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The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recently issued a final rule for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that establishes the benchmark levels for the multifamily housing goals for 2022. To help meet these goals, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in part, capitalize on opportunities to finance LIHTC sites. The FHFA is required by the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 to set annual housing goals for mortgages purchased by Fannie and Freddie.
On Nov. 19, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act. The bill passed 220-213 and now goes to the Senate. This $1.7 trillion bill includes an historic expansion of the low-income housing tax credit. According to estimates, the bill could finance nearly 812,000 additional affordable homes than otherwise possible over the next decade by investing nearly $12 billion in the LIHTC program.
As property values have increased, there’s been more litigation about what a below-market right of first refusal means.
On Sept. 15, the Third District Court of Appeals for the State of Florida affirmed a Florida nonprofit’s ownership of an LIHTC site. Specifically, the court affirmed the Opa-Locka Community Development Corporation’s (OLCDC’s) right of first refusal under Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code to acquire and preserve the site for affordable housing [Opa-Locka Community Development Corp. v. HK Aswan LLC, September 2021].
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) recently announced it will propose rescinding the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) rule issued in May 2020. In 2020, the OCC proposed regulations intended to modernize the agencies’ regulations under the CRA, which haven’t been substantively updated for nearly 25 years.
Every year, the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) puts out its "Out of Reach" report examining the housing wage, the hourly wage a full-time worker must earn to afford a modest, safe rental home without spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs. The report covers all states, counties, metropolitan areas, and ZIP codes in the country, highlighting the gap between what renters earn and what it costs to rent.
Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies recently released its annual “State of the Nation’s Housing 2021” report. You can download the report at www.jchs.harvard.edu/state-nations-housing-2021. Each year, the report summarizes the housing market and challenges faced by renters and homeowners. This year, the report finds soaring home prices, a tight housing supply, and millions facing risk of eviction or foreclosure.
In early June, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that it would continue to stay a lower court ruling seeking to overturn the CDC eviction moratorium. In the lower court ruling, a federal judge set aside the CDC's nationwide moratorium which expires on June 30, 2021 [Alabama Association of Realtors, et al. v. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services]. The decision was based primarily on the judge’s reading of the Public Health Services Act.
The Biden-Harris administration recently announced a set of proposals designed to help narrow the racial wealth gap and reinvest in distressed communities, focusing on expanding access to homeownership and small business ownership. The administration’s announcement provides new information regarding President Biden’s American Jobs Plan proposals to create jobs and build wealth in communities of color.
On May 5, 2021, a federal judge in the District of Columbia set aside the CDC's nationwide moratorium on residential evictions, which the CDC had recently extended beyond its congressionally approved expiration date of March 31 to June 30, 2021 [Alabama Association of Realtors, et al. v. U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services].
On March 29, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced an extension of the federal eviction moratorium through June 30, 2021. Before this extension, the moratorium was set to expire March 31, 2021. This recent order is the moratorium’s third extension since it was initially enacted on Sept. 4, 2020. As before, individuals who are unable to pay their rent in full must sign and submit a declaration form to their landlord to invoke the eviction protections and can apply for emergency rental assistance.
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