Online Alerts

RSS

Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently introduced the “Green New Deal for Public Housing Act.” The legislation aims to retrofit, rehabilitate, and decarbonize the entire nation’s public housing stock. It would invest up to $180 billion over 10 years in sustainable retrofits that include all needed repairs and eliminate carbon emissions in federal public housing. The legislation would also provide funding to electrif...

Democratic presidential hopeful Mayor Pete Buttigieg from South Bend, Ind., recently released An Economic Agenda for American Families, which includes spending $430 billion on affordable housing measures.

Q Some of our applicants, especially those from Puerto Rico, have a second last name on their birth certificate that isn’t on their Social Security card. How should this scenario be handled?

HUD issued its final rule for the implementation of Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs) in November 2016. In August of 2017, HUD attempted to suspend the SAFMR rule, but in December of 2017 a U.S. District Court judge ordered it to be reinstated. The new rule became effective in January of 2018, with implementation in mandatory areas beginning in April of 2018. And there are currently 24 metropolitan areas mandated to implement SAFMRs.

President Donald Trump has nominated Federal Housing Administration Commissioner Brian D. Montgomery to fill the Deputy Secretary position at HUD. As HUD’s second-most senior official, Montgomery would manage the agency’s day-to-day operations and advise and assist HUD Secretary Ben Carson in leading the agency’s nearly 8,000 employees.

Rep. Nydia Velazquez, a Democrat from New York, recently introduced the “Public Housing Emergency Response Act.” If enacted, the bill would authorize an additional $70 billion for HUD’s Public Housing Capital Fund, including $32 billion for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), the nation’s largest public housing agency.

Senators Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) recently introduced the “Prevent Evictions Act” (S. 2486). While some evictions involve a tenant who owes thousands of dollars to his or her landlord, the legislation is directed to address the significant number of evictions that occur when a tenant owes a few hundred dollars or less and reduce the associated societal costs of these evictions.

The White House Council of Economic Advisors recently issued a report titled “The State of Homelessness in America.” It argues that overregulation of the housing market and failed policies have led to increases in the number of persons experiencing homelessness in certain parts of the country. The report describes how the number of unsheltered homeless is largely concentrated in California, New York City, Boston, and Washington, D.C., and cites “more t...

In April, HUD issued Notice H 2019-05 to “strongly encourage owners, managers, and agents of housing covered by the HUD assistance programs above, located in areas where state or local law, code or other regulations do not require CO detectors, to have operational CO detectors (1) in units that have fuel-fired/burning appliance(s) and/or an attached garage, and (2) in bedrooms that contain a fireplace or a fuel-fired or burning appliance.”

HUD recently awarded $27.8 million to 38 Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) in 25 states to identify and reduce lead-based paint hazards in thousands of older public housing units. Provided through HUD’s Public Housing Capital Fund, these grants will be targeted to approximately 2,800 public housing units, most of which are currently occupied by families with young children.