Federal / Agency News

The Faircloth-to-Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) pathway represents an innovative solution for Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) to use existing federal authority to create up to 220,000 new units of deeply affordable housing.

Last week HUD announced an allocation of $689,565,492.92 to states via the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF).

HUD is soliciting feedback on its National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Estate (NSPIRE) inspection standards, with the following specific questions…

HUD released the median family incomes and income limits for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021. Median incomes are used as the basis for income limits in several HUD programs, including the Public Housing, Section 8 Housing Choice and Project-Based Voucher, Section 202 housing for the elderly and Section 811 housing for persons with disabilities programs, as well as in programs run by agencies, such as the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Agriculture and the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

HUD’s Office of Housing and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) posted an updated Multifamily Q&A for COVID-19 as of April 2. To find new or revised answers in the PDF, you can search the date 4/2/21.

Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced the Housing Supply and Affordability Act to create a new $300 million per year grant program to help localities develop and implement comprehensive housing policy plans.

Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Darin LaHood (R-IL), Brian Higgins (D-NY) and Terri Sewell (D-AL) introduced a new version of the Historic Tax Credit Growth and Opportunity Act (HTC-GO) in the House of Representatives.

The Center for Active Design released a new report detailing the growth in demand for healthy buildings. A New Investor Consensus: The Rising Demand for Healthy Buildings summarizes a comprehensive health and wellness study of global real estate investment managers and stakeholders representing an aggregate $5.75 trillion assets under management (AUM) and portfolio investments in real estate totaling approximately $1.03 trillion.

Energy Efficiency for All (EEFA) will host a briefing on the challenges and opportunities involved in protecting physically and socially vulnerable communities from the worst impacts of climate change from 2 to 3:30 p.m. ET on April 16. Register here.

Rep.  Maxine Waters (D-CA), chairwoman of the House Committee on Financial Services, announced the following housing-related hearings in the month of April. All the hearings will be livestreamed here.

This morning the White House released a fact sheet on the American Jobs Plan, a $2.25 trillion infrastructure proposal with several investments in housing. President Joe Biden (D) is expected to give a speech in Pittsburg today at 4:20 p.m. ET to officially unveil the plan. Proposed pay-fors include an increase in the corporate tax rate from 21 to 28 percent and a “global minimum tax” on U.S. corporations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) extended its eviction moratorium, which was set to expire on March 31, through June 30, 2021. A recent ruling in Skyworks v. CDC from the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Ohio found the eviction moratorium unlawful. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) joined the suit and had representational standing on behalf of its membership. As such, the CDC extension of the eviction moratorium may not apply to NAHB members as of March 10, the date of the ruling.