State Updates
DHCD Issues Spring 2014 Rental Housing NOFA
On January 13, the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) posted its Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the Spring 2014 Affordable Housing Competition for Rental Projects. The deadline for submitting an application is the close of business, Friday, March 21, 2014. Only projects with January/February pre-application approvals will be considered. The deadline for submitting a pre-application is January 17.
DHCD Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing (AI) Published
On January 14, DHCD released its 2013 Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing (AI), after soliciting comments on a draft AI in late 2013.
DHCD Re-Schedules Hearing on FY2014 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP)
The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) rescheduled the public hearing on its draft 2014 Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP) for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. As detailed in its notice , DHCD will hold the hearing on January 21 at 10:30 a.m. in Boston (room 2D – 100 Cambridge St). Written comments will be accepted through January 31.
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Awards Working Cities Grants to Six Cities
On January 16, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston announced the award of grants to six cities under its Working Cities grant program to address local workforce development, employment and other specific community development challenges through cross-sector collaboration. The winning cities are Chelsea, Fitchburg, Holyoke, Lawrence, Salem and Somerville.
DHCD Makes First Funding Awards for HILAPP Program to Preserve, Modernize State Public Housing
On December 13, DHCD announced the award of $5 million in design funding to 12 housing authorities that will upgrade over 700 units under its new High Leverage Asset Preservation Program (HILAPP). DHCD expects to provide these 12 authorities with a total of $27 million in capital funding by the end of this investment cycle. The winning authorities are Amherst, Boston, Braintree, Cambridge, Chicopee, Franklin County, Leominster, Lexington, Malden, Middleborough, Provincetown and Sandwich.
Two HAC Decisions Address Role of Local Planning Efforts
On December 17, the Housing Appeals Committee issued two decisions that further refine how the Committee weighs local master planning concerns against the regional need for affordable housing (Hanover R.S. Limited Partnership v. the Andover Zoning Board of Appeals and Hanover Woods LLC v. the Hanover Zoning Board of Appeals). In both cases, the Committee used a four-part analysis to weigh valid local master planning concerns against the regional need for affordable housing. In each case, it looked at (1) the extent to which the proposed project conflicts with the local plan; (2) the importance of the local planning concern; (3) the quality of the master plan and extent of its implementation, and (4) the extent to which town planning efforts resulted in the development of affordable housing. The HAC noted that both towns still did not permit multifamily housing as of right. It concluded that regional need outweighed local planning concerns in both cases and ordered the ZBAs to issue comprehensive permits.
MAPC Projects Metro Boston Will Need up to 435,000 New Housing Units by 2040
On January 16, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) released a new report on Regional Growth Projections. It estimates that with an aging population, Metro Boston will need up to 435,000 new housing units, mostly in urban areas, by 2040 to attract and house young workers and “to keep the economy on track”. As detailed in the Executive Summary, absent action, if the region’s current population and housing trends continue (“status quo”), the Metro Boston population will grow by less than 7% between now and 2040, the population age 65+ will grow by 82% and the working age population will remain essentially unchanged. Under a slow growth, status quo scenario the region would need 305,000 new units by 2040, primarily for workers under 44. The number of school age children in the region is projected to decline under all scenarios. Detailed population projections by municipality, maps and additional materials are also posted on MAPC’s Regional Growth Projections website.
Jobs Program Success for Homeless Parents Highlighted in Western Massachusetts
On January 10, the Western Massachusetts Network to End Homelessness and its partners celebrated the success of its Secure Jobs Connect program for homeless families. The network reported that the program, funded by the Fireman Foundation and HAPHousing, helped 156 parents of families who experienced homelessness obtain jobs in 2013 paying an average of $10.20 an hour. Western Massachusetts is one of five sites participating in the Secure Jobs Connect demonstration, which launched in early 2013 (click here for information on the program model and its implementation).
Federal Updates
Congressional Appropriators Release Omnibus FY2014 Appropriations Bill
On January 13, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees issued their omnibus appropriations bill for FY2014. The full House and Senate are expected to approve the bill by January 18. As detailed in a budget chart by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the proposed bill level funds or slightly increases funding for most HUD programs relative to the FY2013 post-sequestration levels but does not fully restore lost funding for a number of key programs. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) preliminary analysis indicates that the bill provides sufficient funding to renew the average number of Housing Choice Vouchers in use in 2013, but not enough to restore vouchers lost to sequestration and notes that it includes several long-sought Section 8 administrative reforms. The bill did not lift the 60,000 unit cap on public housing conversions under RAD, despite an application pipeline of 170,000 units. CBPP will host a webinar on FY14 funding and policy changes on January 22 (3:00 - 4:00 pm ET).
Mel Watt Sworn In as FHFA Director
Mel Watt was sworn in as the new FHFA director on January 6 after resigning his seat in Congress. While his position on key issues remains unknown, he did announce on January 8 that the agency will delay planned increases in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac base guarantee fees on mortgages pending review. He also announced the appointment of four special advisors on policy and strategy on January 10.
HUD Issues 2014 Income Limits
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued its 2014 income limits effective December 18, 2013. The new income limits for Massachusetts are higher in some cases, relative to the 2013 limits. The very low income (50% of area median income [AMI]) limit increased in many parts of the state, while the 80% of AMI limit declined slightly for most areas except Greater Boston, where it increased slightly. Details on how HUD calculated the limits for individual FMR areas can be found here.
Energy Department Projects Increase in Carbon Emissions in 2013 after Two Years of Decline
On January 13, the U.S. Department of Energy issued an analysis projecting that energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2013 will be about 2% above the 2012 level, due primarily to a small rise in coal use in the electric power sector, though 10% below 2005 levels (the Administration’s goal is to reduce emissions by 17% from the 2005 level by 2020). The Department also released expanded state profiles of 2011 energy consumption in December and the University of California at Berkeley has release zip-code level data on energy consumption.
New Mortgage Rule Takes Effect, Requiring Lenders to Ensure Borrower Ability to Repay
On January 10, the “qualified mortgage” (QM) rule went into effect for the first time. The rule implements an “ability to repay” provision in Dodd-Frank prohibiting lenders from making a mortgage loan without first determining that the borrower has the ability to repay that loan. It encourages lenders to “qualified mortgages” (fixed-rate, amortizing loans without excessive fees, high interest rates or risky features) by offering them a safe harbor from litigation. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued public education materials on the new rule in December.
HUD/Department of Energy Extend Better Buildings Challenge to Multifamily Housing
On December 3, the White House announced the inclusion of multifamily properties in the Better Buildings Challenge, in which property owners commit to reducing energy usage across their portfolios by 20 percent over 10 years. The Department of Energy and HUD provide technical assistance and efficiency implementation models. More than 50 organizations with market rate and/or subsidized multifamily housing have committed to the challenge, including a number of housing authorities.
Recent Research
Census Bureau Releases New ACS data and Easy Mapping Tool (Census Explorer)
On December 17, the Census Bureau has released its latest five year ACS file (2008-2012), as well as a new map visualization program (Census Explorer) that allows the public to create interactive maps illustrating demographic changes from 1990 to the present, at the national, state, county and census tract level. The mapping covers eight variables: total population, percent 65 and older, percent foreign born, percent with a high school degree or higher and with a bachelor’s degree or higher, labor force participation and homeownership rates and median household income.
HUD Journal and January Webinar Examine Aging in Place and Planned Demonstration Program
HUD’s latest issue of its journal Evidence Matters, (Fall 2013) published in December, is devoted to an examination of the concept of aging in place. It profiles demographic trends, the preferences of seniors and several strategies that seniors, local officials, and policymakers are pursuing to promote aging in place. It highlights a program in Newton, Massachusetts among others. It includes a review of research efforts to measure the costs and benefits of aging in place and notes that HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) and HHS will jointly fund a demonstration to test models for subsidized aging in place. HUD will discuss the demonstration in more detail in a webinar on aging in place on January 9, 2014.
War on Poverty 50 Years Later
Several national organizations are marking the 50th anniversary of the start of the “War on Poverty” this year with compilations of reports assessing its accomplishments and current challenges, including the Coalition for Human Needs and the Urban Institute. While the official poverty rate nationwide is higher in 2012 than in 1967 (15% vs. 14%), two studies find a decline (from 25.8% to 16% or from 19% to 16%) when using an alternative measure using called the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) which adjusts the poverty threshold for the receipt of government benefits, including housing assistance, food stamps and the earned income tax credit. A federal study estimates the impact of various government benefits on the poverty rate and estimates that housing assistance programs reduced the 2012 poverty rate by 0.9 percentage points. Others examine the difference between asset and income poverty, how poverty affects various populations (children, the elderly, etc.), and how states - including Massachusetts - rank on a number of poverty and anti-poverty indicators.
Number of Concentrated Poverty Neighborhoods has risen by 50% since 2000
A new report ( Concentration of Poverty in the New Millennium) on trends in the prevalence of high-poverty neighborhoods (poverty rates of 40% or more) since 1990 finds that poverty has largely re-concentrated since 1990 and that with population growth, more people live in high poverty tracts than ever before. Nationwide, 5.2% of all census tracts were high poverty according to 2007-2011 ACS data, down from to 5.7% in 1990 but up from 3.9% in 2000. The percentage of poor people living in high poverty neighborhoods was 12.8% in 2007-2011. The number of high poverty tracts rose by 50% after 2000, after falling by 26% in the prior decade, though that increase varied considerably by region (15% in the Northeast, 90% in the Midwest) and by metro area size (a greater rate of increase in smaller areas).
The report notes that high poverty tracts are less geographically clustered than in the past and more racially diverse, but generally still located in just a few municipalities in any given metro area, surrounded by many municipalities with no high poverty tracts. It concludes that changes in zoning policies and other public policies are needed to reverse this pattern and ensure that the estimated 30 million new housing units expected to be built by 2050 reduce poverty concentration and the harms of living in high poverty neighborhoods.
Connecticut Finds Hartford Students in Regional Integration Program Perform Better
A recent study by the State of Connecticut has found that efforts to address the racial, ethnic and economic isolation of Hartford students are producing benefits. It found that Hartford students in a 22-district regional voluntary school integration program far outperformed students in the Hartford schools. The regional program is the result of a 1996 Connecticut Supreme Court decision (Sheff v. O’Neill) found that Hartford students were deprived of their constitutional right to an equal education by attending schools that were racially, ethnically and economically isolated. The court ordered the State to find a remedy and ultimately the State created a regional two-way voluntary program in greater Hartford by funding new interdistrict magnet schools and a school choice program (see www.sheffmovement.org.) The plaintiffs and the State enter periodic agreements on funding and the goals for percentage of minority Hartford students attending non-isolated schools (at least 25% non-minority). The 2014 non-isolation goal is 44%, up from 15% in 2007.
New York Early Analysis Finds Supportive Housing Saved $10,100 in Annual Public Costs per Tenant
On December 31, New York City and New York State issued an interim utilization and cost analysis in connection with their Supportive Housing Initiative III – a program to add 9,000 new units of supportive housing by 2016 for nine distinct populations, including homeless and at risk adults and household heads with a disability, persons with serious mental illness, substance use disorders, disabling medical conditions or HIV/AIDS or who are aging out of foster care. The report compares the costs and utilization of government-subsidized health care, social services and jail by tenants living at least a year in Supportive Housing between 2007 and 2009 with eligible persons not placed during that period. While the study is preliminary, with only one year of data, it found that public costs for the Supportive Housing III tenants were $10,100 less per year on average than the control group. It found significant variation in the savings among the nine populations, however, because of differences in the services they use; for four groups, savings were nominal and two more groups had slight higher public costs than the control. The authors note this initial study has limitations, including omitting benefits not easily quantified. Future reports will have more data and are likely to show greater savings.
Study Maps Household Carbon Footprint by Zip Code, Examines Correlation with Population Density
Cool Climate Network at the University of California, Berkeley has published a new study that sheds light on how population density and urbanization affects household greenhouse gas emission levels. The Network also posted lookup maps on annual household carbon footprint (HCF) levels by zip code census tabulation area, broken out by component (housing, transportation, food, goods and services). As detailed in an FAQ document, the study found that the primary drivers of HCF are household income, vehicle ownership and home size, all of which are higher in suburbs. Overall it found that while higher population cities had lower per household carbon footprints, the correlation was more complicated for suburbs. In general, larger, denser suburbs had a larger HCF because they had higher incomes than less dense suburbs. Because more populous, more population dense metro areas tend to have more extensive suburbs, they also tend to have higher HCF than less populous, less dense metro areas. It found, however, that the average HCF declines once locations reached a density of about 3,000 persons per square mile. It concludes that efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions should be tailored to address the variation in sources (i.e. power source, transportation, household consumption) in a given region.
National Initiative on Mixed Income Housing Launched
Case Western Reserve University announced the launch of its National Initiative on Mixed Income Housing in December. The Initiative is intended to provide a “central resource for research and information and creating and sustaining mixed-income communities (with a focus on those with a public housing component). It offers a number of online resources, including literature reviews , a mixed-income database and a mixed income library.
Upcoming Events
January 29 – Affordable Housing Lobby Day, State House. Click here for registration information.
Feburary 6 - CHAPA Young Professionals Brown Bag Lunch Series: Converting the Pine Street Inn from an Emergency Shelter Provider to an Affordable Housing Developer/Manager with Jan Griffen, Director of Program Planning, Pine Street Inn. Click here for registration information.
