General News

NH&RA provided input and participated in a recent national policy initiative that has identified specific federal programs in which certain existing rules can be modified to enhance the program’s ability to promote sustainability and energy efficiency in multifamily housing and commercial buildings. Multiple organizations participated in the “existing authorities” initiative, which culminated in a lengthy report, to be released on April 29, outlining a series of recommendations across many different federal programs.

NH&RA’s National Council of Affordable Housing Market Analysts is expected to hold educational training in the near future for staff members of the Florida Housing Finance Corporation and Louisiana Housing Finance Agency. The training will cover various aspects of market studies for LIHTC projects.

Sue Wilson, Director of HUD’s HOPE VI office, will meet with NH&RA’s HOPE VI Council on May 20 during the Association’s Spring Policy Forum conference in Washington, D.C. Ben Metcalf, Senior Advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Multifamily Housing, will also attend. The meeting is expected to focus in part on the proposed Choice Neighborhoods Initiative program.

Members of NH&RA’s New Markets Steering Committee participated on a recent conference call held by the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund on data collection for the new markets tax credit program. Part of the discussion was about how to define a multiple-building project and who should report data on these kinds of projects.

The House Financial Services Committee passed energy efficiency legislation based on proposals developed by NH&RA and its Council for Energy Friendly Affordable Housing.

NH&RA and its Council for Energy Friendly Affordable Housing (CEFAH) have progressed further in their efforts to try to increase the availability and use of federal Weatherization Assistance Program funds in multifamily housing properties.

The National Housing & Rehabilitation recently submitted two sets of comments to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) relating to FHA multifamily mortgage insurance programs.

House and Senate negotiators appear to have resolved a major revenue-raiser for the tax extender legislation (HR 4213). It appears that final version of the measure will include the taxation of carried interest, which lawmakers estimate will generate $24.6 billion over 10 years.

The U.S. Senate rejected an amendment to the financial regulatory overhaul legislation that would established a time frame for ending the government’s support of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac and for ultimately dissolving the two government sponsored entities.

The U.S. Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund has announced that it is soliciting comments from the public concerning the CDFI Programs Awardee/Allocatee Annual Reports, which comprise certain reporting requirements for participants in the CDFI Program, the Native American CDFI Assistance (NACA) Program, and the New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) Program.

The Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD), a nonprofit group that represents middle- and low-income tenant groups, recently published a study, entitled “A Permanent Problem Requires a Permanent Solution: New York City’s Next Affordable Housing Expiring-Use Crisis and the Need for Permanent Affordability.”

The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund has announced that it is in search of application reviewers for the 2010 New Markets Tax Credit Program allocation round.