General News

Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Mark Warner (D-VA) recently introduced the Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2013 (S.1217), which would reform the secondary housing finance market by eliminating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and replacing the agencies with the Federal Mortgage Insurance Company (FMIC).

The Senate Appropriations Committee recently approved the FY 2014 spending allocations, also known as 302(b)s, for its 12 subcommittees , including the Transportation-HUD (T-HUD) and Agriculture-Rural Development Subcommittees. The Senate Budget Committee had set the overall FY 2014 discretionary spending cap, known as the 302(a), at $1.058 trillion, which is equal to the President’s FY 2014 budget request.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund recently released the Notice of Guarantee Authority (NOGA) opening the FY 2013 application period for the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program.

U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) recently introduced the Creating American Prosperity through Preservation (CAPP) Act (S. 1141) which would expand Section 47 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 which governs the federal Historic Tax Credit (HTC) program.

The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) announced the start of their summer 2013 affordable housing competition for rental projects. The DHDC will accept applications from sponsors whose projects were pre-approved in June 2013 through DHCD’s pre-application process.

HUD recently released Notice H 2013-19 to extend and revise Notices H 2010-13, H 2011-4 and H 2011-35 concerning Loan Committees and all prior administrative guidance regarding Loan Committee policy and procedures.

For the FY 2013, the Arizona Department of Housing expects to allocate approximately $1,232,588 in Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) Project funds for State Special Projects (SSP). There will be one competitive funding round and the application deadline is on Monday, December 2, 2013 at 4:00PM.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently sent a letter to agency and department heads informing them that FY 2015 budget submissions should include reductions that bring the overall submission to a level that is 10 percent below the net discretionary FY 2015 total provided for the agency in the FY 2014 budget.

An updated Draft 2014 Special Interim Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP)and Draft Selection Criteria for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit(LIHTC) Program has been posted to the Louisiana Housing Corporation’s website.

The Alaska Housing Finance Corporation announced the start of the FY2014 GOAL Competition, which provides grants, federal tax credits, and zero-interest federal loans to developers and project sponsors to build affordable housing for low to moderate income families and seniors.

HUD recently released Notice H 2013-16 to notify owners of properties with a Section 515 Rural Rental Housing loan from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and a Section 515/8 New Construction Housing Assistance Payments (515/8 HAP) contract from HUD that HUD is no longer requiring the submission of annual financial statements (AFS) for these properties.

HUD published a notice in the Federal Register to announce the inflation factors that will be used to adjust FY 2013 renewal funding for the Tenant-Based Rental Assistance voucher program or Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program.