Housing Briefs

DHCD has announced the availability of $9.85 million in subsidy funds to support the development of small to medium size affordable homeownership development projects. Applications are due by August 9th. Funding sources include HOME, the Housing Stabilization Fund, the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the Commercial Area Transit Node Housing Program (CATNHP) and the Green Affordable Housing Initiative (GAHI). Applicants are strongly encouraged to follow green design principles. Application guidelines are available online at DHCD's website (https://www2.massdhcd.com/pubserver/webpages/index.htm)

DHCD and MassHousing recently released the FY2006 Annual Report on the Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF). It profiles the 27 projects that were awarded a total of $17.4 million from the Fund in FY2006 to create 807 units, including 683 affordable to households with incomes at or below 110% of median. Most (20) are being developed by non-profit sponsors. Just over half of the units will be ownership units. Since the Fund's inception in FY2001, it has awarded $111 million to 180 projects with almost 7,000 units (83% affordable).

The full House approved the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (H.r.1851) by a wide margin (383-83) on July12th, despite an official statement of White House opposition to the bill related based on the way voucher funds would be distributed. It is not yet known when the Senate will take up comparable legislation. The full House made a few changes to the version of the bill approved by the Financial Services Committee in May, increasing PHA reserves to 1.5 months (up from one month) and banning troubled housing authorities from participating in an expanded version of the Moving to Work pilot program (renamed the Housing Improvement Program or HIP). It also set a 30%-of-income cap on any new rent formulas under HIP. One controversial amendment terminates assistance to all members of a voucher family if any member is unable to provide certain forms of identification.

Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees approved FY2008 budget legislation for HUD on July 11th and 12th (bill numbers have not been assigned yet). Both provide increases for some programs but also differ in important ways. The House bill increases funding for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) formula grants by 6%, while the Senate bill level funds it. The House decreases HOME formula grant funding slightly, while the Senate increases it by 7% (both eliminated the ADDI program). Both bills increase public housing operating funds by 9% and homelessness assistance (by 8-10%).

Both bills provide funding for incremental housing choice vouchers ($30 million in the House bill, $75 million in the Senate) for homeless veterans and family unification (Senate only), but differ in their housing choice voucher renewal funding formulas (the House bases it on 2006 costs, the Senate on the most recent 12 months of costs). Renewal funding for project-based vouchers is considered too low in both bill, due in part to questions about the amount needed to fully fund all renewals. The Senate bill provides a $100 million increase for Housing Counseling to assist households at risk of foreclosure. Details are available on the National Low Income Housing Coalition website (http://www.nlihc.org/doc/FY08_BudgetChart.pdf)

HUD published its proposed FMRs for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher and Moderate Rehabilitation SRO programs for FY2008 in a July 12 Federal Register notice and will accept public comments through August 13th. The final FMRs will go into effect October 1. The FY2008 figures are based on 2005 American Survey data, rather than the 2000 Census data with an inflator used in previous years. As a result, the proposed figures for Massachusetts are 14-23% higher than current (FY2007) FMRs in some areas and 1-7% lower in other areas (all bedroom sizes change by the same percentage within each FMR area). Detailed information is available at HUD's website (http://www.huduser.org/datasets/fmr.html).

	FY2007 FMR 2BR	FY2008 Proposed 2BR	Change	% Change
Metro FMR Areas
Barnstable Town MSA	1,003	1,145	142	14%
Berkshire County (part) HMFA	668	764	96	14%
Boston-Cambridge-Quincy HMFA	1,366	1,353	(13)	-1%
Brockton HMFA	1,138	1,213	75	7%
Eastern Worcester County HMFA	1,105	1,099	(6)	-1%
Easton-Raynham	1,349	1,249	(100)	-7%
Fitchburg-Leominster HMFA	842	913	71	8%
Franklin County (part) HMFA	716	820	104	15%
Lawrence HMFA	1,075	1,127	52	5%
Lowell HMFA	1,171	1,232	61	5%
New Bedford HMFA	791	819	28	4%
Pittsfield HMFA	706	806	100	14%
Providence-Fall River HMFA	1,014	1,020	6	1%
Springfield HMFA	840	844	4	0%
Taunton-Mansfield-Norton	1,043	1,077	34	3%
Western Worcester County HMFA	639	785	146	23%
Worcester HMFA	890	965	75	8%
Non-Metro FMR Areas
Dukes County	1,178	1,348	170	14%
Nantucket County	1,400	1,604	204	15%

Public Comments Sought for Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Informational Materials

The four major federal bank regulatory agencies are revising their "Question and Answer" document used to help both financial institutions and the public understand CRA regulations. The revised document clarifies the types of activities that will gain lenders CRA credit - including foreclosure prevention activities and affordable small loan programs - with the goal of encouraging greater activity in these areas. It also seeks to improve readability and clarity. The proposed revisions were published in a July 11 Federal Register notice. The public is invited to submit comments on both the Q&A document and on CRA issues generally by September 10th. The notice and background information is available at the Federal Reserve's website.