@the horizon

Community Developments - June 18, 2013

A daily roundup of news affecting housing and  communities

By Allison Charette

 

• Earlier this month, HUD released new guidance for developing integrated housing opportunities for individuals with disabilities as required by the Supreme Court’s 1999 Olmstead decision. This case affirmed that the unjustified segregation of people with disabilities is an illegal form of discrimination. Enterprise appreciates the release of this guidance, as it provides clarity for communities moving forward with Olmstead implementation plans.  (HUD, June 4)


• Mortgage servicers are finding that low-interest ten-year mortgages are becoming more popular among pre-retiree homebuyers. This once overlooked option now looks appealing to those who want to take advantage of low interest rates and be out of home-debt by retirement. (Washington Post, June 14)


• To the disappointment of Fair Housing advocates, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that will decide if victims involved in housing discrimination suits must prove intentional bias. Many prosecuted cases of housing discrimination have been based on disproportionate impact on minorities rather than intentional discrimination. Depending on how the court rules, it could become more difficult to prosecute under the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act that protects consumers from lending discrimination. (Bloomberg, June 17)


• For the first time since April 2006, single-family home builders feel that economic conditions are “good” for business. This month, the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index reached 52, an eight point jump from last month. Builder confidence is considered “good” when the index exceeds 50. (National Mortgage News, June 17)


• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has launched a new webpage that consolidates all of the new 2013 mortgage rules and related materials. This page is meant to help both borrowers and lenders understand the updated regulations. (CFPB, June 13)

 

For the latest housing and community development news and notes, follow the Enterprise policy team on Twitter: @E_Housing Policy and subscribe to the Capitol Express Newsletter. 

NYC Special Initiative on Rebuilding and Resilience [SIRR] and the Urban Green Council [UGC] Resilience Task Force Reports

by the Enterprise New York Team

Last week two milestone reports were published outlining recommendations for post-Sandy resiliency, an important issue to consider as we continue to develop in vulnerable regions. The City of New York’s Special Initiative on Rebuilding and Resiliency [SIRR] released a comprehensive resiliency report, and the Urban Green Council’s Resiliency Task Force published a report including 33 proposals for improved building resiliency.

In reviewing and comparing the two reports, Enterprise has identified a number of salient points and conclusions that might be particularly useful to our partners in the affordable multifamily housing community. A summary highlighting key elements of the two reports that may be of particular interest to developers, managers, and owners of multifamily housing throughout New York is attached. We hope this information will be useful to our partners in the multifamily community.

Community Developments - June 17, 2013

A daily roundup of news affecting housing and  communities

By Allison Charette

 

• A bill to make permanent the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) was introduced in the Senate last week, co-sponsored by Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and most recently Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). The NMTC program promotes investment in economically distressed communities with a 39 percent federal tax credit taken over seven years. This bill would authorize the program at about $4.8 billion in 2014 allocations, with annual inflation adjustments thereafter, and allow the NMTC to be taken against alternative minimum tax (AMT) liability. (Affordable Housing Finance, June 13)


• Last week, $563 million was awarded to 353 American Indian and Alaskan Native entities through the Indian Housing Block Grant Program. These funds are used for a variety of affordable housing purposes including development, rehabilitation, and maintenance. (HUD, June 12)


• Despite Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s recent successes, lawmakers still plan to liquidate the two GSEs to avoid another future bailout. When Fannie and Freddie were placed into conservatorship five years ago, nobody expected profits to rebound so quickly. (Bloomberg Businessweek, June 13)


• The National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) has released an interactive map that pinpoints how many homeless veterans were living in any given area of the country between 2012 and 2013. This map serves as a tool in the federal government’s campaign to end veteran homelessness by 2015. (NAEH, June 13)


• According to a new study by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), 48 percent of our elderly population is economically vulnerable led by the older elderly (80 years or older), women, and minorities. Reductions in Social Security and Medicare funding would push even more seniors into economic instability. (EPI, June 6)

 

For the latest housing and community development news and notes, follow the Enterprise policy team on Twitter: @E_Housing Policy and subscribe to the Capitol Express Newsletter. 

Community Developments - June 14, 2013

A daily roundup of news affecting housing and  communities

By Allison Charette

 

• The recent IRS scandal could actually boost efforts at tax reform, according to Enterprise’s Peter Lawrence in his monthly Policy Points column for the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits. Tax reform could have a significant impact on affordable housing and community development, which has put the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and New Markets Tax Credit programs at risk. (@the horizon, June 13)


• The Center for Responsible Lending has identified several flaws in the methodology and conclusions of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s (NBER) recent paper on minority homeownership during the Great Recession. The NBER analysis finds that mortgages held by minority households during the recession suffered worse impacts than those held by white borrowers and concludes that such findings “raise concerns about homeownership as a vehicle of reducing racial wealth disparities.” According to the Center for Responsible Lending, the limited scope of the paper makes its concluding remarks unreasonable. (Center for Responsible Lending, June 13)


• Rising home prices and sufficient demand have made banks more willing to complete the foreclosure processes on defaulting properties. As a result, the number of completed foreclosures spiked 11 percent in May after five months of consistent decline. (Bloomberg, June 13)


• The FHFA’s annual report to Congress on Thursday rated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as “Critical Concerns” in 2012 (consistent with the 2011 rating) despite their positive incomes. The report contains detailed examination of Fannie, Freddie, and the Federal Home Loan Banks for that year. (FHFA, June 13)


• In honor of Father’s Day this weekend, 300 public authorities in 36 states will be holding events for the fathers and children living in public housing. HUD’s Father’s Day Initiative is a national campaign meant to promote responsible fatherhood. According to the US Census Bureau, over 24 million American children are growing up today without a father in the home. (HUD, June 13)

 

For the latest housing and community development news and notes, follow the Enterprise policy team on Twitter: @E_Housing Policy and subscribe to the Capitol Express Newsletter. 

Field Notes: Gordon Hirabayashi – Civil Rights Leader, Local Hero

The current Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellows share their ideas, inspirations and photos from the field on our blog. Learn more about the Fellowship.

By Joann Ware, Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellow

A year and a half ago, the development team at InterIm Community Development Association sat around a table, brainstorming names for our upcoming workforce housing project.  Located at the northwest corner of Seattle’s International District, the development will contribute to the re-emerging cultural identity of historic Nihonmachi, or Japantown, therefore we were interested in naming the building after a Japanese American community member. Someone suggested Hirabayashi Place in honor of Gordon Hirabayashi and everyone agreed enthusiastically. I silently nodded in support then bashfully admitted that I did not know who Gordon was, or what he did. Through conversations with community members who knew Gordon and online research, I learned of Gordon Hirabayashi’s inspiring story of integrity and social justice.

Gordon Hirabayashi courageously stood up against the racially prejudiced and unconstitutional mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Instead of registering for relocation, he turned himself in to the FBI to create a test case of the government’s right to incarcerate Japanese Americans without due process of law. Hirabayashi v. United States, was appealed to the Supreme Court and was upheld in 1943. Three decades later, a local team of volunteer lawyers re-opened his case on the basis of governmental misconduct, parallel to Fred Korematsu and Minoru Yasui’s cases in San Francisco and Portland respectively. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated his conviction in 1987.

“I never look at my case as just my own, or just as a Japanese-American case. It is an American case, with principles that affect the fundamental human rights of all Americans.” 
-Gordon Hirabayashi

To educate the public about the story of Gordon Hirabayashi, we formed a Legacy of Justice Committee to steward the creation of public art, interactive display, activities and events, in, on and associated with Hirabayashi Place. As a first project, we wanted to do something to bring life to the existing vacant buildings on the site, so we decided on panelized murals that can be easily mounted on the buildings, removed for demolition and then mounted on construction fencing.

 

For three months, I worked closely with Wilderness Inner-City Leadership (WILD) Youth participants to design and paint a series of murals inspired by Gordon’s life and legacy. This process started with an intensive research component where the youth learned about Gordon’s stand against the Internment, other civil rights leaders and current struggles for social justice. Through their artwork, the participants made connections between Gordon’s legacy and the opportunities that they have today as first and second generation immigrant youth.

 

 

I scanned all of the artwork and converted them into paint-by-number outlines. We projected the outlines onto primed plywood for tracing with pencil.  Each number corresponded with a container of pre-mixed paint.

The WILD participants came after school every Tuesday for fun yet intense painting sessions. They brought their friends, so the group doubled in size.

 

Last week we had a small party to celebrate the completion of the murals. Esther Furugori, Gordon’s younger sister, attended and was our guest of honor. (center of photo)

For more information about Gordon Hirabayashi, please check out the following websites:

http://encyclopedia.densho.org/Gordon%20Hirabayashi/

https://afsc.org/story/celebrating-life-and-work-gordon-hirabayashi

https://afsc.org/document/gordon-hirabayashis-statement-against-us-inernment-japanese-americans

 

 

Could the IRS Scandal Have an Impact on Affordable Housing and Community Development?

By the Enterprise Policy Team

The IRS scandal could actually boost efforts at tax reform, according to Enterprise’s Peter Lawrence (Senior Director, Public Policy) in his monthly Policy Points column for the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits.

Our policy team has been carefully watching the investigations into scandals at the IRS and the potential impacts on tax reform efforts, which could affect affordable housing and community development should crucial programs such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit) and New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) be reduced or eliminated.

Peter also describes the Senate Finance Committee’s latest paper, which outlines potential reform options for the Housing Credit and NMTC programs. For more details, read Policy Points: Scandal at the IRS Could Help, Not Hinder Tax Reform in the June 2013 edition of the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits.

Community Developments - June 13, 2013

A daily roundup of news affecting housing and  communities

By Allison Charette

 

• Mayor Bloomberg of New York has proposed a $20 billion plan for city flood protection using giant removable floodwalls, levees, and gates. Prompted by the experience and damage of Hurricane Sandy, this is one of the most ambitious plans to protect a major city from severe weather. Last week, FEMA released a set of maps depicting New York’s most vulnerable areas to severe flooding that the plan aims to address. (Washington Post, June 11)


• CoreLogic’s new Equity Report finds that over 850,000 single-family properties have returned to a state of positive equity in the first quarter of 2013. In the past year, 1.7 million households have moved back into positive equity. The report also finds that 19.8 percent of residential properties remain in negative equity, roughly equal to 9.7 million households but substantially fewer than one year ago. (CoreLogic, June 12)


• First-term Congressman Denny Heck’s (D-WA) Reverse Mortgage Stabilization bill passed through the House of Representatives yesterday. This legislation would allow the FHA to make changes to the Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM) program needed to stabilize it. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced similar legislation on the Senate side in March of this year. (Housing Wire, June 12)


• In another issue of Sequestration Nation, the Center for American Progress (CAP) discusses rising college costs and reduced financial assistance for students. Several programs have been affected, one of which is the $51 million cut to the federal work-study program that will result in 33,000 students being dropped from the program. (CAP, June 10)


• The farm bill was passed in the Senate on Monday and is now headed to the House, where debate will likely intensify over cuts to the SNAP (food stamp) program. Food assistance makes up 80 percent of the bill’s costs and it is not yet clear by what degree it will be cut. The Senate bill reduces SNAP funding by $4 billion over the next ten years while House Republicans want to cut it by over $20 billion. There are 48 million Americans who depend on the program today. (US News, June 11)

 

For the latest housing and community development news and notes, follow the Enterprise policy team on Twitter: @E_Housing Policy and subscribe to the Capitol Express Newsletter. 

Community Developments - June 12, 2013

A daily roundup of news affecting housing and  communities

By Allison Charette

 

• In its fourth study on racial and ethnic discrimination in housing, HUD found that while blatant forms of discrimination have significantly decreased since the 1970s, white households searching for homes still receive more subtle favorable treatment over minorities. In the paired-testing study, researchers found that customers of all races and ethnicities were able to make appointments with housing professionals, but those of African-American, Hispanic, and Asian descent were consistently told about and shown fewer homes and rental units. (HUD, June 11)

 

• Regions undergoing public transit expansions also must confront the challenge of risking home prices along the newly redeveloped corridors. The city of Seattle is working to ensure affordable housing is available near its new Central Link light-rail stops. According to Melinda Pollack, a vice president at Enterprise, the $7 million city officials assembled from federal grants, a city-property tax levy, and nonprofit lending groups for affordable housing is essential to ensure that the light-rail is available to those who need it most. (Wall Street Journal, June 10; log-in required)   

 

• According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the FHA’s practice of charging interest on mortgages after the principal balance has been paid off will be discontinued. The Bureau has stated that this practice is equivalent to a prepayment penalty, which is banned under the “qualified mortgage” rule. (Seattle Times, June 7)

 

• Developers, lenders and investors are exploring options for financing affordable housing with limited public subsidies. L+M Development Partners and Citi Community Capital have joined together to fund affordable housing development for low- to moderate-income earners in the New York area. L+M CEO and Enterprise Leadership Council Member Ron Moelis says that his company will renovate distressed and at-risk buildings and charge lower rents. These properties will receive a reduction in property taxes. Citi has also partnered with Jonathan Rose Companies (headed by Enterprise Trustee Jonathan Rose), to launch a fund that will invest in affordable housing projects in Newark, Washington, and Connecticut. (Wall Street Journal, June 3; log-in required)

 

• A new study by Andrew Oswald and David Blanchflower that connects higher  omeownership rates with lower employment levels has received a great deal of attention in the past week. The study finds that increased homeownership leads to lower levels of labor mobility, greater commuting times, and fewer new businesses. Some have criticized the study’s methodologies and cited past papers that do not find the same relationship between homeownership and employment. (CNBC, June 7 & DS News, June 7)

 

For the latest housing and community development news and notes, follow the Enterprise policy team on Twitter: @E_Housing Policy and subscribe to the Capitol Express Newsletter. 

Community Developments - June 11, 2013

A daily roundup of news affecting housing and  communities

By Allison Charette

• Housing prices have sharply increased in the past few months but have done so unevenly. An Atlantic Cities article finds that home prices have risen fastest in the more expensive metropolitan areas. So while many are encouraged by the rising prices, the affordability gap in housing is rising substantially. (Atlantic Cities, June 6) Another interesting insight is that cash sales seem to be the driving force behind climbing housing prices. Compared to one year ago, cash sale prices are up 15 percent while the prices of loan sales are up by only eight percent. (CoreLogic, June 11)


• A report prepared by HUD explores the role anchor institutions can play in struggling communities across the country. Anchor institutions are deeply-rooted community organizations that contribute to economic growth and stability. The report’s case study of Chester, Pennsylvania and its local college, Widener University, illustrates such a relationship with the help of the White House’s Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) initiative. (HUD, May 29)


• The San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank’s (FRBSF) spring issue of Community Investments discusses the changing environment of affordable housing and the need for industry stakeholders to adjust their practices. Included is a piece by Enterprise’s Director of Programs, Heather Hood, who writes about the diversification of capital in affordable housing by bringing together practitioners from public policy, private investment, and private development. (FRBSF, June 2013)


• An analysis by Capital Economics projects that by the end of this year home prices will rise by eight percent, mortgage rates will decrease, and rental prices will increase resulting in weakening demand for rentals. While many are concerned that home prices are rising to unstable levels, this analysis suggests that we are a long way off from “bubble-era highs.” (DS News, June 10)


• In a commentary piece, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) criticizes the FHFA’s “arms-length” policy that prohibits foreclosing homeowners from engaging in short sale deals with friends, family, or nonprofits that would keep the homeowners in their homes. Many lawmakers and state attorneys generals have recently been vocalizing their displeasure with the FHFA’s foreclosure policies. (Dorchester Reporter, June 5)

 

For the latest housing and community development news and notes, follow the Enterprise policy team on Twitter: @E_Housing Policy and subscribe to the Capitol Express Newsletter. 

Community Developments - June 10, 2013

A daily roundup of news affecting housing and  communities

By Allison Charette

• There has been much recent debate regarding the long-term stability of home prices. There are those who believe that rising home prices are evidence the economy is headed toward full recovery, while others think investor activity has driven up home prices without first developing a stable economic foundation. (Wall Street Journal, June 9 & New York Times, June 8) According to a New York Times editorial, investors buying homes in bulk are betting the economy will fully recover in the coming years. If these investors are wrong, slowly recovering local economies will not be able to sustain such fast home price increases over the long-term. (New York Times, June 8)


• Last week’s Sequester Impacts report by the Coalition on Human Needs found that rural Head Start programs are being hit hard by budget cuts. The home-based Head Start program in rural Nebraska was forced to cut 40 preschool-aged children and the Head Start Center in Neodesha, Kansas was forced to close, affecting 17 children and five staff members. (CHN, June 7)


• According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the US is running a $627 billion budget deficit in the first eight months of FY 2013 (October 2012-May 2013). This is $220 billion less than last year’s shortfall because federal revenue has increased by 15 percent and spending has risen by less than one percent. CBO expects the total FY2013 budget to be $642 billion. (CBO, June 7)


• In a statement Friday, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ Chief Economist Chad Stone commented on the May jobs report. While jobs have been added for the month of May, total employment continues to be far below 2007 levels. The slow speed of job growth, partially due to large federal budget cuts, has been especially hard on the large share of the long-term unemployed. (CBPP, June 7)


• Checks valued at around $1,480 will be mailed to over 900,000 borrowers as part of the National Mortgage Settlement beginning today. Only $1.5 billion of the settlement, totaled at $25 billion, is being used to compensate borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure during the housing crisis. (DS News, June 6)

 

For the latest housing and community development news and notes, follow the Enterprise policy team on Twitter: @E_Housing Policy and subscribe to the Capitol Express Newsletter.