Subject: Policies
The Bipartisan Policy Center's Housing Commission released its report, Housing America's Future, on housing policy this morning. The 21-member commission, which worked on the report for 16 months, was cochaired by two former HUD secrataries, Mel Martinez and Henry Cisneros,…
It took a few iterations, but HUD last week officially rolled out a demonstration project designed to showcase its plan to address the capital needs backlog in public housing by allowing PHAs to leverage private financing. From HUD: In the…
"Repeal efforts never go away. Advocates need to remain organized and ready to launch a defense or counter-attack." That's one of the lessons from "Defending Progressive State Housing and Land Use Policies," an article by Rachel G. Bratt, Dennis Keating,…
Politicians have told us for decades that homeownership is the American Dream. They do this because they get lots of contributions from interest groups that have a stake in pushing homeownership: builders, real estate agents, mortgage bankers, and many others…
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Despite constant pressure to define and showcase our cities to celebrate their history and to showcase the "new," cities remain constrained by the functional—and often political— reality of the speed in which plans can be executed. So when we have…
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It’s time to rethink the nation’s housing policy. We’ve focused for decades on policies to increase homeownership, and most federal housing dollars benefit families with relatively little need for assistance. Overall, more than half of federal spending on housing benefits…
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This part is simple: a property must be in a rural place to be eligible for USDA rural housing funding. Beyond that simple statement, things get complicated. What places are rural, and why does it matter? Congress used three characteristics…
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has issued some guidance to banks about the “obligations and risks related to foreclosed property.” The memo, released last week, asks banks to consider local locals laws, issues related to safety and…
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In June, Rooflines published a piece by Kevin Jewell, a consultant for the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service outlining Texas Governor Rick Perry’s vetoes of important low-income and tenants rights bills. Since that time, of course, Perry has launched his bid for the Republican nomination for president, and now his record is surfacing for a national audience and saying things like “actions speak louder than words,” and so forth.
Of course, we already know his actions when it comes to tenants and affordable housing. Just this year, he’s vetoed a bill that would require landlords to give tenants a copy of their lease and that would prohibit landlord retaliation for tenant organizing. Perry also killed bill that would have extended the life of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, the agency that is, according to Jewell, the “primary home of low-income housing programs administered by the state, and has managed the states housing recovery programs following the 2005 (Katrina, Rita) and 2008 (Ike, Dolly) gulf-coast hurricanes.”
Jewell also points to an important veto made by Gov. Perry that would have allowed individuals to request that their records be cleared, upon a prosecutor’s discretion, if charges against that individual were dropped by the prosecution. As Jewell notes, “this is a housing-related bill because it impacts the ability of innocent people to pass a background check when applying to rent an apartment…. As a result of this veto, innocent Texans will continue to excluded from rental housing in the state without access to a trial or prosecutor discretion to clear their name.” more
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In expected, but still very exciting, good news, Treasury has approved the Illinois Housing Development Authority’s application to apply Hardest Hit Funds to the Mortgage Resolution Fund developed by Mercy Portfolio Services. MRF is now operating as a partnership between…
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A House subcommittee voted to stamp out the National Housing Trust Fund this week, signaling a very difficult road ahead for fund advocates. Of course, the fund, a flagship objective of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, has never actually…
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I don’t think for a second that The New York Times is in bed with the real estate industry. It has done some excellent reporting on the causes of the mortgage crisis and Wall Street’s risky and misguided practices that…
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Last Friday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry vetoed several low-income housing bills recently passed by the Texas Legislature. How do those vetoes impact low-income housing statewide? Was one of the intentions of the vetoes to break up a key housing agency and re-allocate its functions to a nonprofit? Below are the highlights of some of the bills he vetoed, and how those vetoes impact low-income housing in the state of Texas.
1) Governor Perry vetoed a bill requiring landlords to give tenants a copy of their lease and prohibiting retaliation by landlords for tenant organizing.
Governor Perry’s public statement on this veto focused on the liability it created for non-complying landlords:The litigation expenses incurred by landlords as a result of this bill could be significant, and would likely be passed on to other tenants through higher rents and fees.”
As a result of this veto, Texas tenants will continue to suffer from retaliation and continue to lack access to copies of their written lease.
2) Gov. Perry vetoed the bill continuing the existence of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA).
TDHCA is the primary home of low-income housing programs administered by the state, and has managed the state’s housing recovery programs following the 2005 (Katrina, Rita) and 2008 (Ike, Dolly) gulf-coast hurricanes. more
New data from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies show that the Great Recession that has plagued all sectors of the housing market continues to place considerable strain on renters, as rents continue to rise and low-cost units disappear from…
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NHI/_Shelterforce_ Associate Director and Editor Miriam Axel-Lute appeared at an event last Tuesday, co-sponsored by the New America Foundation and National Council of La Raza, that looked at how communities are handling the foreclosure crisis and what proposals should be…
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More than one million Latino families have either lost or will soon lose their homes. In California, Hispanic-owned homes account for nearly half of all foreclosures. The rapid loss of homes among Latino and Black homeowners has increased the gap in homeownership rates between white families and families of color. Our research shows that foreclosures wipe out wealth that should have paid for retirements and college educations, depress neighborhoods and home values, and harm family relationships.
Our efforts to support community-based housing counselors working with families in foreclosure has helped us better understand how national foreclosure prevention programs and policies can effectively reach the 10 to 13 million families expected to lose their home during this calamity. As did others who are deeply concerned about the impact of the housing crises on families, we worked tirelessly to share information and provide guidance and recommendations to Congress and the administration. We had high hopes for the Obama administrations signature Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). And when we recognized signs of trouble with HAMPs implementation, and complaints from the community began to mount, we offered additional options and solutions to administrators.
Unfortunately, many of our recommendations went unheeded. While HAMP set out to provide three to four million modifications, only 600,000 families have received permanent loan modifications through the program. Treasury has made some tweaks, but fundamental changes are needed to reach more families in distress. Our counselors still report difficulty obtaining modifications for worthy homeowners, and the lack of compliance has made justice unattainable for those wrongfully foreclosed upon. Moreover, the private sectors move away from HAMP — proprietary modifications outnumber HAMP modifications two to one — suggests that the program’s influence and relevance are waning. At best, HAMP addresses the housing crises of yesterday; continued congressional focus on the program is preventing us from taking the bold steps that are needed to help millions of Americans facing foreclosure today. more
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The Republican-controlled House voted to eliminate the $1 million allocated by the third round of Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds this week, and while the NSP Termination Act is unlikely to pass the Democratically-controlled Senate, much less stand a chance in…
FHA Commissioner David Stevens, who announced last week that he would leave the administration effective March 31, will take over at the Mortgage Bankers Association, according to DSNews.com. Stevens will replace John A. Courson, who is slated to leave MBA…
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Peter Marcuse, a professor emeritus at Columbia’s School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, and Shelterforce contributor, says that the infusion of private capital in public housing would almost certainly spell a compromise of quality in public housing, and to think…
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There’s a clever term that gets thrown around in densely populated and densely developed areas like New Jersey, where all the land’s spoken for. It’s called “built out,” as in “this is a built-out community and there’s no more room…
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