News

Starting this summer, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has opened the Building Performance Partnership (BPP), a program designed to engage owners and managers of LEED-certified buildings and optimize the performance of buildings through data collection and analysis.

Red Stone Partners, a national real estate finance company active in the affordable multifamily housing market, recently established a new $250 million investment fund for the acquisition of fixed rate tax-exempt multifamily housing bonds.

The Montana Community Development Corporation (MCDC) recently announced that David Glaser has been elected the new President of MCDC, replacing Rosalie Sheehy Cates who resigned after serving for over two decades.

Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.) recently introduced the Thermal Renewable Energy and Efficiency Act of 2010 (H.R. 5805), which would create a renewable thermal energy production tax credit by expanding the existing production tax credit (PTC) and expand the use of tax exempt bonds.

The Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) Mortgagee Review Board has published a public notice that announces several administrative actions against FHA-approved lenders who failed to meet its requirements.

On July 21, President Obama signed the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 (H.R. 4173) into law, the most significant financial reform legislation since the Depression.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Policy Development and Research has made available an interactive, historical timeline of key events, programs and legislation that has helped shape the nation’s housing policy since the 1930s.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund has schedueld a series of conference calls regarding CDFI Certification to allow potential certification applicants to receive guidance and ask questions about becoming a certified CDFI.

Last week, Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) introduced new legislation, the Securing America’s Future with Energy and Sustainable Technologies (SAFEST) Act.

On July 13, Brian Lawlor, Commissioner of DHCR and CEO of “nyhomes,” met with senior staff from both agencies and housing advocates from Long Island at the first of several roundtables to discuss opportunities and goals for the integration of nyhomes and DHCR.

In 2009, the State of Louisiana received approximately $39,383,397 in TCAP funds from HUD. The Agency has allocated nearly $36 million, with approximately $3 million of TCAP funding remaining due to developers returning previously allocated funds.

The Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority has released memo that states it cannot guarantee gap funding for 2010 competitive low-income housing tax credit projects.