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HAC News: February 1, 2018

February 1, 2018/in HAC News CDFI

HAC News Formats. pdf

February 1, 2018
Vol. 47, No. 3

February is African American History Month • Housing not included in State of the Union address • FY19 budget to be released this month • Latest continuing resolution ends February 8 • New Opportunity Zones program created by Tax Cuts and Jobs Act • Carson pledges to increase resources to rural America • IRS urges hurricane survivors to consider EITC • HUD considers changes to manufactured housing rules • RD multifamily housing financial reporting requirements clarified • RD offers guidance on using design/build and construction management proposals • Census Bureau not updating questions on race and ethnicity • HUD invites comments on new reporting system for IHBG recipients • House passes bill to exempt more lenders from HMDA • Gil Gonzalez named RD Chief of Staff • Native American Creative Placemaking published by HAC • Native CDFIs have high demand, need more resources, says survey • HAC releases report on USDA rural housing program activity in FY17 • Webinars offered on financing Farm Labor Housing with USDA Section 514/516 funding

HAC News Formats. >

February 1, 2018
Vol. 47, No. 3

February is African American History Month.

Housing not included in State of the Union address.
In his speech on January 30, President Trump mentioned a $1.5 billion infrastructure plan, but did not list housing among items that would be covered. HUD Secretary Ben Carson has said in the past that the Administration’s infrastructure proposal will include housing (see HAC News, 4/13/17).

FY19 budget to be released this month.
The Administration will release its proposed budget for FY19 (which begins October 1, 2018) on February 12 at the earliest, but it is expected to be a “skinny” budget without much detail, like the early budget proposal released in March 2017. HAC will post information online when the budget is available.

Latest continuing resolution ends February 8.
FY17 funding levels are continued through February 8 under the most recent in this year’s series of continuing resolutions. Congress and the Administration continue to seek agreement on raising the Budget Control Act’s funding caps and on spending levels for FY18, as well as numerous other issues.

New Opportunity Zones program created by Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
The new tax legislation offers private investors an opportunity to defer taxes on capital gains by investing those gains in Opportunity Funds, which will finance a variety of investments, potentially including housing, in Opportunity Zones. Governors will identify Opportunity Zones in their states from among census tracts that meet the New Markets Tax Credit program’s definition of low-income communities, and may include some adjacent tracts. The program will begin after the Treasury Department develops regulations, although by March 21 governors must submit their Opportunity Zone designations or request a 30-day extension.

Carson pledges to increase resources to rural America.
Wisconsin Public Radio reports that at an appearance in the state in January, HUD Secretary Ben Carson said he is creating a task force on rural poverty, as well as reviewing HUD homelessness assistance programs to increase aid to rural areas. HUD is not listed among the members of the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity, which recently released its report. HUD also recently withdrew the proposed rule for the Rural Housing Stability program, which would have helped address rural homelessness.

IRS urges hurricane survivors to consider EITC.
Workers with incomes under $53,930 in 2017 may be eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit. Survivors of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria can use a special computation method.

HUD considers changes to manufactured housing rules.
As it seeks to reduce regulatory costs and burdens, HUD requests comments by February 26 on its manufactured housing regulations. Contact Ariel Pereira, HUD, 202-402-5138.

RD multifamily housing financial reporting requirements clarified.
An Unnumbered Letter dated January 24, 2018, clarifies requirements – optional for FY18 and mandatory for FY19 – for owners of Section 514/516 and Section 515 properties. For more information, contact an RD State Office.

RD offers guidance on using design/build and construction management proposals.
Administrative Notice 4851, dated January 24, 2018, advises RD staff on obtaining National Office approval of such proposals for Section 514/516 farmworker housing or Section 515 rental housing projects. For more information, contact an RD State Office.

Census Bureau not updating questions on race and ethnicity.
The Bureau has announced that the 2020 Census will continue to use two separate questions to identify race and ethnicity. This decision overrules a Census Bureau recommendation last year based on research showing that minorities, who are historically undercounted in the decennial Census, are more likely to respond to a single combined question, reports the Coalition on Human Needs.

HUD invites comments on new reporting system for IHBG recipients.
Tribal leaders and Indian housing officials are asked for input on a new online system that will be implemented May 1. For more information, contact Frederick Griefer, HUD.

House passes bill to exempt more lenders from HMDA.
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act regulations previously required all lenders with assets above a certain level to report on their lending activity; now, under new HMDA rules that took effect on January 1, 2018, reporting is required if an institution originates over 25 mortgages, regardless of its asset size. On January 18 the House passed H.R. 2954, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Adjustment Act, which would raise the exemption threshold to 500 mortgages. The Senate has not voted on S. 1310, its version of the bill.

Gil Gonzalez named RD Chief of Staff.
Gonzalez served in USDA Rural Development from 2001 to 2005.

Native American Creative Placemaking published by HAC.
The report presents some established Native American creative placemaking efforts, offers an interactive map of Native American creative placemaking projects, and lists funding sources.

Native CDFIs have high demand, need more resources, says survey.
Findings from the 2017 Native CDFI Survey: Industry Opportunities and Limitationsreports on a survey by the Federal Reserve System’s Center for Indian Country Development, designed to show NCDFIs’ resource base, scope of work and geography, and challenges. The study found NCDFIs are ready to deploy more funds but face challenges including funding availability and other resource gaps.

HAC releases report on USDA rural housing program activity in FY17.
The publication provides data for each program and for each state or territory. In FY 2017, USDA obligated 149,860 loans, loan guarantees, and grants, as well as 308,060 annual units of tenant assistance. The agency guaranteed over 137,000 Section 502 mortgages and issued over 7,100 Section 502 direct loans. About 38% of the latter went to borrowers with very low incomes. Multifamily Housing Preservation and Revitalization obligations dropped from 2016 to 2017, probably at least in part because some MPR funding was transferred to the Section 542 voucher program, which grows every year.

Webinars offered on financing Farm Labor Housing with USDA Section 514/516 funding.
Final Application Processing and Closing will be February 7, followed by Construction and Lease-up on February 24. Registration is free. Preparing the Pre-application was held January 24 and is now archived online. The sessions are sponsored by Tierra del Sol Housing and the Community Resources and Housing Development Corporation, and hosted by HAC. For more information, contact Shonterria Charleston, HAC, 404-892-4824.

NEED CAPITAL FOR YOUR AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECT?
HAC’s loan funds provide low interest rate loans to support single- and multifamily affordable housing projects for low-income rural residents throughout the U.S. and territories. Capital is available for all types of affordable and mixed-income housing projects, including preservation, farmworker, senior, and veteran housing. HAC loan funds can be used for pre-development, site acquisition, site development, and construction/rehabilitation. Contact HAC’s loan fund staff at hacloanfund@ruralhome.org, 202-842-8600.
Please note: HAC is not able to offer loans to individuals or families. Borrowers must be nonprofit or for-profit organizations or government entities (including tribes).

HAC News: October 06, 2016

October 6, 2016/in HAC News

HAC News Formats. pdf

October 06, 2016
Vol. 45, No. 19

• Federal government funded through December 9 • Temporary preference given to certified packaged 502 loans • USDA suggests above-code standards for single-family housing • Administration housing toolkit addresses local barriers • GAO recommends improvements for services in HUD Section 202 properties • RAD may not be reaching rural places well • Black-white wage gaps are larger today than in 1979 • Register by October 21 for the 2016 HAC Rural Housing Conference!

HAC News Formats. pdf

October 06, 2016
Vol. 45, No. 19

Federal government funded through December 9. A continuing resolution, passed along with the full Military Construction/VA appropriations bill and emergency funding for the Zika virus, provides FY16 funding levels for federal programs and an 0.5% across-the-board cut. As expected (see HAC News, 9/8/16), it allows USDA to spend a disproportionate amount of Section 521 Rental Assistance funds early in the fiscal year in order to renew contracts when they expire. Congress is now in recess until November 14, after the election.

Temporary preference given to certified packaged 502 loans. USDA is temporarily classifying Section 502 direct applications submitted through the certified loan application packaging process as its fourth funding priority because funds are insufficient to serve all program-eligible applicants. This reclassification will remain in effect until further notice. The priority does not apply to certified packaging bodies working without an intermediary. Contact Tammy Repine, USDA, 360-753-7677.

USDA suggests above-code standards for single-family housing. In an Unnumbered Letter dated October 4, 2016, RD recommends – but does not require – that Section 502 and 504 homeowners, lenders, and others use building standards that exceed building codes. It provides information about standards that could be used for wind hazard resistance and water efficiency, and also discusses “location efficiency.” That refers to a home’s nearness to jobs, schools, and essential goods and services, impacting the greenhouse gas emissions generated by transportation. Contact a USDA RD state office.

Administration housing toolkit addresses local barriers. A Housing Development Toolkit issued by the White House focuses on ways states and localities can “promote healthy, responsive, affordable, high-opportunity housing markets.” It provides examples of “modern housing strategies” such as taxing vacant land or donating it to nonprofit developers, streamlining permitting processes and timelines, eliminating off-street parking requirements, allowing accessory dwelling units, employing inclusionary zoning, and using property tax abatements.

GAO recommends improvements for services in HUD Section 202 properties. To review how Section 202 properties connect residents to services and HUD’s related monitoring efforts, the Government Accountability Office researched the presence of service coordinators, how properties without coordinators connect residents with services, and HUD’s monitoring of Section 202 properties’ efforts to connect residents with supportive services. Elderly Housing: HUD Should Do More to Oversee Efforts to Link Residents to Services(GAO-16-758) recommends that HUD improve the accuracy of relevant data, develop written guidance on assessing compliance with supportive services requirements, and develop procedures for verifying and analyzing performance data.

RAD may not be reaching rural places well. HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration program, which began in 2012, allows PHAs to convert public housing units to project-based Section 8 contracts in order to attract additional financing. An interim report on RAD by HUD consultant Econometrica presents early results on subjects such as PHAs’ choices whether to participate and what external capital sources they used. Small PHAs had a low participation rate. Among the reasons given for not taking part were lower area rents and a perceived lack of investor interest in small towns and rural areas. Econometrica recommended HUD offer examples of successful use of RAD in rural places. A final report will be issued in three years, after RAD has been in effect long enough for its impacts to be studied.

Black-white wage gaps are larger today than in 1979. Research by the Economic Policy Institute found that the gaps grew during the early 1980s, shrank in the late 1990s – due in part to tighter labor markets and minimum wage increases – and have grown again since 2000. As of 2015, relative to the average hourly wages of white men with the same education, experience, metro status, and region of residence, black men make 22.0% less, and black women make 34.2% less. Black-White Wage Gaps Expand with Rising Wage Inequality notes the gaps have expanded most for college graduates, so education alone is not a solution. EPI attributes the increase to discrimination and the growth in income gaps in general, and suggests policy solutions. Another study on this topic was covered in the HAC News, 8/10/16.

Register by October 21 for the 2016 HAC Rural Housing Conference! Registration fees rise after October 21. The national conference will be held November 30-December 2 in Washington, DC with pre-conference activities on November 29. Information about registration, scholarships, exhibiting, and more is now online.

HAC News: September 22, 2016

September 22, 2016/in HAC News

HAC News Formats. pdf

September 22, 2016
Vol. 45, No. 18

• Continuing resolution likely to run to December 9 • Census Bureau surveys yield differing conclusions about nonmetro economic growth • USDA releases database of rural multifamily loans and projected “exit” dates • Final rule addresses harassment in housing • HUD mandates program access based on gender identity • House and Senate hearings consider HUD changes • Tenant services are not allowable RD project expenses • Nonprofits and public bodies can buy some Section 502 homes • Report addresses rural affordable housing credit • Research finds disconnect between experts’ and public’s understandings of healthy housing • Guidance set for independent students’ access to Section 8 • REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR THE 2016 HAC RURAL HOUSING CONFERENCE!

HAC News Formats. pdf

September 22, 2016
Vol. 45, No. 18

Continuing resolution likely to run to December 9. Congressional leaders are still working to resolve differences regarding the contents of a CR to keep the government operating when the fiscal year ends on September 30. The measure will also fund other items such as Zika virus control and Louisiana flood relief; a letter from OMB Director Shaun Donovan to key members of Congress requests $2.6 billion in emergency CDBG funding for Louisiana.

Census Bureau surveys yield differing conclusions about nonmetro economic growth. On September 13 the Census Bureau released Income and Poverty in the United States: 2015, showing improvements in poverty rates and median incomes from 2014 to 2015 both nationwide and in metro areas, but no statistically significant change in nonmetro areas. The data came from the Current Population Survey, which used different boundaries for metro and nonmetro areas in 2014 than in 2015, making the year-to-year comparison unreliable. On September 16, a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of data from the American Community Survey, a larger sample that used consistent boundaries, showed incomes grew 3.4% in nonmetro areas and 3.6% in metro. CBPP found poverty rates dropped by almost 1% in both, to 17.2% in nonmetro places and 14.3% in metro areas.

USDA releases database of rural multifamily loans and projected “exit” dates. HAC recently published an analysis of data on maturity dates of mortgages in USDA’s multifamily portfolio and an interactive map of the properties (see HAC News, 9/8/16). Now USDA has released the loan level data to the public in spreadsheet form.

Final rule addresses harassment in housing. HUD has set formal standards in its fair housing regulations to be used when someone complains of harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, or disability. The rule specifies how HUD will evaluate complaints of quid pro quo harassment and hostile environment harassment under the Fair Housing Act, defines the terms, and clarifies direct and vicarious liability in the Fair Housing Act context. Contact Lynn Grosso, HUD, 202-402-5361.

HUD mandates program access based on gender identity. A final rule, effective on October 21, requires providers that operate single-sex projects using funds from HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development to provide all individuals with access to programs, benefits, services, and accommodations in accordance with their gender identity without being subjected to intrusive questioning or being asked to provide documentation. Contact Norm Suchar, HUD, 202-708-4300.

House and Senate hearings consider HUD changes. On September 21 the House Financial Services Committee’s Housing Subcommittee held a session called “The Future of Housing in America: A Better Way to Increase Efficiencies for Housing Vouchers and Create Upward Economic Mobility,” and a Senate Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee hearing was entitled “Housing Vulnerable Families and Individuals: Is There a Better Way?” Both focused largely on ways to reduce administrative costs and facilitate tenant self-sufficiency. Some members pointed out that small rural PHAs may face particular challenges to consolidating or forming consortia.

Tenant services are not allowable RD project expenses. In an August 8, 2016 Unnumbered Letter USDA RD reminds stakeholders that tenant services cannot be charged against project income in the operating budgets of Section 514 and 515 properties. It encourages service provision using other funding sources. Contact an RD State Office.

Nonprofits and public bodies can buy some Section 502 homes. An Unnumbered Letter dated August 26, 2016 explains when these organizations can purchase in voluntary short sales by homeowners or RD REO sales. Community Facilities financing may be an option for properties in communities with populations up to 20,000. Contact Barry Ramsey, RD, 202-720-5378.

Report addresses rural affordable housing credit. “Opportunities for Promoting Credit for Affordable Housing in Rural America” follows a May roundtable convened by the White House Rural Council and USDA’s Rural Housing Service and facilitated by the Center for American Progress. HAC was among the participants. Identified opportunities fell into categories such as addressing issues of scale, providing capital, preserving and producing affordable rental housing, providing rental assistance, promoting manufactured housing, supporting CDFIs, and distributing more information to affect outcomes.

Research finds disconnect between experts’ and public’s understandings of healthy housing. The complex set of cultural models the public uses to make sense of housing does not always match experts’ views, according to the FrameWorks Institute’s “A House, a Tent, a Box”: Mapping the Gaps Between Expert and Public Understandings of Healthy Housing. Experts in the field explain housing problems based on structural or systemic factors, FrameWorks reports, while members of the public focus on individual responsibility. The researchers suggest that a change in how the media portrays and frames the issue of housing could foster better understanding of housing issues, raise the salience of these issues in public thinking, and generate support for needed policies.

Guidance set for independent students’ access to Section 8. HUD’s revisions to guidance issued in 2006 expand the definition of “independent student” consistent with the Department of Education’s definition. Contact Rebecca L. Primeaux, HUD, 202-402-6050.

REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR THE 2016 HAC RURAL HOUSING CONFERENCE! This year’s national conference will be held November 30-December 2 in Washington, DC with pre-conference activities on November 29. Information about registration, scholarships, exhibiting, award nominations, and more is now online.

Tag Archive for: census bureau

HAC News: February 1, 2018

HAC News: October 06, 2016

HAC News: September 22, 2016

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