News

The Ohio Housing Finance Agency has announced a public hearing to obtain input from affordable housing stakeholders and other interested parties.

The Iowa Finance Authority is hosting a public forum for interested parties to provide feedback and recommendations for the 2014 Qualified Allocation Plan.

HUD recently released the FY 2013 NOFA for Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grants. Individual grant awards may be for up to a maximum of $500,000. HUD notes that because FY 2013 full-year spending, the availability of funding for the program and the total amount available for Planning Grants has not yet been determined.

The U.S. Senate on March 20 passed by a vote of 73 to 26 an amended version of the U.S. House of Representatives FY 2013 continuing resolution (CR), H.R. 933. The legislation provides funding for all federally funded agencies for the remainder of FY 2013, which ends on September 30, 2013.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recently announced the results of a National Park Service review of the historic tax credit. Overall, the document is very encouraging and addresses many of the issues NH&RA highlighted in recent comments to DOI.

The U.S. Census Bureau and HUD recently released the new 2012 Rental Housing Finance Survey, which provides a more complete picture of the nation’s multifamily rental properties, including data on property values, how their mortgages are financed, and characteristics of the structures.

HUD recently released Notice H 2013-07 to provide supplemental guidance to previously issued Mortgagee Letter (ML) 2010-21 and Notice H 2010-11 to clarify processing procedures and to describe how lenders can obtain prior approval for mortgage insurance commitments.

Wisconsin Representative Chad Weininger (R-Green Bay) recently introduced legislation that streamlines and expands Wisconsin’s current historic tax credit program and raises the state match of the supplemental historic preservation credit from 5 percent to 20 percent.

The Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) recently released the final rule and proposed implementation guidance for its Major Capital Investment Projects program (also known as New Starts/Small Starts), which includes updated provisions for assessing a plan’s commitment to affordable housing.

U.S. Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) recently re-introduced the Common Sense Housing Investment Act of 2013 (H.R. 1213) which would replace the federal mortgage interest deduction (MID) with a 15 percent non-refundable tax credit for all mortgages up to $500,000. Legislators expect that phasing out the MID would increase federal revenue by $196 billion over ten years.

U.S. Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) recently introduced legislation that would make permanent the enhanced tax incentives for conservation easements (including historic buildings) that are scheduled to expire at the end of 2013.

Moody’s Investors Service recently released a report on the current financial outlook for state housing finance agencies (HFAs). Moody’s concludes while the U.S. housing market has begun to show signs of improvement, the fiscal outlook for the state HFA sector remains negative due to significant market and credit pressures.