January 2006 Table of Contents

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Congress approves fiscal 2006 HUD appropriations bill

Congress has approved a fiscal year 2006 Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) appropriations bill (H.R. 3058) that preserves the department’s basic program structure while continuing the current system for funding Sec. 8 voucher renewals. Read more

NMTC seeks reauthorization

With time running out on the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC), supporters are seeking to have the economic development program reauthorized. Read more

Industry leaders debate ways to improve LIHTCprogram

Affordable Housing Finance • Chicago – Many excellent ideas for making the federal low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program more efficient were aired at a public meeting of the industry’s leading developers, financiers, accountants and attorneys here Read more

AHF to focus on homeless children

SAN FRANCISCO A man sitting by a freeway off-ramp asking for spare change. A woman pushing a shopping cart down the road.  Read more

Developers consider the year ahead The good, the bad and the what-ifs

Affordable housing developers can’t ask for much more than what they got from the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) market in 2005. Read more

Manufactured housing used for infill

OAKLAND • A nonprofit developer is using manufactured housing to create new homeownership opportunities in the high-cost San Francisco Bay Area housing market. Read more

Fannie, Freddie have limited appetite for mixed-use

The growing trend toward urban infill development is helping increase the popularity of mixed-use projects, in which residential and commercial elements coexist in the same development. Read more

The full Monty

When Affordable Housing Finance first reported on the appointment of Federal Housing Commissioner Brian Darrell Montgomery, we noted that the press release issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development gave his employment history only since 19 Read more

Habitat to double worldwide production

Jonathan Reckford, the new CEO of Habitat for Humanity, didn’t see Hurricane Katrina disaster recovery as part of his job description when he was given the position just before the hurricane struck New Orleans in August 2005. Read more

New Mexico county pioneers Sec. 8 homeownership

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. • The Bernalillo County Housing Department has emerged as a leader in using Sec. 8 housing vouchers to help families achieve the dream of homeownership. Read more

Report outlines homeownership programs

The high cost of homeownership is making it difficult for many companies to attract and retain employees. Read more

The debate over mixed-income housing

Mixed-income housing might be an unlikely candidate for controversy Read more

No consistency in valuing housing tax credit properties

The unique characteristics of low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) properties make it difficult for assessors to agree on how to value them for property tax purposes.  Read more

States surveyed about student rules, between-building transfers

What’s new in Sec. 42 compliance: Catching up with changes to Form 8609 and Form 8823 … states weigh in on changes to key issues. Read more

Thinking of getting out at Year 15?

The information presented here is intended solely for informational purposes and should not be construed as accounting advice from the author or Reznick Group. Read more

RD creates new Sec. 515 preservation program

Congress has allocated the first few million dollars for what advocates hope will become a massive new program to refinance aging rural housing projects. Read more

Lead paint a growing risk:

Everyone in the apartment business is aware that chipped, flaking lead paint presents a health hazard. Recent studies show that essentially any amount of lead is harmful to a child’s brain. Even tiny amounts seem to have strong effects. Read more

MetLife picks best in affordable housing

Three supportive-housing projects were recognized here this November when the MetLife Foundation, in partnership with the Enterprise Foundation (now known as Enterprise Community Partners, Inc.), announced the winners of the MetLife Foundation Awards for Read more

New York City more than doubles its housing plan

NEW YORK CITY Mayor Michael Bloomberg has a bold insight: If you fight for decent, affordable housing, not only do you create stronger cities, but you also win votes in elections. Read more

Boston sets the bar higher

BOSTON As construction cranes rise over this city, officials are well ahead of schedule in their plan to issue building permits for 2,100 new units of affordable housing and to preserve another 3,000 units in just four years. Read more

Local officials partner to build seniors apartments

FLEMINGTON, N.J. The rolling farmland a few miles from the Delaware River is so prized by wealthy second-home buyers that the average price of a house here is now $400,000. As land costs swell and resistance to almost any development stiffens, it’s become Read more

REGIONAL NEWS

PLYMOUTH, MINN. Dominium Development & Acquisition has just completed the renovation of Willow Wood Estates, a 40-unit, Sec. 8 townhouse development. The $7 million rehab included a new community center, expanded parking and landscaping. Read more

Washington Update

Congress has approved a fiscal year 2006 Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) appropriations bill (H.R. 3058) that preserves the department’s basic program structure while continuing the current system for funding Sec. 8 voucher renewals Read more

Housing Policy

CHICAGO Many excellent ideas for making the federal low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program more efficient were aired at a public meeting of the industry’s leading developers, financiers, accountants and attorneys here in October. Read more

professional services

Gill Group is a full service real estate market research company specializing in multifamily appraisals, market studies, rent comparability studies, and HUD Mark-to-Market and MAP reports Read more

Oleson Woods preserves wetlands

Tigard, Ore. What the developer calls “one of the region’s most elegant syntheses of community development and nature” was just completed in this fast-growing suburb of Portland. Read more

FEMA officials hear somethingrare: Praise

Officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) extended a deadline for moving displaced residents out of hotels and into permanent housing. Read more

Voucher rule could pinch in QCTs

The Oct. 13, 2005, Federal Register carries a final rule rewriting the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) procedures that allow housing authorities to spend up to 20% of their Sec Read more

Be part of the solution

Something amazing happened at AHF Live: The 2005 Tax Credit Developers’ Summit in Chicago this past October. Read more

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