openeness, to misleading information being provided to the board of directors, to "grossly inadequate" accounting systems, and more. Much of the response is, basically, "We knew that, we've already addressed that, we're going to address that." But Fannie deserves credit for the openness it's showing now, both with cooperating with the report's writers and for a highly praised new working relationship with official Washington. Its biggest challenge might just be having to deal patiently and politely with each successive report rehashing what we largely already know about what went wrong at Fannie.
Save HOPE VI!
Another voice speaks up to save HOPE VI. This time it's a feature in the San Francisco Chonicle.
Rudman report on FMae released this a.m.
I'll try to get a text of the report itself posted later. For now, here's news coverage. Sounds like the assessment of Fannie Mae could have been worse. ....Here we go: Executive summary here, huge report, 2652 pages, here... (Warning, this second link goes to a honking big file of 136.1 MB -- the biggest file I have ever seen made available for download.) .... Treasury Dept. reaction: "...lays bare the earnings-at-any-cost culture that had developed over many years at Fannie Mae, and the substantial abuses that resulted...." ... Meanwhile David Smith cocks an eyebrow -- OK, maybe even a snook -- at Fannie and Freddie's lobbying practices.
At least he didn't call him "Mr. Mayor"
At Whitehouse.gov, and again in a PR Newswire press release: President Bush begins remarks on African American History Month by thanking Secretary Alphonso Jackson of HUD as "the Secretary of Health and Human Services" before quickly correcting himself. (If you're not old enough to remember the howlers of Ronald Reagan, see the third paragraph here.)
A preservation exception to the 10-year rule
An IRS private letter ruling (PLR) posted this past Friday granted an exception to keep the new acquisition/rehab purchaser of a Sec. 8 project from losing eligibility for low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC) because of a foreclosure in the property's history. The seller of this multi-unit project had previously sold it to another party, but then had re-acquired it through foreclosure when the other buyer couldn't pay as agreed. The foreclosure officially changed the placed-in-service date of the project, so that the planned LIHTC purchase was formally about to break the 10-year holding rule, which allows LIHTC tax benefits only for acquisition/rehabs taking place more than 10 years after the most recent date a preexisting property was placed in service. The IRS saved the deal by granting a waiver under Sec. 42(d)(6)(A), essentially saying that the acquisition/rehab would preserve the property as low-income housing by preventing the prepayment of its federally subsidized mortgage. The decision is PLR No. 200607013. Private letter rulings may not be cited as precedent.
Federal fine print on the crises of our age
Rising foreclosures of minority-owned homes
The single-family housing splurge of recent years is coming back to haunt -- and hurt -- some of the most vulnerable families in the nation: lower-income minorities. According to today's New York Times (see "For Minorities, Signs of Trouble in Foreclosures," [site requires free registration]), the housing boom that has helped push the minority home ownership rate above 50% has a down side. Specifically, "in the past several years, neighborhoods with large poor and minority populations in places like Cleveland, Chicago, Philadelphia and Atlanta have experienced a sharp rise in foreclosures, in some cases more than doubling," write authors Vikas Bajaj and Ron Nixon. What's worse is that a middle-income family would be better able to weather the loss of a house because it typically has better credit history, higher earning potential, and access to capital; but a lower-income household might be more likely to face the option used by the homeowner who leads off the Times article: bankruptcy. Oh, and the bankruptcy laws were changed last year to be more punitive to the small guy. Oh, and minority homeowners "are twice as likely as whites to have taken out expensive subprime mortgages, most of which will jump to higher interest rates in the next two years" [emphasis added]. The article notes that the foreclosure rates are not even across the nation, and are in any way still relatively low. But apartment owners, managers and developers should read the whole story to get a better idea of what happened to some of their once -- and future? -- tenants who were lured to homeownership.
Straw Houses!
The Green Building movement is set to get its own TV show, according to this clip from the Santa Barbara News-Press — and the first show will give viewers a tour of a house made out of straw bales. It's sturdier than you might think…
Peeling paint in the oldest suburbs
FEMA Outrage
For all of us confused, disappointed and finally angry about the plight of the homeless people of New Orleans, the National Multi Housing Council has finally put some of our feelings into words — at least the feelings of this blogger: A city in pieces, with block after block of ruined, empty houses: For some New Yorkers, the wreck of New Orleans sounds terribly familiar… Our city lived with devastation too, in the years when more than 350,000 units of housing here were lost to abandonment and neglect. Here are some words of encouragement from a historian of the recovery. (Warning: The newspaper might ask you to sign up before it lets you read this editorial.)
Storm brewing over proposed FHA MIP hike
Reports from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) Commercial Real Estate Finance conference in Orlando early this month included some interesting comments about an announcement by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that it was nearly doubling the mortgage insurance premium (MIP) for most of its programs to 80 basis points. FHA lenders said they'd lose huge amounts of their business. One, I'm told by a witness, basically got into a shouting match with the FHA speakers and stormed out of the room. The MBA is vowing to fight the increase (see MBA's press release), as well it might: MBA was instrumental in getting the Bush Administration to lower the MIPs over the last few years. Now the fruits of that effort are in danger of evaporating. The reason for all of the fuss is that the MIP is apparently being raised not because the FHA programs are losing money -- in fact, I'm told they're more than paying for themselves -- but because of a wide-ranging treasure-hunt in Washington to find money to fill the gaping maw of a budget wildly out of whack (how many mixed metaphors in that sentence?). You can look forward to Eric Wong's good coverage on the topic in the March issue of Apartment Finance Today magazine, which will be out in a couple weeks. But in the meantime, you may want to heed the words of Andrea McClure, senior vice president of CWCapital, who encourages everyone involved in FHA housing to learn more about this topic, how it affects them and their residents (who will likely get hit with a fair amount of the increase from the financing costs because investors will still demand the same returns). Then contact the National Association of Home Builders or the MBA and find out how you can help educate your legislators on the damage this MIP change could do to your business and to housing programs nationwide.
Where's the homeownership credit?
The industry has been buzzing about what’s in the President’s 2007 budget proposal, but how about what’s not in it? In an interesting turn of events, plans for a single-family homeownership credit seem to be missing. The administration had backed a homeownership credit in the past, although the idea never really gained momentum. Anyone have thoughts about what’s going on?
S'morning's Federal Register
HUD has its information collection comment request posted for the Community Design Program of its Universities Rebuilding America Partnerships program for academic design work on the hurricane recovery.... The Census Bureau has posted its information collection comment request for the upcoming Survey of Residential Alterations and Repairs... and we've got more FEMA proposed flood elevations: Illinois/Missouri; Kansas/Missouri.
Another answer to local income snobbery
I think we may have missed linking to this NYU study from last spring, which gathered extensive data from New York City neighborhoods to show that federally subsidized housing did not lower neighborhood property values and in some cases even raised them.
CPD cuts HOME "soft costs" fudge factor
The rules of an accounting game for local housing programs just got clearer, or so one is at least led to believe by Friday's HUDCLIPS news. Here's the basic game: under existing law, only 10% of an agency's HOME budget can be spent on "administrative" costs, plus 10% of its program income for "administrative planning and planning costs," but there's no limit on spending out of the HOME allocation for "project-related soft costs." [Correction 2/24/06: NLIHC says "There are no specific limits to 'project soft costs,' but there are per-unit subsidy limitations to consider."] Some types of expenses can be counted as either "administrative" or "soft costs." These consist of "project-related or relocation-related staff and overhead costs" and some "costs of complying with other Federal requirements." In other words, the rules would at least appear to present local HOME grant administrators with a temptation to attribute general overhead to individual projects. Readers, please do comment if I've misunderstood the incentives, but that's sure what it looks like. So we have here a notice from HUD's Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) explaining quite carefully, with many examples, what does and doesn't have to be counted as an administrative cost -- and, incidentally, what costs can and can't be taken out of CDBG funds or out of the "American Dream Downpayment Initiative" grants within HOME, which have somewhat different spending rules. The definitions of administrative-only costs are so specific as to suggest the authors have individual cases in mind. Wonder who's getting slapped here. Some clues: office rent and travel are always administrative, never "project-related soft costs." So are insurance, utilities, office supplies, costs of informing the public about the program, costs of writing HUD reports, and "costs of administering tenant-based rental assistance." Also, it says, "program or neighborhood wide environmental reviews" and "administrative services performed under third party agreements, such as legal, accounting and audit services." There are several more of these, so do read the document itself if this is your area. This item is the first HUDCLIPS-level notice of the new year out of CPD, hence numbered CPD 2006-01.
At least somebody's FEMA housing continues
Fun with GIS and Google Maps
Coming HUD Webcasts include Katrina info
More notes on that quarterly waiver list
It's worth looking for policy pattern changes in these third-quarter 2005 regulatory waivers that HUD published today because they're the first to show acts by Brian Montgomery as FHA Commissioner. The second-quarter FHA waivers, listed in the Nov. 7, 2005 Federal Register, were signed by the previous commissioner, John Weicher. It looks like I already caught the biggest change in my previous post: these long lists of Mark-to-Market fee waivers granted as "incentives to encourage owner cooperation," which are attributed to Montgomery, seem to be new. The second-quarter list shows Weicher did not grant waivers of this type, though he did grant other waivers in the Mark-to-Market program, allowing a number of projects to exceed the 12-month limit on above-market rents. Montgomery also continued granting 12-month deadline waivers at about the same rate. Weicher granted 90 waivers of the rule against amending capital advance amounts before initial closing, but Montgomery granted only 66. Elsewhere at HUD, there were 31 second-quarter waivers of public housing authorities' payment standards and 15 in the third quarter. Could be the time of the year making the difference, of course. There's more in these files on individual unique programs and special cases. Highly technical stuff but HUD-funded developers or program managers may want to read further. [MORE, 2/26/06: Actually, if you look at the third-quarter regulatory waivers for 2004, there were comparable waivers of Mark-to-Market fees then too. Sorry to give the impression that these were new.]
HUD wants $6.9m back from Newark PHA
HUD helps a land swap in Atlanta
The Atlanta Housing Authority and the city's three historically black colleges are doing a land swap deal with help from HUD.
High water marks everywhere...
FEMA has another list of flood elevations today -- this one with final figures for towns and counties in Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee. If you can spare a moment for aesthetics, there are some lovely Southern place names: Daw's Creek, Jinnys Branch, Lockwoods Folly River, Waccamaw River, Sweet Water Branch, Cerro Gordo, Little Brier Creek... And HUD has issued its third-quarter 2005 regulatory waivers, which always make a fine collection of tea leaves to try and read. At a quick glance, I see the FHA has granted a large number of Mark-to-Market fee waivers as an "incentive to encourage owner cooperation." I'll take a longer look at the list later today.
"Put an elephant on one end of a seesaw..."
"Am I in a Katrina GO Zone?"
Someone just visited this site based on a search for the phrase above, and I always feel badly when people arrive here and don't see what they're looking for. So, yes, Virginia (or, anyway, yes, Gulf Coasters), I can tell you how to find out if you're in a Katrina GO Zone. Actually there are three separate GO Zone definitions for Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. All of these are defined -- and carefully distinguished from the larger "Disaster Areas" for each -- by this section of IRS Publication 4492. If you download the whole PDF version the definitions start on Page 2.
CDBGs being linked to "earmark reform"
Run a quick text search for "CDBG" in last Monday's White House budget briefing transcript and you'll find Claude Allen, then Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy (he has since resigned), associating the rhetoric of "earmark reform" with the "Strengthening America's Communities" budget proposal that would cut funding to community development block grants while loosening the current structures of the CDBG and other federal economic development programs. A thing for housing people to consider when reading anti-earmark rhetoric like this.
Is there private PR spending at HUD too?
Interesting discovery: the private Webwire public relations site has been distributing HUD press releases online since November 2005. Not every press release shows up there -- just a pretty big selection on high-profile issues like Hurricane Katrina and the White House budget proposal. You'll see what I mean if you search on "HUD" in the company's publicly available online archive. The search results you get will include a few releases from other sources that just happen to mention HUD, but most of these items will show the federal agency as both the source and the subject of the release. It looks like the earliest Webwire release giving HUD as the source is this one from Nov. 2, 2005, on plans to rebuild some public housing in New Orleans. HUD probably isn't spending anywhere near as much on public relations as some other federal agencies -- actually, for all we know, Webwire could just be posting these releases for free out of sheer civic benevolence. But if in fact HUD is paying Webwire for news release posting services, it does seem worth wondering why. We are, after all, talking about a public agency that has its own press staff, its own extremely prominent Web site with its own press release pages, and considerable name recognition from the news media and the general public. So why the extra help from a private site? This use of Webwire would make more sense if it were part of a public awareness campaign for a purpose such as preventing fraud or discrimination -- for example, if they were part of the public relations campaign to stop housing discrimination against hurricane victims. But actually the anti-discrimination effort seems to be handled separately by the Ad Council, on a basis clearly labeled as charitable. Whereas a lot of the Webwire releases seem to be promoting a general sense of HUD as provider of benefits -- e.g. the December 2005 release of $1.33 billion in McKinney-Vento grants -- without getting around to "news you can use" like where to sign up for actual grants or housing. On the whole it's puzzling. Do readers have any thoughts?
Before the next flood
FEMA has a proposed rule posted today naming a series of proposed Base Flood Elevations affecting flood insurance in AZ, CA, NJ, NY, NC, and WV. Maybe better check if your neck of the woods is on the list.
"Facts About Children" from HUD
Courtesy of HUD's Multifamily Housing Rental Housing Integrity Improvement Project Listserv, some "Facts About Children" that weren't in Dr. Spock: 1. Did you know that applicants must disclose social security numbers for all family members at least 6 years of age and older and provide proof of the numbers reported?
--Chapter 3, Eligibility for Assistance and Occupancy, Section 3-5 B of HUD Handbook 4350.3 Occupancy Requirements of Subsidized Multifamily Housing Programs.
2. When determining the size of unit that would be appropriate for a particular family, the owner must count "Children in joint custody arrangements who are present in the household 50% or more of the time."
--Chapter 3, Eligibility for Assistance and Occupancy, Section 3-22 E6. b(6) of HUD Handbook 4350.3 Occupancy Requirements of Subsidized Multifamily Housing Programs. Yes, I know, there are umpteen excellent reasons not to find this depressing.
New LIHTC aspect in consolidated plan rule
Thanks to NH&RA for noting that last week's Consolidated Plan rule included a new requirement to include low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) properties in the plans' overall approach to local resources. They're mentioned a couple of times, most strongly in the new 24 CFR 91.315 (m): (m)Low-income housing tax credit. The consolidated plan must describe the strategy to coordinate the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit with the development of housing that is affordable to low-income and moderate-income families.
TDHCA wants to hear about Rita damage
The Texas Dept of Housing and Community Affairs is asking for reports from "owners and/or managers" of housing damaged by Hurricane Rita. This per a group email that oddly doesn't seem to be on the agency's Web site. Responses go to Mike Garrett, by email to michael.garrett[at]tdhca.state.tx.us, or fax to (512)475-3359. Details wanted are name and address of development, TDHCA programs there, total units, number damaged by Rita (both usable and "vacant due to damage"), "common spaces" damaged by Rita, type of damage, and, if available, estimated cost of damage, estimated insurance or FEMA reimbursement expected, and status of repairs. The agency writes: Your responses will help the department determine the availability of affordable housing in the region. These needs will aid in planning the distribution of funding to help rebuilding in impacted areas. Your response is requested by Friday, February 24, 2006.
Wednesday Beltway busyness
- The IRS, by Notice 2006-17, gives taxpayers until Oct. 16, 2006 to elect whether to deduct certain losses from the three top 2005 hurricanes. - Secy's Snow and Jackson addressed the Senate Banking Committee today on the White house budget proposal. - Ben Bernanke, newly head of the Fed, wants to put Fannie and Freddie on diets. - HUD has posted a press release following up on last week's posting of rules for the new Disaster Voucher Program (DVP), which replaces the KDHAP Katrina housing relief program. - The other day, opening a new homeownership program in Pittsburgh, Secretary Jackson spoke with particular warmth of Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Pa., "Not that I'm endorsing her..." - Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Kim Kendrick, who happens to be from Pittsburgh, was recently honored in Washington and had a pointed answer in Miami for a schoolgirl who brought up Kanye West: What, 11-year-old Erin Wheeler asked, did Kendrick think about West's comment in September that President George W. Bush did not like black people? ''That comment,'' Kendrick responded, "was not a true one nor was it a responsible one to make.'' [MORE: - The Federal Register today says HUD mistakenly swapped the Annual Adjustment Factors for the South and the Midwest when it published the list back on Dec. 1, 2005. Fortunately, it says the agency got the figures right in actual computations, so today's notice is just correcting the formal record. - FEMA is about to suspend several areas in North Carolina, Nebraska and Missouri from its flood insurance program unless they can show they've been complying with federal flood plain management regulations.]
Trailers for NOLA are stuck in Hope, Ark.
Yes, Hope, Arkansas has a new claim to fame. Last week MoJo Blog spotted two news items saying an airstrip there is storing some 11,000 mobile shelters -- variously described as "trailers" or "motor homes," but said in one of the articles to be 80 feet long -- for which somebody presumably could find a use on the Gulf Coast. (Heck, we could use them here in San Francisco given the right official permissions, and so could any other town with serious homelessness. There's a huge difference in quality of life between sleeping in a doorway or tent and sleeping in any kind of vehicle, even a car or a van. There are a lot of people living homeless out here who wouldn't ask much more from life than a nice house trailer and a place to park it legally.) [MORE: Incidentally, the Housing Authority of New Orleans posted a fairly detailed FAQ sheet about three weeks ago and the agency's Web site has been substantially redesigned to include much more information.]
WPost notices the Grants.gov snafus
Final notice confirms 50th-percentile FMRs
Finally, more than halfway through fiscal 2006, we have the final list of metro areas receiving HUD's permission to subsidize 50th-percentile "Fair Market Rents" for Section 8 voucher tenants. Fortunately for the affected jurisdictions, there are no surprises: HUD's final decision confirms the preliminary who's-on-who's-off list that it posted back on Aug. 25, 2005. Housing authorities in places on the list may subsidize rents at the 50th-percentile level determined by HUD's "Fair Market Rent" (FMR) studies for their area, as opposed to the usual 40th percentile. The decisions posted today are effective March 1, 2006. I'll link to both the HTML and the PDF version here. The HTML loads much faster if you just want the quick-and-dirty, but the details are on PDF-only imaged pages. Some of the areas losing 50th-percentile status are places where competition for the lowest-cost housing is so tight you'd think they would continue to qualify for the dispensation -- for example, Baton Rouge, Oakland, Philadelphia, Newark, Miami, and San Diego. Yet some places where you'd think low-cost housing would be easier to find, like Tucson, made the list. Then again, this notice is talking percentiles, and the absolute numbers are starkly different: the finally determined 2006 FMR for an Oakland one-bedroom is $1045 per month while the list posted last August 25 shows Tucson's 50th-percentile FMR for a one-bedroom as $571. (Yes, but have you tried finding an apartment in Oakland for $1045 a month lately?) At least when it comes to Baton Rouge we're reminded that most hurricane-affected cities are allowed to subsidize higher "exception rents" under a waiver issued as part of the main FMR notice last Oct. 3. (HTML here, PDF here.)
Economic Report of the President
Judge refuses to extend FEMA hotel rents
Rules posted for that $11.5 in relief CDBGs
- Special exceptions and rules for the recent $11.5 billion in Community Development Block Grant hurricane relief funds are posted in today's Federal Register. (...and am I the last to notice that a Finding Of No Significant Impact is abbreviated "FONSI"?) - The Federal Housing Finance Board meets on Wednesday. - Odd change over the weekend at HUDCLIPS: As of last Friday, Feb. 10, the HUDCLIPS "What's New" page had issued new editions of the HUD-92458 form, the rent schedule used by landlords requesting rent increases for low-rent housing, and the whole family of HUD-92264 forms including the Multifamily Summary Appraisal Report and the HUD-92264-T on Sec. 8 rent estimates. Now the whole package has been switched around: - The 92458 itself is posted.
- The 92458-A for nonprofit seniors' housing has been canceled and replaced by the HUD-92547-A.
- The HUD-92564-HS and HUD-92564-VC, which seem to be single-family housing forms, have been canceled, with cross-reference to Mortgagee Letter 05-48.
- Don't know what's become of the HUD-92264-T, it's just gone from the "What's New" page.
Clues to future "performance measurements"
Remember back in the Clinton Administration when it was Andrew Cuomo applying the pressure to design quantitative "performance measurements" for federal programs? Well, now it's the Bush Administration's OMB pushing the quantification of everything for " PART Analysis" purposes. Anyway, as before, it's not enough to do the work. The work has to be done in a way that allows its effect to be measured in units that current officials are willing to recognize as valid. In view of which, federal housing grantees may want to take a look at a recently posted HUD study, " Promising Practices in Grantee Performance Measurement." This is a best-practices review of some local jurisdictions: "...Five communities with emerging reputations for carrying out effective performance measurement in one or more community development programs were studied: Charlotte, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; King County, Washington; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Burlington, Vermont." That's the second HUD honor in a row for King County, Washington. The county containing Seattle is also part of a regional planning effort for CPD programs that was just held up as an example in the final rule on local Consolidated Plans. Not that all has been sweetness and light between HUD and King County: last spring the same jurisdiction's housing authority had an especially hard time with cuts in Sec. 8 voucher funding.
Nelson to HUD managers: manage in person
New word has gone forth from HUD Assistant Secretary Keith Nelson: no telecommuting allowed for managers. The said managers are reportedly fit to be tied. A surprise coming from this particular official, given his comparative youth (he's 36) and his background in journalism and dot-com work, all of which would seem likely to encourage tolerance in such matters. But maybe they did things differently at his previous posting in the Department of Labor.
IRS drops the SWERN requirement for Rita
A note on today's email feed from the Texas Dept. of Housing and Community Affairs notes a significant change between the waiver of low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) income and residency rules for Hurricane Katrina relief ( IRS Notice 2005-69), and its more recent equivalent for Hurricane Rita ( IRS Notice 2006-11). To wit: the requirement to register vacant units with the SWERN Web site has been replaced. This requirement still applies to managers of LIHTC properties who want to rent to displaced households from Hurricane Katrina, but when it comes to Rita, the IRS has accepted the more sensible procedure of requiring landlords to register the units at www.FEMA.gov -- which in turn refers them to DHROnline, which you may remember as the semi-official housing listing that actually worked during the Katrina crisis. This is a kind of (late, backhanded) vindication for the many housing folks who complained all through last fall that the SWERN site, while presumably useful for offers of large resources, wasn't set up to match individual landlords with individual tenants, and wasn't making any discernible use of the housing offers that people were sending there. Anyway, Texas-specific material on both the Katrina and the Rita LIHTC waivers is available over here.
Final rule posted on consolidated plans
Applicants for the Community Planning and Development formula grant programs may want to take a look right away at today's final rule announcement on procedures for forming state and local Consolidated Plans. The rule takes effect March 13. Among a number of "streamlining" changes: jurisdictions may now incorporate other documents by reference, e.g. Continuum of Care plans, in order to reduce paperwork. On the other hand, the new rules call for more inclusive public participation steps that may involve more administrative hassle. In addition to the actual new rules, the preamble contains lots of clues to HUD's preferences, notably a reference to the City of Seattle/King County approach as a model for integrating a Consolidated Plan, a Continuum of Care plan, and a plan to reduce homelessness.
Fannie invested big in rentals during 2005
Breakthrough possible on surplus property
HAC News has spotted a major new possibility that I'm embarrassed to say I missed in the Jan. 26 Federal Register. It's a request for comment by the Dept. of Health and Human Services on a proposal to allow permanent supportive housing to be built on government surplus property that is made available to homeless service projects under the McKinney-Vento Act. The ban on long-term projects has been one of the biggest barriers to making practical use of those tantalizing land offers that are posted every Friday in HUD's section of the Federal Register. Comments are due Feb. 27, 2006, by mail or email as stated in the notice, or via www.regulations.gov. We heard something about this back in September from the Interagency Council on Homelessness. Good to see the proposal is now advancing formally.
A few billions, but not enough real money...
- The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is posting more analyses of the FY2007 budget proposal every day. New items today include a look at even deeper cuts to domestic programs that the White House proposes to make over the next five years. On their mailing list they've circulated an "Initial Assessment" of "Impacts on Housing Voucher Program and Hurricane Recovery." Among their conclusions: although the proposal calls for an increase in Sec. 8 voucher funding, it would not, however, provide the stability that local voucher programs badly need after the repeated funding changes of the past three years. At the funding level requested, we estimate that the pro rata cut applied to each agency's eligibility for funding under the proposed formula would be 25 percent greater in 2007 than the 5.25 percent cut HUD has indicated it is likely to impose in 2006. Oh. - The HAC News latest edition includes one of HAC's nicely presented housing budget comparison charts. - The National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness is not happy with the proposed HUD budget increases for programs specifically designed to reduce "chronic homelessness," on the grounds that proposed cuts to other housing programs would make more people homeless than before. - Texas has wangled a little more of that $11.5 billion in CDBG relief money: $88 million instead of $74 million.
Nesmith moves from HUD to Blank Rome
Steven B. Nesmith has left his position as HUD's Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations to join the lobbying firm of Blank Rome Government Relations LLC. He "resigned last week to become a lobbyist," according to the last paragraphs in this AP account of the budget announcements. His name is already gone from the HUD "Key Principal Staff" page, though his official biography is still posted. Mr. Nesmith was nominated to the HUD post in October 2002 and confirmed by the Senate in May 2003. Before that he was a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration. He was previously Senior Counsel with the Legislative Strategies Group lobbying firm. He has also worked in Philadelphia municipal government managing the city's Empowerment Zone program. Nesmith was a Hall of Fame athlete with the American University basketball team in the late '80s, and graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1992.
New Katrina voucher regs and other PIHNs
HUD has posted an important clutch of four new Public and Indian Housing Notices (PIHNs), including operating requirements for the new hurricane relief voucher program. The "Disaster Voucher Program (DVP) Operating Guidelines" are in the lengthy PIHN 2006-12. This appears to be the motherlode of rules for the hurricane housing relief program that, as HUD disclosed on Jan. 20, is replacing the KDHAP relief program for Hurricane Katrina housing relief. Forms are provided via the main PIH page, linked here and here and here, for swapping Katrina-displaced tenants from KDHAP to the new DVP program. Also new on HUDCLIPS this week: PIHN 2006-9 for public housing authorities (PHAs) on how to select outside legal counsel; PIHN 2006-10 on how PHAs should define "a project" for asset management purposes; and PIHN 2006-11 with guidance for PHAs on integrated pest management. Don't sneer at that pest management item: it's a huge issue, especially given the current urban bedbug scares. As PIHN 2006-11 notes, pest management is further complicated by the fact that many tenants have allergies or breathing problems aggravated by bug sprays. And as yr humble blogmother has repeatedly found in legal aid work, endless controversies can develop over managers' use of monthly pest control visits as an opportunity to inspect general unit condition, and also over requests that tenants tidy up or whittle down their possessions to allow access to the baseboards.
A nifty new affordability index and more
About this NAEH conference call
Well, a lot of the introductory material is in the main analysis document and an extremely handy homelessness/housing programs chart. Speakers are Phyllis Gilberti, NAEH'S director of mobilization and analysts Norm Suchar and Peggy Bailey, all of NAEH. The email address for questions is mobilizer@naeh.org and they promise to answer questions they receive whether on the conference call or off. Ms. Gilberti notes, "the political environment has not been all that friendly for homeless people and programs in the past few years" but advocates have had some "modest success" in increasing McKinney-Vento funding and staving off "huge" cuts in Sec. 8. Peggy Bailey lays out the basics: the budget proposal is $2.77 trillion, mostly defense, "homeland security," "foreign operations," and veterans' services, proposed increases mostly also in these areas. Discretionary funding -- "all the programs that we care about" -- would eliminate 141 programs at $15 billion. It also asks to cut $65 billion in mandatory programs. She notes the budget proposal does not include funding for the Iraq war or Hurricane Katrina relief, both of which are on an emergency appropriations basis. And tax cuts to the tune of some $280 billion are included in the budget, including the cost of tax incentives for corporate research and charitable giving. HUD and HHS spending, as percentages of discretionary spending, have declined if Medicaid and Medicare are excluded from the HHS figures. From Norm Suchar: the HUD budget proposal is "a little very good news and a lot of pretty bad news." The good news being the McKinney-Vento proposed increases of $209 million to 1.536 billion. This however would include $25 million for a new "prisoner re-entry initiative" to be run through the Dept. of Labor, and he notes that last year this proposal was not enacted and it's doubtful Congress will approve this program this time around either. In general, he says Congress has never enacted the full amount of the appropriation the White House has sought for McKinney-Vento programs. On Sec. 8 housing choice vouchers: the requested funding increase would be about 3%, providing about the same level of services as funded for 2006, a little more than what was funded in 2005 but not by much. A "pretty even level." Similarly with project-based vouchers, there's "a large increase in funding for project-based vouchers, but in a real sense of how many units that will actually fund, it's different from last year." Last year there were other sources of funding that are no longer available, so Congress has to be asked for more to maintain the same level of service. "Public housing is again feeling the squeeze." Funding for capital expenses ("big-ticket repairs") would be cut by $261 million. HOPE VI would be eliminated -- something the White House has proposed before. On Community Development Block Grants: in this year's "Strengthening America's Communities" proposal the White House didn't propose moving the program to the Dept. of Commerce, nor did they propose quite such deep cuts as last year, but still the proposed cuts are deep enough -- 20%. A formula change is also proposed, to move money from "higher-income communities" to "lower-income communities." It is however "very different to get something like that enacted." (Interestingly, the old "Strengthening America's Communities Initiative" Web site has disappeared from the Department of Commerce site.) The HOME program has a proposed increase of $160 million of which $75 million would be for first-time homebuyers. The "American Dream Downpayment Initiative," as part of the HOME program, would receive $75 million more than its $25 million last year. The budget proposal calls for cutting $118 million from the Sec. 811 disability housing program -- "essentially cutting the program in half." HUD and the Administration "seem to want to get out of the capital production business with Sec. 811." This year there's a proposed cut by $190 million, or "over a quarter of the program." Finally, HOPWA would be increased $14 million, whereas last year they proposed cutting by $14 million to bring the total to $300 million. The Emergency Food and Shelter Program, funded through FEMA, would receive $151 million, same as last year... Homeless Veterans' Reintegration, through the VA, would be $22 million... For rural housing through USDA: " Sec. 515 would receive no funding for this year." Sec. 521 rural rental assistance would be cut by $167 million from $653 million last year. Sec. 542 rental vouchers would however get a $57 million increase. When it comes to lobbying, among more predictable steps such as calls for letter-writing, Ms. Gilberti says they're working on passing SELHA, the proposed Services for Ending Long-Term Homelessness Act, and on inviting members of Congress to visit local McKinney-Vento programs during the next few Congressional recesses. Outreach to moderate Republicans is a likely step.... A McKinney reauthorization bill has been introduced, not clear how or when it will move.... The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is to issue data on local impacts of the budget proposal... [MORE: In the Q&A period, Mr. Suchar responded to a question on the reasons for the proposed Sec. 811 cuts by suggesting the important thing was to justify programs by pointing out their successes. He said McKinney programs have done well with the Administration because advocates have impressed them with the effectiveness of such programs, and in fact McKinney gets OMB's highest PART rating of any HUD program. Later: a warning that programs recommended for increases also need to be protected in the coming budget season, since it often happens that cuts are initially proposed to programs that Congress won't in fact cut because they are defended by strong "grassroots," but then later in the process the cuts are taken out of other programs instead.]
Everybody loves the housing budget (not)
You might think the Mortgage Bankers Association would be pleased with the HUD budget proposal given its powerful emphasis on homeownership -- but its response yesterday criticizes a new fee affecting Ginnie Mae mortgage-backed securities, proposed increases in multifamily mortgage insurance premiums, and proposed fee increases for single-family rural housing. They are also less than reassured by proposed funding cuts to the Flood Map Modernization Fund. Meteorological events of 2005 having created perhaps a smidgen of cause for concern in such areas. But even the bankers sound thrilled compared to Rep. Barney Frank, ranking Democrat of the House Financial Services Committee, who says the HUD budget proposal would be " making the worst worse." (Hat tip to Bendix Anderson, our man in New York, for both of these.) The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has a "preliminary analysis" here, not much of it happy. Afraid we missed CBPP's conference call this morning, but we'll be blogging a further "preliminary analysis" conference call by the National Alliance to End Homelessness" at 2 p.m. Eastern time today. Interestingly, homeless services are among the few programs for poor people that would receive actual funding increases under the '07 White House budget proposal. But we'll see how happy NAEH is with the big picture. [UPDATE: NAEH has just posted written budget analyses on its conference call page.]
Early '07 budget reactions
- The Housing Assistance Council's reaction on the rural housing proposals: not good. - Reuters summarizes the proposed damage to community development funding. [MORE: As we predicted last week, the White House has explicitly tied its 2007 funding recommendations to the PART ratings OMB has assigned to programs. (A large number of programs are rated, but not all.) For HUD-watchers, the key place to look is Page 14 of this PDF document.] [YET MORE: CDFI Fund grant programs would be eliminated from the Treasury budget -- CDFI Coalition predictably not amused... NLIHC says HUD cuts would add up to $600 million less, including $300 million out of the public housing capital fund... Proposed cuts are in the mainstay housing subsidy programs, while the budget proposal would actually increase funding for homeownership and homelessness programs.]
The FY 2007 budget proposal is out
Close look at Form 9834 recommended
The law firm of Nixon Peabody is recommending that property owners take a close look at the newly required HUD-9834 Management Reviews of Multifamily Projects form. The firm has also circulated by email a lengthy HUD guidance memo on the HUD-9834 and related civil rights requirements that doesn't seem to be available online otherwise. The Nixon Peabody "Alert" isn't posted yet but it should appear on this part of the firm's site in the next few days. Seems likely the HUD memo will be posted with it, but just in case you have to ask after it, it's dated Dec. 16, 2005, written by William W. Hill for Beverly J. Miller, Director, Office of Asset Management, HTG, subject formally stated as "Implementation of the Revised form HUD-9834, Management Review of Multifamily Housing Project."
HOPWA formula allocations are out
"...a woman of indomitable strength..."
A lead abatement consent decree and more
The Department of Justice has won a consent decree against a Minnesota landlord, VTF Properties, for lead hazard abatement. The terms are set out pretty well in the Federal Register notice and might be worth looking over. Among them is this rather sad provision: ...The schedule for hazard abatement will be accelerated to require completion of abatement in any unit within five months of Defendant learning about the presence of a child with an elevated blood-lead level (in addition to the requirement to comply immediately with any abatement order issued by a local government which requires any immediate measures to protect a poisoned child)... Also in federal announcements: - Cutoff day is coming for Hurricane Katrina evacuees in the expensive San Francisco Bay Area. Some have applied for extensions, which they may or may not get. - Comment requests today: the request for termination of multifamily mortgage insurance and information collections linked to the Housing for Older Persons Act that exempts seniors-only rules from the housing discrimination laws.
The little list in the State of the Union
GovExec has already highlighted President Bush's call to reduce spending for public services, but there's a lot more we can predict about which cuts the White House will push hardest in its annual budget proposal to Congress, which is set for release this coming Monday. (By the way, NH&RA notes that House Ways and Means has already scheduled a hearing on the proposal for Tuesday, Feb. 7.) [UPDATE: GovExec has added to its coverage as discussed below.] One of the more specific foreshadowings in the State of the Union speech was this: Every year of my presidency, we've reduced the growth of nonsecurity discretionary spending. And last year you passed bills that cut this spending. This year my budget will cut it again and reduce or eliminate more than 140 programs that are performing poorly or not fulfilling essential priorities. It's about three-fifths of the way down in the transcript. Although the speech used the future definite tense, everyone knows Congress won't accept all of those proposed cuts. On the other hand, the mere making of such proposals will force people who value those programs to use up energy getting back to the status quo -- as happened with last year's proposal to end Community Development Block Grants. At least we do know what the speech likely meant by "performing poorly" and which "more than 140" programs the White House will likely try to close down. It's pretty clearly referring to programs with low ratings under the the Office of Management and Budget's PART rating system, which issues program-by-program ratings of "effectiveness" according to criteria that are apparently developed jointly by OMB and federal agency officials. [UPDATE: I discovered after writing this post that GovExec had more today on PART ratings and likely White House calls for program cuts. It's a good article.] OMB's PART page is promoting the imminent launch of a new "ExpectMore.gov" Web site that is to showcase "nearly 800 program assessments" -- and the site is to be unveiled Feb. 6, 2006, the same day as the budget proposal. Mark my words: "ExpectMore" will be the public relations arm of a renewed White House campaign to end the Community Development Block Grants and other urban-oriented economic development programs, plus probably HOPE VI and possibly major housing subsidy programs such as seniors and disability housing under Secs. 202 and 811. The PART program assessments that are already listed in OMB's large PDF summary give low "Results Not Demonstrated" or "Ineffective" ratings to some 200 federal programs. Predictably, education, housing and environmental programs get more frequent low ratings of "effectiveness" as defined by the current administration. Housing isn't the worst off in these ratings -- PART assessments have even less use for education programs -- but housing does take quite a few heavy slams. Scroll down to HUD's part of the Index, on page 614 of the PDF, for OMB's opinion of major housing programs it has thus far PARTed. You'll find the "Ineffective" rating goes to Community Development Block Grants, HOPE VI, "Project-Based Rental Assistance," and Rural Housing and Economic Development. "Results Not Demonstrated" ratings go to the Fair Housing Initiatives Program, Housing for Persons with Disabilities, Housing for the Elderly, HOPWA, Native American Housing Block Grants, and the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing. The White House has already proposed cutting most of these. It will certainly propose the same again and more.
A perspective on HUD's 2006 FMR plans
The NH&RA online newsletter, which is generally much worth reading this week, spots an analysis by the National Association of Home Builders on HUD's Dec. 16, 2005 advance publication of metro area definitions to be used in computing "Fair Market Rents." The analysis calls this an unprecedented step but calls the proposal "still problematic for affordable housing developers." If the whole "Fair Market Rents" dispute has been seeming a little too tangled to follow lately, this article is a pretty good way to catch up. Since it's from a builders' perspective, though, you might want to triangulate via the NLIHC discussion of same.
Today's audits: an interesting GAO/OIG split
An audit out today from HUD OIG finds insufficiently explained drawdowns of grant funding by WomenRising, Inc., a New Jersey nonprofit serving homeless women and their children through the Supportive Housing Program under the McKinney-Vento "Continuum of Care." "This occurred because the grantee believed it was entitled to the full amount of the grant; therefore, it drew down these funds without adequate support." Unremarkable in itself -- bigger investigations happen all the time -- but maybe interesting because there haven't been all that many audits of McKinney-Vento grantees lately. Maybe even more interesting because the complaint came from GAO and involved a grab bag of worse allegations that the HUD auditors said they didn't find when they went in. Also today, a quite critical OIG audit finding substandard conditions for Sec. 8 voucher tenants in the city of Winston-Salem. And yesterday GAO posted " preliminary observations" by the Comptroller General based on GAO's investigation into the 2005 hurricane preparedness fiasco.
Brookings' Katrina-tracker
Naturally, this blog is the first place you go for regular updates on the post-hurricane recovery and rebuilding effort. But if you still want a handy overview of what's happening, who's doing it, how many people have moved back to New Orleans, etc., you may want to bookmark the Katrina Index from the Brookings Institution. It also includes lots of links to related information and articles. If you're thinking about attending our Apartment Finance Today's Developer Conference in San Diego March 8-10, we will be featuring a special session on the Gulf Coast rebuilding effort, focusing on what multifamily owners, developers and managers are doing and can do. Panelists include National Apartment Association Executive Director Douglas Culkin, Bob Bussone of Camden Property Trust, Dan Markson of NRP Group, and Larry Schedler of Larry Schedler Associates. Go to http://www.aptfinanceconf.com/ for more info.
New LIHTC exemptions for Rita victims
Victims of Hurricane Rita got tax credit housing parity with Katrina evacuees today in IRS Notice 2006-11. This new announcement suspends income, residency, and other requirements to let low-income housing tax credit projects house evacuees from Hurricane Rita regardless of their former or present incomes. It's described as "relief similar to Notice 2005-69," which did suspend rules similarly in connection with Hurricane Katrina. Under both Notices, the special exceptions can travel as far as the displaced person; the tax-credit building affected can be anywhere in the country so long as the relevant state-level housing tax credit agency approves. The expiration date for both Notices is Sep. 30, 2006. Also out today: Revenue Procedure 2006-16, on how to grant retroactive tax advantages to buildings in expanded areas of renewal communities.
Wed. mix: LA landlords beat Sec. 8 freeze
- LA landlords have won a California appellate decision overturning a municipal ordinance that would have required them, in cases of terminated or nonrenewed Sec. 8 housing contracts, to charge the tenants only their own former portions of the rent, indefinitely, after the federal subsidy stopped. The decision didn't invoke any grand principles -- it simply found the ordinance was preempted by a state law, Cal. Civil Code Sec. 1954.535, which imposes a similar rent freeze but only for 90 days. The ordinance had been passed due to reports that private landlords were ending their Sec. 8 contracts and requiring the tenants to pay full freight as a way of forcing them to "voluntarily vacate" under the vacancy decontrol provisions of Los Angeles rent control. - Senators snapping at FEMA again. - Your chance to comment on the "Statement of Activity" required from recipients of USDA housing preservation grants. - Lucky you, you also get to comment on the paperwork surrounding arbitrage restrictions and rebates on tax-exempt bonds.
To read more please refer to our Archives
(see links in right-hand column).
|
|
