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Six new multifamily housing authorities and owners recently joined President Obama’s Better Buildings Challenge (BBC). In 2013, the Department of Energy (DOE) and HUD partnered to expand the Better Buildings Challenge to the multifamily sector. This expansion is part of the president’s Climate Action Plan, announced on June 25, 2013, which recognizes the role that increased efficiency can play in reducing energy use and carbon pollution from this sector.
On Feb. 2, the White House issued its proposed fiscal year (FY) 2016 budget, a wish list of the administration’s funding priorities that will face some obstacles in the new Republican-controlled Congress. Within that massive budget is the funding President Obama seeks for HUD.
In late 2014, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Melvin L. Watt instructed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to begin setting aside and allocating funds for the Housing Trust Fund (HTF) and the Capital Magnet Fund. The Housing & Economic Recovery Act of 2008 mandated that HUD administer the HTF. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac began setting aside payments on Jan. 1, 2015.
On Feb. 3, HUD released the Executive Summary of Worst Case Housing Needs: 2015 Report to Congress. Worst-case needs are defined as renters with very low incomes—below 50 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI)—who do not receive government housing assistance and who pay more than one-half of their income for rent, live in severely inadequate conditions, or both.
In 1991, Congress directed HUD to periodically report on the worst-case needs for affordable rental housing in the U.S. The 2015 report is the sixteenth such report. HUD’s most recent report found:
HUD recently released an update on the progress of its Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. This program allows public housing agencies (PHAs) and owners of assisted sites to convert units to project-based Section 8 programs, providing an opportunity to invest billions into properties at risk of being lost from the nation’s affordable housing inventory.
On Dec. 23, HUD issued a notice clarifying whether developments in the Rental Assistance Development program’s second component need to pay prevailing-wage rates to laborers.
On Dec. 16, President Obama signed into law a funding measure that combines a three-month continuing resolution (CR) for the Department of Homeland Security and a long-term omnibus spending bill that includes 11 appropriations bills for the remaining government agencies through the end of fiscal year (FY) 2015.
The law provides HUD with $45.4 billion in gross discretionary budget authority for FY 2015. This includes:
On Dec. 23, HUD issued a summary of the significant strides HUD has made on critical Obama administration priorities. Here’s a list of the priority issues related to multifamily housing that HUD has highlighted as having made notable progress in 2014:
HUD recently announced that it would push back publication of its fiscal year (FY) 2015 income limits until after the publication of 2015 poverty guidelines issued by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The income limits are used to determine income eligibility for HUD’s assisted housing programs, including public housing, Section 8, Section 202, and Section 811.
HUD recently posted a report entitled “Opportunity Neighborhoods for Latino and African American Children.” The report analyzed telephone and in-person surveys of current and former Denver Housing Authority (DHA) tenants, along with a variety of other data sources. The report demonstrates that neighborhood characteristics can be statistically significant predictors of outcomes for low-income Latino and African-American children and youth.
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