News

On May 22, 28 members of Congress sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew urging the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to support expedited guidance regarding the criteria a partnership must meet in order to be able to participate in the federal historic rehabilitation tax credit (HTC) program.

HUD Secretary Sean Donovan today announced a major restructuring and reorganization of the Multifamily Programs within U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a new report entitled “Corporate Tax Expenditures: Information on Estimated Revenue Losses and Related Federal Spending Programs.” The report comes out as the U.S. Congress begins more serious consideration of tax reform. Presumably the data will be used to inform decisions as the topic is debated further and could have an impact on various programs utilized by NH&RA members. The report does not make any policy recommendations or endorsements regarding specific programs but does outline costs, revenue forgone and provides a basis for comparison acorss budget functions.

HUD has released several notices recently regarding sequestration and budget impacts on programs including FHA mortgage insurance firm commitments, homeless assistance grant programs, and more.

In a recent speech given at Georgetown University, President Obama recently unveiled his Climate Action Plan, which aims at reducing carbon pollution and tackling climate change. The report is meant to be a blueprint for achieving steady, responsible, national, and international action to slow the effects of climate change in order to achieve a cleaner, more stable environment. In the report, President Obama referenced several initiatives that would have an impact on the multifamily affordable housing community.

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.