News
A re-opened HUD is catching up on work delayed during the 35-day partial government shutdown. “We’re slammed,” said HUD spokesman Brian Sullivan. Advocates say processing Section 8 vouchers is key.
HUD awarded $2 billion to 5,800 homeless assistance programs. The Continuum of Care grants are based on annual Point-in-Time studies. HUD reported in December that on one night in 2018, roughly 553,000 people were homeless—65 percent staying in sheltered locations, the rest “on the street, in abandoned buildings, or in other places not suitable for human habitation.” Find a list of grants here.
The White House will announce a plan by next month to end government control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Politico reported. The hope is to resolve a long debate over the two companies that dominate the mortgage market, according to a top regulator.
Officials in tornado-ravaged Moore, OK, broke ground for The Curve, a low-to-moderate income housing and mixed-use development, and the last construction project to repair part of the city that was destroyed by the May 20, 2013, tornado.
The 2018 California wildfires cost insurers $12.4 billion, the state’s insurance commissioner said, 25 percent higher than initial estimates last month. The Camp, Woolsey, and Hill fires accounted for $11.4 billion of the losses.
One to smile about—Colorado’s newest developer of low-income housing: a once-homeless Air Force vet.
Research
Fannie Mae projects multifamily housing supply will peak in 2019 just as job growth slows. However, most of those units will be market-rate units, which fails to address the affordable housing shortage, according to Affordable Housing Finance. Other projections: vacancy rates will be lower than long-term trends; rent growth will slow.
Analysis
Some $1 billion is now pledged to address affordable housing in two West Coast technology centers. Last week, firms and philanthropists in the San Francisco Bay area, including Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, said they plan to raise $500 million for affordable housing. The week before, Microsoft pledged $500 million, mostly for housing, in Seattle. Analysts said the grants and loans “reflect both a business reality—it’s increasingly hard to hire in markets where tech employment has sent the cost of housing skyrocketing – and a political strategy.” Other analysts said the investments will alter-public-private partnership models around urban, workforce housing. Will Amazon and Alphabet follow suit?
Bipartisan legislators in Minnesota contend that manufactured homes can play a vital role in easing the affordable housing shortage in major cities, like Minneapolis.
Around Housing
Top job at troubled Little Rock, AR, housing authority attracts 22 applicants, none internal … Hundreds evacuated from Columbia, SC, public housing development won’t be moving back … Southern California’s “Surf City USA” sued over resistance to low-income housing … Large nonprofit developers unite behind a new LIHTC fund … CBRE tops Mortgage Bankers Association list of top multifamily lenders
10-Minute Read; Worth Your Time
Sick and struggling in coal country: “The industry that once defined and supported the people living there has burned out,” reports the Allentown Morning Call. “In its place are poverty, sickness and addiction.”
Did You Know?
According to a survey of senior-level businesswomen, 39 percent of those who were sexually harassed did nothing out of fear that it would negatively impact their career.* If sexual harassment happened at your workplace, would you know how to handle it? Check out our new Sexual Harassment: Education and Prevention course, developed for housing professionals, featuring real-world simulated scenarios.
Source: 2015 Survey, “Elephant in the Valley”
