Fostering decent affordable housing & a vibrant community for everyone

Gurfel to Helm ULI Greenprint Center

Posted under NHI News on May 13, 2012

From the Urban Land Institute

Helen A. Gurfel, a widely renowned expert in real estate investment and sustainability, has been named executive director of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Greenprint Center for Building Performance, the institute announced in early May.

The ULI Greenprint Center was created in early 2012 and is part of ULI’s broader Climate, Land Use and Energy (CLUE) initiative, which promotes industry best practices regarding environmentally conscious design and development that conserves energy, land and natural resources. Gurfel will head up the center’s staff in its new headquarters, located at 270 Lafayette Street in New York City alongside the offices of the ULI New York district council.

Gurfel, who began her new assignment on May 8, was most recently a director of GE Capital Real Estate’s global sustainability group. As the executive director of the ULI Greenprint Center, she will be responsible for the overall management and executive leadership of the center and the implementation of its work program. In addition, she will direct the production of the center’s annual Greenprint Performance Report as well as other associated research and work products.

During her time at GE Capital Real Estate, Gurfel spearheaded a number of initiatives, including the development of sustainability programs for GE’s portfolios in France, Canada, and the United Kingdom; leading a rooftop solar program to deploy solar installations across properties in North America and the United Kingdom; incorporating innovative technologies into GE-owned properties; strengthening public-private partnerships in order to promote sustainability; and most recently developing a global strategy to measure energy consumption, cost, and emissions across GE’s portfolio. During her time at GE, she was also a member of the GE Capital Real Estate’s global valuation team and GE Energy Financial Services’ portfolio management team.

The flagship product of the ULI Greenprint Center is its Greenprint Performance Report, which includes the Greenprint Carbon Index (GCX), a tool used by Greenprint members to gauge relative progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions over time. The first volume of the report, issued in 2010, contained results obtained from performance during 2009 as a baseline measurement. The second volume, issued in 2011, had results for 2010 that included 1,623 properties in the Americas, Europe and Asia, and which covered a total of 31 million square meters of commercial space. It showed a 0.6 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the previous year on the like-for-like portfolio of submitted properties.

The international scope and size of the report, including the GCX, make it one of the real estate industry’s largest, most verifiable, transparent and comprehensive energy benchmarking tools. It is unique in that it provides an open standard for measuring, benchmarking and tracking energy usage and resulting emissions on a building or portfolio basis. The third volume is expected to be released in the summer of 2012.

For more, click here

Amy Hovey Named to Lead Community Progress

Posted under Industry News on May 6, 2012

From the Center for Community Progress:

Center for Community Progress chief operating officer and co-founder Amy Hovey will assume the role of interim president and CEO when current President and CEO Dan Kildee, begins a leave of absence on May 15th to run for U.S. Congress.

Hovey and Kildee have worked together for more than a decade, at the Genesee County Land Bank and the Genesee Institute. Prior to her work at the Land Bank and Institute, Hovey served as Program Director of the Michigan State the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). Before joining LISC in 1996, Amy worked for four years in private business in management, finance and community relations with First of America Bank. In addition to technical assistance, Amy has extensive training and meeting facilitation experience including an annual fifteen-day training program on comprehensive real estate development.

“Amy is the right person to lead Community Progress during this transition,” said Kildee. “She understands the challenges that vacant and abandoned property create, and how to help stakeholders craft strategies and the larger community support they need to tackle these issues. There could be no better person to take the reins of Community Progress and its critical work at this time.”

The Center for Community Progress assists communities in the reuse of vacant, abandoned, and problem properties and serves as the national resource for policy, information, capacity building, and training regarding the redevelopment of vacant, abandoned, and problem properties.

Asst. Sec. Mercedes Marquez to Leave HUD in May

Posted under Industry News on April 25, 2012

HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development Mercedes Marquez has informed HUD field offices that she will step down from her post May 18, HUD officials have confirmed. At this time, no announcement on her replacement has been made.

Márquez came to HUD in 2009 as part of a housing “dream team” as the administration appointed some of the housing field’s best talent into its leadership posts. Having previously served as general manager of the Los Angeles Housing Department, Márquez is also an attorney who has specialized in public interest litigation including slumlord, fair housing, public housing, sexual harassment, employment discrimination, and constitutional issues cases.

During her time at HUD, she administered nearly $8 billion in programs designed to spur community development, affordable housing, as well as a variety of special needs assistance programs. One of the last projects Márquez will work on at HUD will be releasing enhancements to the Consolidated Plan that are expected to represent a major change in how communities will use the plan and, according to the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, “provide them [with] tools to achieve meaningful plans as the result of a priority-setting discussion.”

Look for Marquez’s article on changes to the Consolidated Plan to be published on Shelterforce.org in mid-May.

In a 2010 interview, Marquez told Shelterforce that on-the-ground stabilization efforts, particularly those implemented from the federal level, like NSP, had to be coupled—despite their manifest imperfections—with an aggressive upstream approach as well:

We have to be sober about how we got here. So much of it is where people were buying too much. We have to understand that having a legal piece of paper that says you’re the owner, when the conditions for you to remain an owner are so onerous, is that really homeownership? If you have equity in a property, if you can take out that home loan that’s going to help you buy the used car or that helps get your kid to college, that’s homeownership. If you can never build any equity, that’s a lease.

Honoring and helping our families do better is the American dream. What’s important is for people to have decent housing, and that their kids get to move on and get educated and get their dreams met. It doesn’t matter if you’re a renter or homeowner to do that.

Marquez’s departure from HUD marks the conclusion of her second turn at the agency, having first served as the senior counsel for civil rights and fair housing to HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo during President Clinton’s second term.

Maurice Jones Sworn In As HUD Deputy Secretary

Posted under Industry News on April 19, 2012

From HUD

Maurice Jones was sworn this week as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Jones was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 29, 2012. As the second most senior official at HUD, Jones will be charged with managing the Department’s day-to-day operations, a nearly $47 billion annual operating budget, and the agency’s 8,900 employees.

“President Obama and Secretary Donovan have blessed me with the opportunity to join HUD during this critical period when we continue to support a fragile recovery from an historic housing crisis,” said Jones. “I’m ready to help continue transforming an organization charged with moving beyond the yesterday’s experiences to tackle today’s challenges and those we’ll face tomorrow.”

“Maurice has one of the strongest public and private sector track records I’ve seen for building consensus and solving big problems,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan “As we continue to confront our current housing challenges, HUD will certainly benefit from Maurice’s intellect, his proven management experience and his great people skills.”

Jones added, “Public service has been a passion of mine since my high school days in rural Lunenburg County, Virginia. As a ninth grader, I was fortunate enough to be selected to serve as a page during that year’s legislative session of the Virginia General Assembly. The experience changed my life. I resolved then and there to enter public service when I grew up so that I too could work to make things better.”

Jones most recently worked in Norfolk, Virginia as President of Pilot Media, the largest print and digital organization in Hampton Roads. Pilot Media’s businesses include The Virginian-Pilot newspaper, Pilot Interactive and Targeted Publications and Media. Jones served as President and Publisher of The Virginian-Pilot, the locally owned and managed newspaper founded in 1865.

Jones joined Landmark Media Enterprises, owner of Pilot Media, in 2005, serving as Vice President of the Landmark Publishing Group, consisting of multiple newspapers including the News & Record in Greensboro, NC; The Roanoke Times; The Capital Gazette in Annapolis, MD; and Landmark Community Newspapers, Inc., based in Shelbyville, Ky. In 2006 Jones became the Vice President and General Manager of Pilot Media and in 2008 he became president and publisher of The Virginian-Pilot.

A Kenbridge, Virginia native, Jones also served as commissioner of the Virginia Department of Social Services and deputy chief of staff to then-Virginia Governor Mark Warner. At the U.S. Treasury Department, Jones was special assistant to the general counsel and he also served as legal counsel to the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund and as director of the fund during the Clinton Administration. Jones also worked for the law firm of Hunton & Williams in Richmond, Virginia and he was a partner at a Partner in Venture Philanthropy Partners, a firm that invests millions in the Washington, DC metropolitan area to assist low-income children.

Jones graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in Hampden-Sydney, Virginia and attended Oxford University in England on a Rhodes scholarship. He later earned a law degree from the University of Virginia.

Report Finds Discrimination in REO Marketing and Maintenance

Posted under Resources on April 15, 2012

From the National Fair Housing Alliance:

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and four of its local member organizations—the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center in Dayton, Ohio, Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence in Miami, Metro Fair Housing Services in Atlanta, and North Texas Fair Housing Center in Dallas—have released the results of an undercover investigation into the ways the nation’s financial institutions are failing to maintain and market real estate owned properties in African-American and Latino neighborhoods. The investigation of REO properties in nine major U.S. cities found striking incidents of discrimination in the care and maintenance of properties, with foreclosed properties in White areas being much better maintained and marketed than those in neighborhoods of color.

The report, The Banks Are Back, Our Neighborhoods Are Not: Discrimination in the Maintenance and Marketing of REO Properties, details the results of the evaluation of more than 1,000 REO properties located in and around Atlanta, GA; Baltimore; Dallas; Dayton, Ohio; Miami/Fort Lauderdale; Oakland/Richmond/Concord, Calif.; Philadelphia; Phoenix; and Washington, DC.

Some trends the investigation revealed include:

• REO properties in communities of color were 82 percent more likely than REO properties in White communities to have broken or boarded windows;
• REO properties in White neighborhoods were 32 percent more likely to be marketed with the proper signage than African-American neighborhoods and 38 percent more likely than in Latino neighborhoods; and
• Newer homes generally scored higher than older homes, but racial and ethnic disparities persisted with non-structural factors such as curb appeal and signage.

Click here for the full report.

Report: Older Populations Face Housing Affordability Challenges

Posted under Resources on April 6, 2012

A new report from the Center for Housing Policy, Housing an Aging Population—Are We Prepared? finds that older adults are more likely than younger adults to have housing affordability challenges.

Key findings include:

• As the U.S. population ages, the share of the population with severe housing cost burdens will likely rise
• As the overall population ages, the numbers of the most vulnerable will grow as well
• Even some older homeowners without mortgages face serious housing challenges
• An older population with health issues will drive demand for modified housing and housing with supportive services.
• Existing and emerging policies can help older adults continue to live in their own homes as they age.
• Equally important are policies to expand housing choices for older adults.

From the Center for Housing Policy

That baby boomers are swelling the ranks of older Americans is well-documented, but do we really understand the consequences of this important shift for the housing needs of older adults? A new report from the Center for Housing Policy, Housing an Aging Population—Are We Prepared?, explores the effects of this coming demographic change on the demand for housing, the challenge of providing meaningful housing choices for older adults of all incomes, and the policies that could help communities across the country respond to the dual challenges of providing older adults with affordable housing and adequate services.

The U.S. 65-and-older population will more than double by 2050 to nearly 90 million, growing at a rate far faster than any other age group. According to Census data, by 2050, one in five Americans will be over the age of 65. Some estimates put the figure even higher.

Housing an Aging Population – Are We Prepared? finds that older adults are more likely than younger adults to have housing affordability challenges. As a result, the aging of the population is likely to increase the overall proportion of the country with severe housing cost burdens. The report also finds that many older adults lack access to affordable services that could help them age in place. Similarly, older adults with low- and moderate incomes often lack access to meaningful housing choices – for example, to move into a multifamily development that would provide services an 85-year-old might need to continue living independently and avoid costly nursing care. The report further covers trends affecting older adults in terms of demand, housing costs, finances, location and housing type, offering recommendations on existing policies that may help to address the coming crisis.

Read more here.

CAP Report Argues Shared Appreciation Strategy for GSEs

Posted under Resources on April 1, 2012

From the Center for American Progress

While many lenders and mortgage investors in the private sector have embraced principal reduction, America’s two biggest mortgage finance companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have not. In fact the two mortgage giants, which own or guarantee more than 3 million underwater mortgages, are forbidden from lowering principal on their loans by their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or FHFA. The report released today, Sharing the Pain and Gain in the Housing Market, explains why Fannie, Freddie, and FHFA should give their stance on principal reduction another thought.

The report proposes a principal reduction pilot program at Fannie and Freddie that uses so-called “shared appreciation” modifications, through which Fannie or Freddie agrees to write down principal on deeply underwater loans in exchange for a portion of the future appreciation on the home. The borrower has a reason to keep paying, while the lender benefits when home prices eventually stabilize and rebound. The proposed plan includes program rules that deter borrowers from defaulting on their loan just to get a reduction in principal, what some critics call the “moral hazard” problem.

The report explains principal reductions should not be available to everyone, and that consideration must be done on a loan-by-loan basis. At this point, there is not enough data available to determine when exactly principal reduction is the best option compared to other modifications such as interest rate modifications or principal deferral. Indeed, that is precisely the reason for a launching a targeted pilot program.

The report specifically cites a recent Shelterforce interview with Ocwen Financial CEO Ron Faris, who discussed the lender’s shared appreciation modification program.

Patty Rouse, co-founder of Enterprise Community Partners, Dies at 85

Posted under NHI News on March 21, 2012

Patricia “Patty” Traugott Rouse, who co-founded the Enterprise Foundation with her late-husband Jim Rouse, died March 5, 2012. She was 85. Rouse leaves a significant legacy in the affordable housing and community development world.

Established in 1982, the Enterprise Foundation, (now Enterprise Community Partners) has emerged as a leading provider of the development capital and expertise it takes to create decent, affordable homes and rebuild communities.

“Enterprise is forever indebted to Patty, our visionary co-founder, for her unwavering commitment and the groundbreaking legacy she has left the affordable housing and community development industry,” said Terri Ludwig, president and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners.

Read more here.

MacArthur Announces Housing Matters Grant Recipients

Posted under Industry News on March 20, 2012

The MacArthur Foundation has issued a total of $2.7 million to research the role housing plays in the long-term health and well-being of children, families, and communities. The grants are part of the foundation’s $25 million research initiative, How Housing Matters to Families and Communities, and the recipients – University of Michigan, LeadingAge Center for Applied Research, Syracuse University, Ohio State University, and New York University, will use data sets and other resources to examine the effectiveness of housing policies and related public programs.

Additional information about these new grants and previously funded housing research projects is available at www.macfound.org/housingmatters.

Out of Reach 2012: America’s Forgotten Housing Crisis

Posted under Resources on March 14, 2012

From the National Low Income Housing Coalition

A full-time worker must earn per $18.25 per hour in order to afford rent and utilities on a modest two-bedroom rental unit without spending above 30 percent of income on housing costs. according to the National Low Income Housing Coaltion’s annual report, Out of Reach 2012. By contrast, the average American renter earns just $14.15 per hour.

The report is a side-by-side comparison of wages and rents in every county, metropolitan area, combined nonmetropolitan area and state in the United States. For each jurisdiction, the report calculates the amount of money a household must earn in order to afford a rental unit in a range of sizes at the area’s Fair Market Rent (FMR), based on the generally accepted affordability standard of paying no more than 30 percent of income for housing costs. These calculations provide the hourly wage a worker must earn, the “Housing Wage,” to afford the FMR for a two-bedroom home.

To read the full report, click here.

MacArthur Awards “Creative and Effective� Nonprofits

Posted under Industry News on February 20, 2012

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has named 15 organizations in six countries as recipients of the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions that recognizes and supports institutions that “address some of the world’s most pressing problems in creative ways.”

From the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

The recipients of the 2012 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions follow. The size of the award varies from $350,000 to $2.5 million, depending on the annual budget of each organization.

• Albertine Rift Conservation Society—Kampala, Uganda ($350,000) champions collaborative conservation initiatives in one of the world’s most important ecosystems;

• Business and Professional People for the Public Interest—Chicago, Illinois ($750,000) works to strengthen impoverished communities, preserve and increase affordable housing, improve Chicago schools and promote open, honest government in Illinois;

• Carnegie Moscow Center—Moscow, Russia ($2.5 million) provides impartial analysis of Russian politics and policy;

• Center for Investigative Reporting—Berkeley, California ($1 million) produces groundbreaking nonprofit investigative journalism;

• Center for Responsible Lending—Durham, North Carolina ($2 million) protects homeownership and family assets by working to eliminate abusive financial practices and products;

• Community Investment Corporation—Chicago, Illinois ($2 million) provides assistance to developers of rental housing in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods in Chicago;

• Conservation Strategy Fund—Sebastopol, California ($750,000) trains conservation professionals in economics and policy analysis to strengthen and protect the environment;

• Crisis Action—London, United Kingdom ($750,000) works to avert conflicts, prevent gross human rights abuses, and ensure that governments fulfill their obligations to protect civilians during times of conflict;

• Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University—New York, New York ($1 million) uses objective evidence to spur thoughtful discussion and effective reform of housing and community development policy;

• Girls’ Power Initiative—Calabar, Nigeria ($350,000) empowers and educates adolescent girls about their sexual and reproductive health and human rights;

• International Center for Not-for-Profit Law—Washington, DC ($1 million) promotes a global legal environment where civil society, philanthropy, and civic participation can thrive;

• Moscow Helsinki Group—Moscow, Russia ($750,000) advances the protection of human rights through advocacy, monitoring, analysis, networking, and training;

• National Juvenile Defender Center—Washington, DC ($750,000) supports juvenile defenders and justice system reform at the national, state and local levels to protect all children;

• Red Nacional de Derechos Humanos “Todos los Derechos para Todos” (Red TDT) (National Human Rights Network “All Rights for All”)—Mexico City, Mexico ($350,000) is a national network of human rights organizations that monitors and documents human rights abuses;

• The Moth—New York, New York ($750,000) is dedicated to the art of storytelling to document our common humanity.

In making these awards, the MacArthur does not seek or accept nominations. To qualify, organizations must demonstrate exceptional creativity and effectiveness; have reached a critical or strategic point in their development; show strong leadership and stable financial management; have previously received MacArthur support; and engage in work central to one of MacArthur’s core programs.

The award is not only recognition for past leadership and success but also an investment in the future. Organizations will use this large infusion of support to build endowments, develop strategic plans, and upgrade technology and physical infrastructure.

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Center for New York City Neighborhoods Names New Executive Director

Posted under Industry News on February 20, 2012

From CNYCN

The board of the Center for New York City Neighborhoods (CNYCN), in conjunction with the City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) today announced that following an extensive search, current CNYCN Interim Director Christie Peale has been named as the organization’s Executive Director. CNYCN is an independent non-profit created in 2008 as New York City’s public/private foreclosure prevention resource and response. CNYCN works with and provides funding for more than 26 nonprofit, community-based organizations that assist homeowners in all five boroughs. CNYCN grew out of efforts by local leaders, including Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn and non-profit partners, to create a systematic response to rapidly rising mortgage defaults and foreclosure filings, particularly in communities hardest hit by subprime and other unconventional loan products as well as job loss. CNYCN is funded by HPD and the City Council, along with generous contributions from numerous foundations and financial institutions.

“Christie Peale’s public service track record and her steadfast commitment to helping the City’s most at-risk residents makes her an ideal choice to lead CNYCN,” said HPD Commissioner and CNYCN board member Mathew M. Wambua. “As CNYCN’s Deputy Director, Christie helped establish the foundation for the City’s reasoned and concerted response to mitigate the effects of the foreclosure crisis. We are excited that Christie has agreed to take the reins: her vision, ingenuity, passion, drive, and ability will serve us all well. We look forward to continuing our partnership to ensure that more New Yorkers can stay in their homes.”

“Christie Peale is an excellent choice to lead the Center for New York City Neighborhoods, which has a critical role in helping homeowners in distress,” said New York City Consumer Affairs Commissioner and CNYCN board member Jonathan Mintz. “Christie has worked successfully with DCA’s Office of Financial Empowerment to address both mortgage issues and the broader financial challenges these New Yorkers face.”

“I’m thrilled Christie Peale has been named CNYCN’s new Executive Director,” said Speaker Christine C. Quinn. “Christie has been at CNYCN since its founding, and has proven her dedication to helping homeowners avoid foreclosures time and time again. Christie’s commitment to New York City is unparalleled, and I look forward to our continued work with CNYCN to support homeowners and preserve our neighborhoods.”

As Executive Director, Peale will coordinate the activities of the CNYCN office, strengthening its position as the nexus of the City’s anti-foreclosure activities and overseeing CNYCN’s broad range of homeowner outreach and foreclosure prevention programs. Through comprehensive citywide programming that includes legal services, housing counseling, and consumer education, CNYCN pursues multiple strategies to assist those at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure. CNYCN helps distressed homeowners navigate the foreclosure process, preserve their rights and options, and identify and obtain sustainable housing solutions.

“It’s an honor to have the opportunity to lead an organization and staff that is dedicated to combating the foreclosure crisis and strengthening New York City’s neighborhoods,” said CNYCN Executive Director Peale. “While we have accomplished a great deal since CNYCN’s doors first opened in 2008, there are still many challenges ahead. I look forward to continuing to work with our incredibly skilled network and all of our public and private partners to provide innovative solutions for people in danger of losing their homes. Facing the specter of foreclosure can be confusing and stressful – we’re here to tell New Yorkers that they don’t have to go it alone.”

“Christie is quite terrific. She has a wide range of invaluable experience in government, lending and nonprofit arenas,” said CNYCN Board Chair Herb Sturz. “The CNYCN Board has had an opportunity to work with her in her capacities of deputy and interim executive director. We’re delighted that she is now assuming the mantle as CNYCN’s new executive director.”

“I am pleased that Christie Peale has been selected to continue the ongoing good work of the Center. The Center has literally kept thousands of New Yorkers in their homes. I know Christie will keep that effective work going forward,” said Council Member and CNYCN board member Lew Fidler.

Peale joined CNYCN in 2008 as Deputy Director and became Interim Director following the departure of the organization’s first director Michael Hickey. Immediately prior to her work at CNYCN, Peale served at the New York State Housing Finance Agency, where she underwrote tax-exempt bond deals to preserve affordable housing. Since 1994 she has worked for public service organizations including the Citizens Advice Bureau and the Women’s Prison Association, the Medicare Rights Center and Gay Men’s Health Crisis, and the Building Services 32BJ Pension Fund. Peale has a BA from Harvard and a MSW from the Hunter College School of Social Work in Community Organizing and Planning.

Multifamily Foreclosures and Over-Mortgaging in NYC

Posted under Resources on February 10, 2012

From Citizens Housing and Planning Council and Enterprise:

The Impact of Multifamily Foreclosures and Over-Mortgaging in Neighborhoods in New York City, a study conducted by Citizens Housing & Planning Council and funded by Enterprise Community Partners, examines more than 1,100 multifamily buildings across Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens. It highlights the need to monitor multifamily housing stock and coordinate public and private sector intervention so that the stock may be improved, returned to responsible owners, and preserved for another generation of tenants.

“Our study suggests that proximity to an over-mortgaged building increases the likelihood of increased code violations, with New York City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) stepping in to carry out additional emergency repairs,” said Harold Shultz, Senior Fellow, CHPC. “As a result, the city should continue its efforts to closely monitor and prevent deterioration in those communities troubled by over-mortgaged multifamily buildings.

“Enterprise commissioned this study to be the first of its kind to examine the effects of over-mortgaged and foreclosed-upon multifamily buildings on the surrounding neighborhood,” said Abby Jo Sigal, Vice President and New York Market Leader, Enterprise. “Thousands of affordable homes for low-income New Yorkers are in physical and financial distress, and the study’s results reveal a clear correlation between these failures and the decline of surrounding neighborhood buildings. Enterprise, with our partners, will continue to tackle the problem of overleveraged buildings to preserve New York City’s affordable housing and to revitalize and stabilize our neighborhoods.”

Additional findings from the study include:

• For buildings within a 500 foot radius of an over-mortgaged building, the average percentage increase in ERP liens per building was 198%. However for buildings outside of the 500 foot radius, the average percentage decrease in ERP charges was 39%.

• Buildings within a 500 foot radius had $1,892,142 more in ERP charges in 2010 than they would have had if they were not near an over-mortgaged or foreclosed property.

• The average per building percentage increase in Class C housing code violations, the most serious, was 13.7% between 2008 and 2010 in buildings located within 250 feet of an over-mortgaged building. The average increase per buildings outside of a 250 feet radius was only 6.3%.

The data for analysis was provided by Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, whose work was made possible through a grant from the Charles H. Revson Foundation, as well as the University Neighborhood Housing Program’s Building Indicator Project database. Additional data was provided by the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

Click here for more information or to download The Impact of Multifamily Foreclosures and Over-Mortgaging in Neighborhoods in New York City.

Measuring Outcomes of Financial Capability Programs: Tools for Practitioners

Posted under Resources on February 10, 2012

Success Measures at NeighborWorks America has released a comprehensive 240-page publication that makes the Success Measures outcome indicators and data collection tools available to the community development and financial capability fields to help gauge the impacts of a range of financial capability coaching, counseling, training, and technical assistance initiatives on the lives of individuals and families.

The publication includes:

• New data collection tools for adults and youth which track changes in consumer attitudes and behavior over time related to financial capability in the areas of individual/family/household financial status; financial behavior and attitudes; non-financial characteristics; informal and communal assets; and efforts related to foreclosure mitigation.

• An overview of the collaborative process which resulted in the development of the tools.

• Examples of how the tools were used by community-based organizations in a national pilot demonstration.

The Success Measures Financial Capability Indicators and Tools are intended to benefit an array of stakeholders committed to advancing the economic security of low- and moderate-income individuals and families and will offer solid documentation of the impacts of financial capability initiatives for those funders, national organizations, and researchers committed to advancing best practice in the field.
Measuring Outcomes of Financial Capability Programs:

To download, click here

The Century Foundation Names Five New Fellows

Posted under Industry News on January 20, 2012

From The Century Foundation:

The Century Foundation has named five new fellows, all of whom are widely recognized as insightful generators of distinctive and provocative public policy ideas. Together they will advance TCF’s mission of providing bold, thought-provoking responses to unequal opportunity in America and the challenges to the U.S. of the diffusion of global power. The Century Foundation’s new fellows are:

• Daniel Alpert, the founding managing partner of Westwood Capital, LLC, who writes perceptively about the causes of the economic woes facing America and the rest of the world while recommending ambitious policy responses;

• Michael Cohen, a foreign policy analyst and author who writes about U.S. foreign policy, national security and foreign assistance, and whose critiques of U.S. military policy, and particularly America’s approach to the Afghanistan war, have proven to be prescient;

• Amy B. Dean, whose Century Foundation book, A New, New Deal: How Regional Activism Will Reshape the American Labor Movement, and other work highlights innovative alternatives to traditional unions that have arisen throughout the country and how these local institutions realize economic change;

• Suzanne Mettler, a Cornell University political scientist who analyzes the problems of policymaking through tax expenditures, sources of the public’s alienation from government through examination of health care reform, and the implications for democracy of higher education policy and stagnating access to college; and

• Mark Thoma, a University of Oregon economist whose widely read blog, Economist’s View, synthesizes current economic research for non-experts and highlights ideas for strengthening American social insurance and employment opportunities.

Read more from The Century Foundation

Can Lease Purchase Save Us?

Posted under NHI News on January 20, 2012

A webinar, Can Lease Purchase Save Us?, sponsored by NHI/Shelterforce and NeighborWorks America, provided an in-depth look at the lease-purchase model at a time when developers struggle to find buyers for rehabbed affordable homes. If you missed it, you can hear it here.

The January 12 webinar featured Shelterforce editor Miriam Axel-Lute leading the discussion based on her winter 2010 article. She was joined by Bill Goldsmith of Mercy Housing Inc., in Chicago, Staci Horwitz of City of Lakes Community Land Trust (CCCLT) in Minneapolis, and John O’Callaghan of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Inc. (ANDP). All speakers were featured in Axel-Lute’s article and all discussed critical elements in implementing a successful lease purchase program. Click here to read more and to download additional webinar materials.

Davies Takes the Helm at the Kirwan Institute

Posted under Industry News on January 5, 2012

Professor Sharon L. Davies is the new director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University, replacing founding executive director john powell, who left the institute’s top leadership position at the end of December.

From the Kirwan Institute:

Professor Sharon L. Davies has been selected as the next director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University, replacing founding executive director john powell, who leaves the institute’s top leadership position at the end of December.

Through interdisciplinary research and other working partnerships, the Kirwan Institute seeks to deepen the understanding of the causes and consequences of racial and ethnic disparities in order to stimulate change to bring about a society that is fair and just for all people. The institute was established in May 2003 and named for former university president William E. “Brit” Kirwan in recognition of his efforts to champion diversity.

Davies, the John C. Elam/Vorys Sater Professor in Law at the Moritz College of Law, is a leading scholar in race and criminal law. She was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and Notes and Comments editor of the Columbia Law Review while attending Columbia University School of Law. Davies was an associate attorney for Steptoe and Johnson in Washington, D.C. and Lord, Day & Lord Barrett Smith in New York City, and she later served as assistant United States attorney in the criminal division of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Davies, who came to Moritz in 1995, will continue as a member of the College’s faculty as she assumes her new role at the Kirwan Institute.

Source: Davis to Lead Kirwan Institute

Read john powell’s The Housing Crisis: How Did We Get Here? Where Do We Go? co-authored with Jason Reece in the Fall/Winter 2009 issue of Shelterforce.

Bipartisan Policy Center Appoints Housing Commissioners

Posted under Industry News on December 22, 2011

From the Bipartisan Policy Center:

The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) has announced the full membership of its Housing Commission, which includes 17 business and civic leaders, key housing stakeholders, academics and former senior political figures from both parties. Former U.S. Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros and Mel Martinez, also a former U.S. Senator, former U.S. Senator Kit Bond and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader and BPC Founder George Mitchell were named to lead the Commission in October.

“We are honored that our fellow Commission members have committed to join us in developing recommendations to address the nation’s troubled housing sector,” said Commission Co-Chair George Mitchell. “Housing is a highly-complex issue and a critical component of our economy. It will take a truly bipartisan group to look at the challenges ahead and develop solutions.”

Over the course of the next year, the Commission will craft a package of realistic and actionable policy recommendations that will address the future housing needs of an increasingly diverse American society. The final recommendations will be released in 2013.

Recognizing the need for a new vision for federal housing policy, the Commission aims to bring new approaches and fresh thinking to today’s housing issues. The Commission will assess the appropriate role of the federal government in housing by reviewing the effectiveness of the full range of current federal housing supports. The Commission will meet for the first time later this week.

“As the U.S. population continues to grow and change, we face new challenges for which we need a thoughtful, well-reasoned plan that addresses the short-term problems and long-term consequences of our current policies,” said former Secretary Martinez. “This group of commissioners is positioned to do just that.”

“The Commission and its members will strive to create a beacon of hope for those citizens that have seen their American Dreams come crashing down in the recent economic collapse,” said Secretary Cisneros. “Through robust, evidenced-based analysis and in-depth deliberations, the Commission will work to develop recommendations that can be considered by members of both parties.”

“These leaders have been on the front lines of the housing crisis. Consensus across this spectrum of stakeholders is critical to the bold, comprehensive reform needed to fix our broken system,” said Senator Bond.

The Commission will actively seek input and ideas from the public and thought leaders by hosting regional forums across the country in 2012. The first forum will be in San Antonio, TX on March 6, 2012; followed by Orlando, FL on April 17, 2012; St. Louis, MO on June 5, 2012; and Bangor, ME on July 25, 2012.

Members of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Housing Commission:

Co-Chairs:

• Former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros
• Former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and former U.S. Senator Mel Martinez
• Former U.S. Senator Kit Bond
• Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader and BPC Founder George Mitchell

Commissioners:

• Carin M. Barth, Co-Founder and President, LB Capital, Inc.
• Ed Brady, President, Brady Homes
• Alfred DelliBovi, President and CEO, Federal Home Loan Bank of New York
• Robert M. Couch, Counsel, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, L.L.P.
• Laurie Goodman, Senior Managing Director, Amherst Securities
• Renee Lewis Glover, President and CEO, Atlanta Housing Authority
• Frank Keating, President and CEO, American Bankers Association
• Bruce Morrison, former Congressman from Connecticut
• Janet Murguia, President and CEO, National Council of La Raza
• Nicolas P. Retsinas, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
• Nan Roman, President and CEO, National Alliance to End Homelessness
• Ronald A. Rosenfeld, former Chairman, Federal Housing Finance Board
• Robert M. Rozen, Principal, Washington Council Ernst & Young
• Richard A. Smith, President and CEO, Realogy Corporation
• Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Dean of School of Design, University of Pennsylvania
• J. Ronald Terwilliger, Chairman Emeritus, Trammell Crow Residential
• Barry Zigas, Director of Housing Policy, Consumer Federation of America

Click here for full biographies.

Criminalizing Crisis: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities

Posted under Resources on November 28, 2011

From the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty

With poverty at record levels and as many as 3.5 million people homeless each year, a report released by the Law Center on Tuesday shows that more and more cities are making it illegal to be homeless. Criminalizing Crisis analyzes local policies in 234 cities and demonstrates the startling trend toward criminalizing basic acts necessary for homeless persons’ survival, including eating and sleeping in public.

Criminalizing Crisis. . . reveals that local laws criminalizing homelessness are increasing in cities across the country.

Of the 234 cities surveyed, the report shows that:

• 40 percent prohibit sleeping in public places;
• 33 percent prohibit sitting/lying in public places;
• 56 percent prohibit loitering in public places; and
• 53 percent prohibit begging in public places.

Among the 188 cities reviewed for both this report and the Law Center’s 2009 report, major trends include the following:

• 7 percent increase in prohibitions on begging or panhandling;
• 7 percent increase in prohibitions on sleeping; and
• 10 percent increase in prohibitions on loitering.

Law Center Executive Director Maria Foscarinis said, ”It’s unconscionable to punish homeless people for their misfortune, but it’s also irrational fiscal policy, as this report illustrates.”

Read more from NLCHP here

Read our coverage on Rooflines here

Lost Ground, 2011: Disparities in Mortgage Lending and Foreclosure

Posted under Resources on November 22, 2011

From the Center for Responsible Lending:

As the nation struggles through the fifth year of the foreclosure crisis, there are no signs that the flood of home losses in America will recede anytime soon. Among the findings in this report, Lost Ground, 2011, we show that at least 2.7 million households have already lost their homes to foreclosure, and more strikingly, that we are not even halfway through the crisis.

Lost Ground, 2011 builds on the Center for Responsible Lendings longstanding efforts to document the severity and demographic dimensions of the foreclosure epidemic. In 2006, CRL published Losing Ground, which projected subprime foreclosures and the attendant costs to homeowners prior to
the collapse of the housing market. In 2010, we published Foreclosures by Race and Ethnicity: the Demographics of Crisis, which estimated completed foreclosures through 2009 and the disparate rates of foreclosure for different racial and ethnic groups. Assessing the scope of the crisis remains daunting, since there is no single, nationwide source of information on the number of foreclosures, the demographics
of those affected, or the neighborhood distribution of foreclosed properties. In this report, we use an expanded dataset to update our previous findings and extend the scope of our analysis.

The report addresses three key questions. First, we consider who has lost their home to foreclosure, and who is still at risk. We look at both the race/ethnicity and income of borrowers, and explore how the impact of foreclosures on different socioeconomic and demographic groups varies depending on where they live. Second, we look at what kind of mortgages different borrowers received to better understand the relation-
ship between loan characteristics and defaults. Finally, we examine where the crisis has had the greatest impact, assessing which areas and types of neighborhoods have been most affected.

Finding Common Ground: Coordinating Housing and Education Policy to Promote Integration

Posted under Resources on November 7, 2011

Finding Common Ground: Coordinating Housing and Education Policy to Promote Integration, a new report from Poverty & Race Research Action Council and the National Coalition on School Diversity, looks at research on the relationship between government housing programs and school segregation and calls for stronger coordination HUD and the Department of Education to promote racially and economically diverse schools. Contributors include Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, Ingrid Gould Ellen, Keren Horn, Heather Schwartz, David Rusk, Robert C. Embry Jr., Stefanie DeLuca, Peter Rosenblatt, Elizabeth DeBray, Erica Frankenberg, Deborah McKoy, Jeffrey Vincent, Philip Tegeler, and Susan Eaton.

Click here to download a PDF of the report.

Report Looks at Technology’s Roll in Civic Engagement and Local Government

Posted under Resources on November 1, 2011

Hear Us Now?, by April Manatt, with Stephen G. Blake, Joe Mathews and Troy K. Schneider for the New America Foundation, looks at how local governments in California are experimenting with technologies to engage the public and improve services. The report intends to provide “a starting point for moving the state in that direction, by documenting some of many innovations already underway.”

Click here to read more from the New America Foundation.

Furman Center Director Takes on New Role at HUD

Posted under Industry News on November 1, 2011

Sarah Gerecke, executive director of the Furman Center for Real Estate & Urban Policy at New York University has accepted a position as senior policy advisor with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Washington. Starting in November, Gerecke will work in the office of the Assistant Secretary of Housing/Federal Housing Commissioner to help develop policies relating to housing counseling and education, the disposition of FHA-foreclosed properties, and other critical matters.

From the Furman Center:

“In her two years at the Furman Center, she managed to launch our Institute for Affordable Housing Policy, co-author the voluminous Directory of Affordable Housing Programs as well as our State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods annual reports, and lead the organization of our national conference on credit availability in the wake of the great recession, among many other accomplishments. We will miss her keen insights into how both government and the non-profit sectors work, her wealth of substantive, programmatic, and managerial knowledge, and her good judgment. We are extremely grateful for her many contributions to the Furman Center and its Institute, not to mention her good humor, kindness, and willingness to help mentor emerging leaders in the affordable housing community.”

House and Senate Funding Bills Risk Loss of Rental Assistance For Thousands of Low-Income Families

Posted under Industry News on October 25, 2011

House and Senate Funding Bills Risk Loss of Rental Assistance For Thousands of Low-Income Families, by Douglas Rice at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, anticipates “deep and disproportionate cuts” in the HUD funding bill for FY 2012 and suggests that Congress could prevent the loss of rental assistance for tens of thousands of low-income families by combining key features of bills approved by the House and Senate committees.

From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

The House Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee and the full Senate Appropriations Committee have approved fiscal year 2012 funding bills that would make deep cuts in the budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The proposed cuts, which are much deeper than the average reductions that the recently-enacted Budget Control Act mandates, would reduce the HUD budget to the lowest level in a decade, in inflation-adjusted terms.
In press releases accompanying the bills, the House and Senate committees, to their credit, expressed a commitment to preserving federal rental assistance for the low-income families currently receiving it. Because of the depth of the proposed cuts to the HUD budget overall, however, neither bill achieves this goal:

• The House and Senate bills fail, for example, to provide funding to renew Housing Choice vouchers now used by 25,000 to 40,000 low-income families.

• The bills also deeply underfund public housing. Following the significant reductions in public housing capital funding made over the last decade, these further cuts would expose low-income families, most of whom include people who are elderly or have serious disabilities, to deteriorating or even hazardous living conditions. They would also accelerate the loss of this important source of affordable housing in many communities.

For many low-income families, these cuts would come at a particularly difficult time. The number of renter families with “worst-case housing needs”—that is, who receive no housing assistance and either pay more than half their income for housing or live in severely substandard housing—had already risen by more than 40 percent over the last decade even before the recession hit. Federal rental assistance programs currently serve only one in four eligible low-income families due to funding limitations.

As the House and Senate negotiate a final HUD 2012 budget over the coming weeks, they should place a priority on restoring sufficient funding to ensure that no low-income family will lose rental assistance and that local housing agencies are able to maintain public housing in decent condition. By combining various features from the House and Senate bills, Congress can achieve these important goals in the final legislation.

Source: The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

The Impact of Vacant, Tax-Delinquent, and Foreclosed Property on Sales Prices of Neighboring Homes

Posted under Resources on October 25, 2011

Stephan Whitaker and Thomas J. Fitzpatrick IV for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, studies the impact of vacancy, neglect associated with material property-tax delinquency, and foreclosures on the value of neighboring homes using parcel-level observations.

From the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland:

In this empirical analysis, we estimate the impact of vacancy, neglect associated with material property-tax delinquency, and foreclosures on the value of neighboring homes using parcel-level observations. To our knowledge, this is only the second study which estimates the impact of vacancy itself and the first to estimate the impact of tax-delinquent properties on neighboring home sales.

Click here down download a PDF file of the working paper.

“A Canary in the Mortgage Market? Why the Recent FHA and GSE Loan Limit Reductions Deserve Attention

Posted under Resources on October 17, 2011

A new white paper from NYU’s Furman Center explores the potential implications of recent reductions in the maximum loan size that can be guaranteed by GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or insured by the Federal Housing Administration in many parts of the country.

The changes, which went into effect on October 1, 2011, represent the first step in a long-term policy goal to reduce the federal governments current role in the mortgage system and are expected to be a significant test of the private mortgage finance system. The paper, A Canary in the Mortgage Market? Why the Recent FHA and GSE Loan Limit Reductions Deserve Attention finds that, based on 2009 mortgage origination data, the private sector would have to increase “jumbo” lending by approximately 38 percent in dollars lent, and 56 percent in number of originations, in order to fill the gap left by the GSE loan limit reduction.

Click here to read the full report.

“The Way Forward: Moving from the Post-Bubble, Post-Bust Economy to Renewed Growth and Competitivene

Posted under Resources on October 16, 2011

From the New America Foundation:

Notwithstanding repeated attempts at monetary and fiscal stimulus since 2009, the United States remains mired in what is by far its worst economic slump since that of the 1930s.1 More than 25 million working-age Americans remain unemployed or underemployed, the employment-to-population ratio lingers at an historic low of 58.3 percent,2 business investment continues at historically weak levels, and consumption expenditure remains weighed down by massive private sector debt overhang left by the bursting of the housing and credit bubble a bit over three years ago. Recovery from what already has been dubbed the Great Recession has been so weak thus far that real GDP has yet to surpass its previous peak. And yet, already there are signs of renewed recession.

It is not only the U.S. economy that is in peril right now. At this writing, Europe is struggling to prevent the sovereign debt problems of its peripheral Euro-zone economies from spiraling into a full-fledged banking crisis—an ominous development that would present an already weakening economy with yet another demand shock. Meanwhile, China and other large emerging economies—those best positioned to take up worsening slack in the global economy—are beginning to experience slowdowns of their own as earlier measures to contain domestic inflation and credit-creation kick in, and as weak growth in Europe and the United States dampen demand for their exports.

Nor is renewed recession the only threat we now face. Even if a return to negative growth rates is somehow avoided, there will remain a real and present danger that Europe and the United States alike fall into an indefinitely lengthy period of negligible growth, high unemployment and deflation, much as Japan has experienced over the past 20 years following its own stock-and-real estate bubble and burst of the early 1990s.3 Protracted stagnation on this order of magnitude would undermine the living standards of an entire generation of Americans and Europeans, and would of course jeopardize Americas position in the world.

Our economic straits are rendered all the more dire, and the just mentioned scenario accordingly all the more likely, by political dysfunction and attendant paralysis in both the United States and Europe. The political stalemate is in part structural, but also is attributable in significant large measure to the nature of the present economic crisis itself, which has stood much familiar economic orthodoxy of the past 30 years on its head. For despite the standoff over raising the U.S. debt ceiling this past August, the principal problem in the United States has not been government inaction. It has been inadequate action, proceeding on inadequate understanding of what ails us.

Since the onset of recession in December 2007, the federal government, including the Federal Reserve, has undertaken a broad array of both conventional and unconventional policy measures. The most noteworthy of these include: slashing interest rates effectively to zero; two rounds of quantitative easing involving the purchase of Treasuries and other assets, followed by Operation Twist to flatten the yield curve yet further; and three fiscal stimulus programs (including the 2008 Economic Stimulus Act, the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the 2010 Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act) and the 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program to recapitalize the banks.

Read more at newamerica.net

Report: Arts Philanthropy Not Doing Enough to Reach Poor and Minority Populations

Posted under Resources on October 11, 2011

From the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy:

America’s dynamic arts and culture landscape continues to evolve along with the changing needs and demographics of our communities. Yet, findings from a new report show that a majority of U.S. foundations that provide financial support to arts and cultural institutions have largely ignored these changes in their giving, according to the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy.

In Fusing Arts, Culture and Social Change: High Impact Strategies for Philanthropy author Holly Sidford observes that the more a foundation is focused on giving to the arts, the less likely it is to prioritize supporting artistic traditions from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, Native American tribal cultures, rural communities and other underserved populations. NCRP is urging arts funders to rethink their practices and consider the benefits of broadening their audience to include underserved communities and supporting arts that promote equity and justice.

Only 10 percent of grant dollars made to support the arts (such as visual arts, performing arts and museums) explicitly benefit the poor, ethnic and racial minorities, the elderly and other marginalized populations. Less than 4 percent of grants dollars support advancing social justice goals through the arts.

Further, 55 percent of arts grants go to organizations with budgets greater than $5 million, which represent less than 2 percent of the more than 100,000 arts and culture nonprofits. Recent research demonstrates that the primary audience of these large institutions is predominantly white and upper-income.

“Culture and the arts are vehicles for expressing our struggles and accomplishments, our identity and hopes for the future as individuals and as a society,” said Sidford, a consultant to cultural organizations and philanthropists. “When philanthropy ignores the breadth of artistic practices taking place today, it ignores large segments of our society and misses the tremendous opportunities to help build and strengthen our communities, fight for justice and protect our democracy.”

The report includes a useful guide for all types of foundations that give to the arts on how they can make equity a core principle in their grantmaking.

“There is a mismatch between the priorities and strategies of foundations that give to the arts and the needs of our communities,” said Aaron Dorfman, executive director of NCRP. “Arts grantmakers need to revisit their policies and practices if they wish to continue to be relevant and increase their effectiveness given the evolving demographic, economic and cultural landscape.”

Fusing Arts, Culture and Social Change. is available on NCRP’s website at http://www.ncrp.org/paib/arts-culture-philanthropy..

HPN and Citi Launch Fund to Advance Innovations in Neighborhood Stabilization

Posted under Industry News on October 4, 2011

Citi Foundation will commit $2.75 million to the Housing Partnership Network to support the neighborhood stabilization efforts of community-based housing organizations in 10 metropolitan areas across the country.

From the Housing Partnership Network:

Twelve members of the Housing Partnership Network are sharing $2 million in grants to support innovative programs that offer new solutions to the ongoing challenges of neighborhood stabilization. The awards are funded under the Innovations in Neighborhood Stabilization and Foreclosure Prevention Initiative, created with a $2.75 million grant from the Citi Foundation to the Housing Partnership Network. Grantees were announced on September 2nd.

The awards support exceptional projects that can yield important lessons, are scalable and replicable, and have the potential to achieve greater national impact. During the two-year grant period, and at its conclusion, the Network will host convenings of Network grantees, other key thought leaders from the housing and community development sectors, policymakers, and business partners to share best practices and learnings from the initiative. The goal is to have a significant and positive impact on neighborhood stabilization efforts and to shape new policy responses to this issue.

Grant awards were determined through a competitive RFP process. Twelve grantees were chosen from 31 applications submitted. Grants were available only to Network members. Assisting in the evaluation and selection were members of an Innovations Initiative Advisory Committee comprised of internal and external experts from the housing field.

Awards were granted to the following members: Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Inc.; Boston Community Capital; Cleveland Housing Network; HAP Housing; Housing Development Fund; Mercy Housing Lakefront; Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago; Neighborhood Housing Services of New York in partnership with the Long Island Housing Partnership and the New York Mortgage Coalition; NHT/Enterprise Preservation Corporation ; and Project for Pride in Living.

Van Temple to Head Crescent City CLT

Posted under Industry News on October 4, 2011

Van Temple, long-time director of Delaware’s statewide Diamond State Community Land Trust, will lead the new Crescent City Community Land Trust in New Orleans beginning November 1. A native of Louisiana, Temple helped found Diamond City CLT, which announced in late September that it had launched a search for a new executive director.

From Diamond State Community Land Trust:

Diamond State CLT, the nations first statewide land trust, today announced that Van Temple will be transitioning out of his post as executive director. Temple, who was central to the founding, building and early growth of Diamond State—and the community land trust movement in Delaware—will be returning to his home state of Louisiana to helm New Orleans new Crescent City CLT.

“Because of Vans integrity, creativity and tireless work ethic, Diamond State CLT is at a place in terms of board leadership, programming and funding for him to make this move and for us to continue our good work and growth unabated,” said Dawn Poczynek- Holdridge, president, Diamond State Community Land Trust Board of Directors. “As Van leaves, Diamond State will remain a steadfast, hard-working partner to our strong, talented network of financial, non-profit, civic and corporate funders and colleagues. Were-affirm our organizational goal of providing 350 permanently affordable homes to hardworking Delawareans by 2022.” Diamond States board has launched a nationwide search to replace Temple.

Concurrently, Temple will assist the organizations search committee and transition team through this shift in leadership, ensuring that Diamond State can continue its programming, fundraising, partnership-management and advocacy work statewide.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my work with Diamond State, our board and the good folks who are focused on making home ownership possible for all hard-working Delawareans who seek it, said Temple. I leave knowing that the organization is strong, in good hands and on course to continue its growth for years to come.

Self-Help’s Eakes Joins Ford Foundation Board

Posted under Industry News on October 4, 2011

The Ford Foundation board of trustees announced in September that Martin Eakes has been elected to its 14-member board. Eakes, CEO and co-founder of the community development lender Self-Help and its policy and research affiliate, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), was named earlier this year as one of 12 recipients of Ford’s Visionaries Awards.

Eakes helped formulate the Coalition for Responsible Lending (separate from CRL) in 1998 after learning that a Self-Help borrower was locked in an abusive loan, and that numerous other borrowers were having the same experiences. The coalition comprised 120 financial institution CEOs and 86 organizations representing 3 million North Carolina citizens to stop predatory lending practices in NC and nationally. According to Self-Help, “the work of the Coalition resulted in the nations first antipredatory mortgage lending law being enacted in the state of North Carolina in 1999. The Coalition was also responsible for helping sunset the authority for payday lending in state of North Carolina.

From the Ford Foundation

The Ford Foundation Board of Trustees today announced the election of two new members, Martin Eakes and Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

Martin is one of the most successful social entrepreneurs of his generation, having founded a series of national nonprofit organizations. Tims work in the early development of the World Wide Web makes him one of the great innovators of his generation. They have launched ideas and built institutions that have had enormous impact in the lives of people around the country and around the world, said Luis Ubias, president of the Ford Foundation. Together they represent an extraordinary addition to the Ford Foundations board.

Eakes co-founded and leads Self-Help, a community development lender that has provided almost $6 billion in financing to more than 60,000 homebuyers, small businesses, and nonprofits. Eakes also founded the Center for Responsible Lending, a leading research and advocacy organization for equitable banking practices. Most recently, Eakes has built a network of credit unions in North Carolina and California with more than $900 million in assets.

Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989. He is currently a professor at MIT as the 3Com Founders Professor of Engineering in the School of Engineering with a joint appointment in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He is also a professor in the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom.

Berners-Lee is director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which develops open standards to ensure the long-term growth of the Web. He is director of the Web Science Trust, which supports the global development of Web science. He is also founder of the World Wide Web Foundation, launched in 2009 to fund and coordinate efforts to advance the potential of the Web to benefit humanity.

Through their work and in their lives, these individuals have shown a deep commitment to the values of individual opportunity and social justice that lie at the heart of the Ford Foundations mission, said Ubias, adding, We are honored to have them join our board and know they will contribute greatly to our work across the globe.

Including Eakes and Berners-Lee, seven new trustees have joined the 14-member Ford Foundation board since Ubias arrived in January 2008.

Study Examines Nonprofit Successes in St. Louis Area

Posted under Resources on September 30, 2011

A new study released by University of Missouri’s Public Policy Research Center looks at survey results from 34 nonprofit organizations across the St. Louis region and offers an analysis of the successes, challenges and needs of these organizations as they work to create whole communities.

Click here to view the entire report.

Judge: NYC OK To End Rent Subsidy For Ex-homeless

Posted under In The News on September 14, 2011

Her Bank Got Enough Help When It Was in Trouble. She Didn’t

Posted under In The News on September 13, 2011

Center for Housing Policy Report Examines Public Transit and Housing Costs

Posted under Resources on August 29, 2011

From the Center for Housing Policy:

Center for Housing Policy has released Public Transit’s Impact on Housing Costs: A Review of the Literature, which summarizes the extensive body of research on whether public transit influences the cost of nearby housing. The brief finds that access to public transit generally leads to higher home values and rents, but the magnitude and direction of the impact can vary both across metro areas and from station to station within a single metro. In most cases, the impact is positive and can be quite large, but a few studies have found the effects to be neutral or negative.

• Certain conditions appear more likely to lead to higher housing costs near transit stations than others, including:

• A public transit system that significantly improves regional accessibility

• A strong housing market

• A pedestrian-friendly, walkable station area

Click here to read the report

Furman Center Reports on Credit Availability and Lending Patterns During the Recession

Posted under Resources on August 29, 2011

In February 2011 the Furman Center’s Institute for Affordable Housing Policy hosted a roundtable discussion, Navigating Uncertain Waters: Mortgage Lending in the Wake of the Great Recession that examined credit availability and lending patterns during the recession. Now, the Center has published a report based on that event.

The event aimed to assist government, corporations, academics, and nonprofits to address the challenge of mortgage credit need and availability by promoting informed discussion and providing objective research and analysis. The roundtable included three discussion sessions and presentations on the current state of housing finance and recommendations for reform.

Read Navigating Uncertain Waters: Mortgage Lending in the Wake of the Great Recession.

Report shows increase in mortgage lending to LMI borrowers

Posted under Resources on August 15, 2011

From NYU’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy

Mortgage lending to low- and moderate-income (LMI) borrowers in U.S. metro areas increased sharply in 2009, even as overall home purchase lending continued to sink in the wake of the foreclosure crisis, according to a new study by NYUs Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, Mortgage Lending in Vulnerable Communities: A Closer Look at HMDA 2009

The study finds that while overall home purchase lending declined from 2008 to 2009, the number of home purchase mortgages issued to LMI borrowers in U.S. metro areas jumped 26 percent from 2008 to 2009, the most recent year for which the data is available through the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). However, lending in LMI neighborhoods fell during the same time period, in part because more than three quarters of LMI homebuyers purchased their homes in either middle- or high-income neighborhoods. These findings suggest that low- and moderate-income potential homebuyers may have been especially likely to take advantage of the First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit in effect throughout 2009.

Read the full report here: http://www.nhi.org/go/Furman/HMDA

U.S. Seeks Ideas on Renting Out Foreclosed Property

Posted under In The News on August 12, 2011

Study: Stable Home Ownership in a Turbulent Economy

Posted under Resources on August 9, 2011

A new study, conducted by Emily Thaden, a researcher from The Housing Fund and Vanderbilt University, and commissioned by the National Community Land Trust (CLT) Network, found substantially lower delinquency and foreclosure rates compared to owners of market-rate homes. Thaden co-wrote an article on the subject in the Fall 2010 Shelterforce with John Emmeus Davis, a founding partner at Burlington Associates in Community Development LLC, dean of the National CLT Academy, and NHI research fellow.

Report: www.nhi.org/go/Lincoln/CLT

SF Article: www.nhi.org/go/Thaden/Davis

Sold foreclosed homes sit empty longer; Study indicates policy needs to change

Posted under In The News on July 29, 2011

Housing occupancy declines, but rentals up in some spots

Posted under In The News on July 28, 2011

Looking Ahead: Shelterforce’s 36th Anniversary Issue

Posted under NHI News on July 27, 2011

In the latest issue of Shelterforce, we examine housing and community development not only by looking back, but also by offering critical analysis for the future in a way that can only be done by individuals with new, fresh perspectives.

The occasion, of course, is Shelterforce’s 36th anniversary. Launched in 1975 amid profound problems facing distressed communities that struggled to find decent housing and opportunity, Shelterforce sought to examine and promote solutions to these problems that were clearly not going away any time soon.

Shelterforce, as a forum for covering and addressing these issues, often features seasoned practitioners, academics, and other noted policymakers and thinkers in the field, but this time around, we thought it would be good to have individuals who arent part of the everyday policy dialogue featured herespecifically, we wanted to hear from the people out in our neighborhoods, on the ground, and making a difference.

In keeping with that “36” theme, our cover feature, 6 Under 36, comprises six essays from six community developers from around the country who are, of course, all under the age of 36. This feature provides some valuable insight because our contributors balance pragmatic professionalism with the idealism that brought them to the community development world in the first place. As Janelle Chan, executive director of the Boston-based Asian Community Development Corporation writes, the importance of maintaining an “activist mindset” while “identifying what the community realistically has control over” is essential in tackling challenges facing communities.

In addition to Chan’s piece, these essays all share common, pragmatic ideals, and each brings its own perspective and ideas for success:

1. Stephanie Allewalt, a neighborhood planner with the Agape Community Center in Milwaukee, calls for a cocktail of “large-scale, long-range urban planning processes to smaller, site specific investments, and a full range of planning activities” to achieve “sustainable, resilient change.”

1. Brett Elrod, project developer for Urban Housing Solutions, Inc. in Nashville, Tenn., envisions a future of “mixed-income, mixed-use, and transit-oriented communities,” by way of sustainable design that capitalizes (both monetarily and socially) on the ”’golden age’ of multifamily housing” that has been brought by more and more Americans realizing the value of quality, affordable rental housing over homeowership;

1. Shola Olatoye, deputy director of relationship management at Enterprise New York emphasizes the importance of planting the seed—financially supporting—in “the next generation of neighborhood developers,” or, the “pluck of community leaders” as she terms it;

1. Karen Beck Pooley of the urban planning firm czbLLC calls for ending the “narrow focus of creating housing units” in favor of “the broader challenge of using housing-based investments to prompt broader neighborhood-wide improvements;”

1. Finally, Jaime Arredondo, fund development director for Farmworker Housing Development Corporation in Oregon, points to reduced CDC services during the Great Recession and the adverse effect on communities of color: “In these times of change, investing in and institutionalizing practices to develop emerging leaders will be critical for sustaining and expanding community development efforts.”

Our perspectives don’t end there, however. This spring, we put out a call for entries for this series and received a great response. All of our young community developer perspectives are featured as a web exclusive special at www.nhi.org/go/Under36.

6 Ideas to Reshape Housing Policy. Our cover package continues as we think big and think fundamentally about housing policy. Is what we’re doing working? If not, do we make the same old tweaks or do we need a real overhaul in our thinking? Our essayists—representing CDCs, academia, think tanks, advocacy groups, and research and consulting firms—say yes, and they do so convincingly. www.nhi.org/go/radical

From here, we still have an entire issue’s worth of material:

1. Conrad Egan interview. We talk with the now-retired president and CEO of the National Housing Trust looks back on his astounding career, as well as discusses his current projects.

1. Filling the Lending Vacuum by Marcus Weiss, president of the Boston-based Economic Development Assistance Consortium, looks at how CDCs are filling the commercial real estate lending vacuum in times of tight credit.

1. CLTs Go Commercial. Miriam Axel-Lute, NHI associate director and Shelterforce editor, examines the role community land trusts can play in commercial development.

1. More Mission. Carol Wayman, federal policy director of CFED, reports on the economic development promise of Federal Home Loan Banks, saying they are sources of untapped potential.

1. It’s All About Choice, by Staci Horwitz, program director of the City of Lakes Community Land Trust, describes her organization’s innovative practice of allowing buyers to pick their own house to bring into the land trust.

1. Making Light Rail Stop for Us. Traci Babler, of the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability, tells the story of Stops for Us, a coalition that fought to include stops in lower-income and immigrant communities along a new light rail route connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.

This issue contains our regular features, Shelter Shorts, Access, Industry News, and print-exclusive content as part of our anniversary package that includes a Route 66 infographic that looks at notable community organizations along the storied roadway, and a timeline that begins in 1975, showcasing past Shelterforce covers and coverage. Want access to this additional content? You can purchase a copy of this special issue at http://www.shelterforce.org/publications/.

Our Lot Author Alyssa Katz to Launch Online Newspaper at Columbia U.

Posted under Industry News on July 21, 2011

Our Lot author Alyssa Katz will join the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism this summer to launch and edit The New York World, a news outlet staffed by J school graduates. With her arrival at Columbia, Katz ends a four-year stint as senior fellow for policy and communications at the Pratt Center for Community Development.

In a statement, Katz defined this new project as “cutting-edge accountability journalism on government in New York and all the realms it touches.” Of note is that the online newspaper’s title is an homage to New York World, published by Joseph Pulitzer.

Lawmakers call for hearings on robo-signing

Posted under In The News on July 20, 2011

Former Biden Advisor Bernstein Joins Milken Institute

Posted under Industry News on July 19, 2011

Former Biden economic advisor Jared Bernstein and former Treasury Assistant Secretary Phillip Swagel have been named senior fellows at the think tank Milken Institute.

Bernstein has also joined the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities as a senior fellow and has launched an independent blog on economic and social policy at http://JaredBernsteinBlog.com.

Industry News: Galante Named Acting FHA Commissioner & More

Posted under Industry News on July 19, 2011

Galante Leaves HUD Post for Top Spot at FHA

The Obama administration has tapped Carol Galante as acting commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration. Galante steps into the post having previously served as HUD deputy assistant secretary for multi-family housing programs. Prior to joining HUD in 2009, she was president at BRIDGE Housing Corporation. Robert C. Ryan, who led FHA after David Stephens left FHA in April to head the Mortgage Bankers Association, will now serve as a senior advisor to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.

Ragin to Lead Global Impact Investing Network

Luther Ragin is the new executive director of the Global Impact Investing Network, a nonprofit that aims for successful impact investing. Ragin, formerly the vice president of investments at the F.B. Heron Foundation, fills this post nearly two years since GIIN’s formal launch at the 2009 annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative.

Rummell Takes the Helm at ULI

Peter S. Rummell is the new chairman of the Urban Land Institute, serving a two-year term through June 2013. Rummell, a ULI member since 1983 and former chairman of the ULI Foundation, said in a statement that he will work toward “real, positive, substantive changes in community building” during his term, which is served on a voluntary basis.

Obama names new acting head of FHA

Posted under In The News on July 13, 2011

Reps. Miller and McCarthy Seek to Marry Fannie and Freddie With HR 2413

Posted under In The News on July 8, 2011

$8.5 Billion Deal Near in Suit on Bank Mortgage Debt

Posted under In The News on June 29, 2011

Wells, BofA donate vacant foreclosures to Cuyahoga Land Bank

Posted under In The News on June 28, 2011

Hohler Remembered for “Bold Imagination” and “Relentless Optimism”

Posted under Industry News on June 14, 2011

Robert Hohler, executive director of The Melville Charitable Trust and a national leader in the effort to end homelessness, died suddenly on June 2. He was 78. Hohler, who in 2009 was honored as the year’s Distinguished Grantmaker by The Council on Foundations, was the driving force behind The Melville Trust’s efforts across Connecticut and the nation to support and foster solutions to both prevent and end homelessness. He was an important supporter of the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s successful effort to bring the National Housing Trust Fund into existence.

Stephen Melville, chairman of The Trust board of directors, issued this statement:

“The Trust is deeply saddened by the sudden death of its Executive Director Robert Hohler while hiking in England on June 2. Bob has been involved in the Trust virtually since its inception, and his bold imagination, unflagging energy, and relentless optimism have been the driving force behind its activities and those of its many partners for close to two decades. There was nothing abstract in Bobs life-long commitment to social justice: It arose out of the deepest feeling for the lives and possibilities of people too easily and often overlooked or pushed aside, and it was everywhere seasoned with realism, humor, and a genuine love for the push and pull—the real social work—of getting things done. All this went hand-in-hand with an extraordinary zest for life. In him, we have had not only a colleague of immeasurable value but the dearest of friends. Today, our deepest sympathies and gratitude are with Bob’s wife Karen, who generously shared with us so much of Bob’s time, attention, and dedication over the years.”

Hohler, who was also chairman of The Partnership for Strong Communities board of directors and a member of the board of Billings Forge Community Works, dedicated more than a quarter century to socially-conscious and responsible philanthropy.

More about Hohler’s remarkable life can be found here. He will be missed.

Home Prices Hit New Post-Bubble Low

Posted under In The News on June 2, 2011

NeighborWorks America Names Fitzgerald CEO

Posted under Industry News on June 2, 2011

From NeighborWorks America

The Board of Directors of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation, doing business as NeighborWorks America, today announced that it has appointed Eileen M. Fitzgerald as the new CEO effective June 1, 2011.

Fitzgerald has 25 years of experience in nonprofit and government leadership. She has served as the Acting CEO since January 2011, and was chief operating officer at NeighborWorks America starting in 2005.

Eileens extensive background in community development, government, and the nonprofit sector makes her the ideal person to lead NeighborWorks America, said Thomas Curry, chair of the NeighborWorks America Board of Directors and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Director. With her deep experience, proven track record, and commitment to communities, Eileen will effectively take NeighborWorks into the future.

I am honored to lead NeighborWorks America and will build on NeighborWorks Americas mission to create opportunities for people across the country to live in affordable homes, improve their lives and strengthen their communities, said Eileen Fitzgerald, CEO of NeighborWorks America. The need to assist families and individuals with one of lifes basic building blocks a healthy, safe and affordable home in a vibrant and safe community has never been greater, making NeighborWorks Americas mission more critical than ever. NeighborWorks supports a network of 242 local and regional nonprofit organizations that deliver sustainable homes on the ground and create strong communities every day. We are proud of our preeminent training courses that last year served professionals in 3,000 nonprofits and municipalities working in communities across the nation. We are committed to working with our many partners, including more than 1,300 local and national foreclosure-intervention counseling agencies, to assist families and communities recover from the foreclosure crisis.

Fitzgerald succeeds Kenneth Wade, who was CEO from 2004 through 2010.

Before coming to NeighborWorks America Fitzgerald served as Senior Director, National Initiatives at the Fannie Mae Foundation, where she was responsible for program development, strategic management, and alliance and relationship management with key partners. Prior to Fannie Mae, Fitzgerald served as Acting Executive Director and Vice President of Program Operations at the McAuley Institute, a national nonprofit intermediary committed to improving the housing conditions of women and families through community-based efforts. She also served as the Chief Investment Officer for Single Family Finance at the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust where she launched the HIT HOME program.

Previously, Fitzgerald served as the Associate Administrator and Acting Administrator of the USDA Rural Housing Service where she led the conversion of mortgage servicing to a centralized system. She also served in both Virginia and Maryland State governments.

A native of Queens, NY, Fitzgerald holds a Bachelors degree from Fordham University and a Masters degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She is married and has two children.

20% down prices out buyers, Kerry says

Posted under In The News on June 2, 2011

Report: Rental Homes Remain Out of Reach

Posted under Industry News on May 9, 2011

The gap between income and rent continues to widen, and “high unemployment, falling wages, and low rental vacancy rates driven by a post-recession return to renting have combined to put housing stability beyond the grasp of low income households across the country,” according to a new report issue by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

NLIHC released Out of Reach 2011 yesterday as part of its Out of Reach reports, an annual series launched in 1999 that calculates the amount a person working full-time must earn to afford the Fair Market Rent (FMR) on a two-bedroom unit, otherwise known as the Housing Wage.

more

LA sues Deutsche Bank over foreclosure blight

Posted under In The News on May 9, 2011

FHA’s Ryan Says Mortgage Down Payment Rule Could Restrict Credit

Posted under In The News on May 4, 2011

U.S. sues Deutsche Bank, alleging mortgage fraud

Posted under In The News on May 4, 2011

Shadow inventory will keep housing recovery at bay for three to four years

Posted under In The News on May 4, 2011

The Spring Issue of Shelterforce Is Now Available

Posted under NHI News on April 1, 2011

Fair Housing: The Work Continues and the Vision Expands is the theme of our cover package in our Spring 2011 issue as we explore the continued fight for equity in the 21st century and recall that the civic rights movement, which birthed the community development movement, recognizes that separate is not equal.

As April is Fair Housing Month, it’s only appropriate that this new issue features an interview with HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity John Trasvina as he discusses updates to the Fair Housing Act, a changing definition of “family,” changes to Section 3 and affirmatively furthering fair housing.

This is the latest in our housing policy interview series that includes interviews with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and Rep. Barney Frank.

PolicyLink’s Angela Glover Blackwell, in Equity Is Not Optional, addresses racial and economic disparities saying that focusing on the most vulnerable communities and people and addressing racial and economic disparities is not only the right thing to do—it’s the only way we can succeed.

Next, Philip Tegeler of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council and Scott Bernstein of the Center for Neighborhood Technology examine CNT’s Housing + Transportation Index that measures neighborhood affordability. Here, Bernstein argues the index provides a fair calculation in siting affordable housing in areas that are truly affordable in terms of transportation costs. Tegeler, however, remains concerned about segregated, higher poverty neighborhoods.

Rounding out our fair housing package is Heather Schwartz, who writes based on a report she penned for The Century Foundation, that inclusionary zoning and economic integration in suburban neighborhoods not only reduces concentration of poverty, it directly improves low-income childrens academic achievement.

Predatory Equity

In New York City, we’ve seen many cases where predatory equity investors speculate on multifamily housing and the tenants are the ones that ultimately suffer due to harassment or a lack of building maintenance. Dina Levy of the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board writes that while there have been some victories, we’re seeing many buildings re-enter the cycle of speculation.

In the summer of 1973, Clive Campbell, more commonly known as DJ Kool Herc, began his now famous house concerts in the rec room at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, an 102-unit apartment building in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx. There, hip-hop was born, and has been recognized as such by the city. But, as James Fergusson reports, it’s also emblematic of the threat predatory equity poses to affordable multifamily housing.

Shrinking Cities

Deborah E. Popper and Frank J. Popper examine the zeitgeist of shrinking cities in Planning on Shrinking and that as cities like Detroit consider industrial contraction, the same consideration must apply to rural, suburban, and newly-emerging metro areas. The Poppers argue that we need to plan for the reality that many localities will not look like they once did.

Alan Mallach, an NHI senior fellow, looks at the roles community development corporations are playing—and how they are rethinking their traditional roles—in high abandonment areas in cities that are now considering shrinkage as policy.

This issue of Shelterforce also includes a review by Jan Breidenbach of Contesting Community: The Limits and Potential of Local Organizing by James DeFilippis, Robert Fisher, and Eric Shragge, our regular columns, Shelter Shorts, Industry News and Access, as well as correspondence from our regular readers. As you’re reading, we want to hear your take. You can comment online at the bottom of any article, or you can send your thoughts to: letters@nhi.org

House committee votes to end HAMP and NSP

Posted under In The News on March 10, 2011

The 112th Congress and Its Impact on Community Development

Posted under NHI News on March 8, 2011

Shelterforce has launched an online feature that looks at the new Congress and how a culture of slashed budgets could have an impact on community development.

In just the first two weeks, we’ve had a host of important voices in the housing, community development, and legislative fields weigh in. We have a series of articles by Barbara Burnham, vice president for Federal Policy at Local initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), who takes a look at the various committees and subcommittees important to affordable housing and community development. Joe Kriesberg, executive director at the Massachusetts Community Development Corporation, who details the potential upside for community developers from November’s elections.

We’re pleased to welcome Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) to the discussion as well, as he looks at how Republicans have eliminated an important supportive housing program that provides rental vouchers to help veterans with mental illness and other disabilities.

This series will continue to include analysis from leaders in the community development field, as well as from current and former elected officials. Stay tuned!

Obama officials, attorneys general closer to possible deal with banks in foreclosure mess

Posted under In The News on March 4, 2011

Changes at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac could transform mortgage landscape

Posted under In The News on February 22, 2011

Shelterforce Examines Affordable Housing and Transit-Oriented Development

Posted under NHI News on February 14, 2011

In the latest issue of Shelterforce, we look at the Atlanta BeltLine from several angles and how it’s spurred new thinking in bringing community land trusts to scale.We also feature an overview of TOD projects and how equity advocates are helping to shape plans. This issue also continues our HUD interview series as we talk with Deputy Secretary Ron Sims. ALSO: permanent affordability and asset building; lease-purchase; the plague of nonprofits; and a book review of Pierre Clavels Activists in City Hall.

President’s New Budget Anticipates a 41% Decline in FHA Production

Posted under In The News on February 14, 2011

Housing Crash Is Hitting Cities Thought to Be Stable

Posted under In The News on February 13, 2011

Obama launches housing overhaul plan, long road ahead

Posted under In The News on February 11, 2011

HUD/Treasury Report, “Reforming America’s Housing Market,” Envisions Less Implicit Gov’t Role

Posted under Industry News on February 11, 2011

The Obama administration released a much-anticipated report outlining how to “shrink the government’s current footprint in housing finance on a responsible timeline.” Central to that would be to “wind down” the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to bring in more private capital to the housing market, as well as promote key changes to the Federal Housing Administration.

Read the full Treasury news release here.

GOP Introduces Bill to Eliminate HAMP

Posted under In The News on January 30, 2011

Bills target rules on foreclosure

Posted under In The News on January 18, 2011

In a Sign of Foreclosure Flaws, Suits Claim Break-Ins by Banks

Posted under In The News on December 23, 2010

6 x 6: Call For Nominations

Posted under NHI News on December 13, 2010

Shelterforce will turn 36 next year and we’d like you to help us celebrate!

Community Developers 36 and Under: Call for Nominees

Are you, or someone you know, a community development leader 36 years old or younger, bringing your talents to the community development world and making a difference in our neighborhoods? Nominate yourself, or a colleague: the only rules are that nominees must be 36 or younger in 2011 and work in the community development field in some way.

Send us a brief bio of the nominee, including organizations he or she has worked for and what role he or she plays there. We’d also like to know where the nominee is located now.

We’ll select 36 of nominees to submit 360 words on how they’ve seen the community development world change during their time in it (however long or short that might be) and how they think it ought to change in the next 6 to 36 years. Six of these perspectives will be published in our print anniversary edition in 2011, and all of them will be published in Shelterforce online.

Submit your nominee to: 6×6@nhi.org.

Get Your Kicks On Route 66

Chicago, Tulsa, Albuquerque, Los Angeles . . . Route 66 runs through them all. Most places along the highway have seen ups and downs, and many have extraordinary people with important stories to be told. If you know one, send us a note.

Submit your suggestions to: 6×6@nhi.org.

You Say It’s Your Birthday?

1975 saw the birth of Shelterforce, HMDA, and the Low Income Housing Information Service. It was a good year. Was your organization started in 1975? Was an important piece of legislation passed in 1975 in your state or community that’s made a difference? Let us know and we’ll celebrate that too.

Submit your suggestions to: 6×6@nhi.org.

City of Flint ready to begin $25M neighborhood stabilization program

Posted under In The News on December 6, 2010

States, mortgage lenders in talks over fund for borrowers in foreclosure mess

Posted under In The News on November 18, 2010

States, mortgage lenders in talks over fund for borrowers in foreclosure mess

Posted under In The News on November 18, 2010

Who’s benefiting from the housing bust? Subsidized tenants

Posted under In The News on October 7, 2010

HUD Announces NSP3

Posted under Industry News on September 8, 2010

HUD has announced round three of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which allows for an additional $1 billion of funding to states and communities fighting the effects of the foreclosure crisis. In all, NSP has allocated $7 billion—$4 billion as part of HERA in 2008, $2 billion more in ARRA in 2009, and now this latest round, included in the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

From HUD. Click here for a full funding chart.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today awarded an additional $1 billion in funding to all states along with a number of counties and local communities struggling to reverse the effects of the foreclosure crisis. The grants announced today represent a third round of funding through HUDs Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) and will provide targeted emergency assistance to state and local governments to acquire, redevelop or demolish foreclosed properties. For a complete listing of the allocations announced today, visit HUDs website.

These grants will support local efforts to reverse the effects these foreclosed properties have on their surrounding neighborhoods, said Donovan. We want to make certain that we target these funds to those places with especially high foreclosure activity so we can help turn the tide in our battle against abandonment and blight. As a direct result of the leadership provided by Senator Chris Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, who played key roles in winning approval for these funds, we will be able to make investments that will reduce blight, bolster neighboring home values, create jobs and produce affordable housing.

The funding announced today is provided under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. To date, there have been two other rounds of NSP funding: the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) provided $3.92 billion and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) appropriated an additional $2 billion. Like those earlier rounds of NSP grants, these targeted funds will be used to purchase foreclosed homes at a discount and to rehabilitate or redevelop them in order to respond to rising foreclosures and falling home values. Today, 95 cents of every dollar from the first round of NSP funding is obligated and is in use by communities, buying up and renovating homes, and creating jobs.

State and local governments can use their neighborhood stabilization grants to acquire land and property; to demolish or rehabilitate abandoned properties; and/or to offer downpayment and closing cost assistance to low- to moderate-income homebuyers (household incomes not exceed 120 percent of area median income). In addition, these grantees can create land banks to assemble, temporarily manage, and dispose of vacant land for the purpose of stabilizing neighborhoods and encouraging re-use or redevelopment of urban property. HUD will issue an NSP3 guidance notice in the next few weeks to assist grantees in designing their programs and applying for funds.

NSP 3 will take full advantage of the historic First Look partnership Secretary Donovan announced with the National Community Stabilization Trust last week. First Look gives NSP grantees an exclusive 12-14 day window to evaluate and bid on properties before others can do so. By giving every NSP grantee the first crack at buying foreclosed and abandoned properties in these targeted neighborhoods, First Look will maximize the impact of NSP dollars in the hardest-hit neighborhoods making it more likely the properties communities want to buy are strategically chosen and cutting in half the traditional 75-to-85 day process it takes to re-sell foreclosed properties.

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NSP also seeks to prevent future foreclosures by requiring housing counseling for families receiving homebuyer assistance. HUD seeks to protect future homebuyers by requiring States and local grantees to ensure that new homebuyers under NSP receive homeownership counseling and obtain a mortgage loan from a lender who agrees to comply with sound lending practices.

In determining the allocations announced today, HUD, as it did with NSP1, followed key indicators for the distribution formula outlined by Congress. HUD is using the latest data to implement the Congressional formula. The formula weighs several factors to match funding to need in the 20 percent most distressed neighborhoods as determined based on the number and percentage of home foreclosures, the number and percentage of homes financed by a subprime mortgage related loan, and the number and percentage of homes in delinquency. To estimate the level of need down to the neighborhood level, HUD uses a model that takes into account causes of foreclosures and delinquencies, which include housing price declines from peak levels, and increases in unemployment, and rate of high cost and highly leveraged loans. HUD also considers vacancy problems in neighborhoods with severe foreclosure related problems.

In addition to a third round of NSP funding, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act creates a $1 billion Emergency Homeowners Loan Program to be administered by HUD. This loan program will provide up to 24 months in mortgage assistance to homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure and have experienced a substantial reduction in income due to involuntary unemployment, underemployment, or a medical condition. HUD will announce additional details, including the targeted areas and other program specifics when the program is officially launched in the coming weeks.

Affordable Housing Preservation Bill Approved by House Financial Services Committee

Posted under In The News on August 5, 2010

A Year In, and DC Affordable Housing Policy Does Little

Posted under In The News on July 26, 2010

13 Tenant Activists Arrested During Protest

Posted under In The News on July 19, 2010

HUD ends deal allowing Cleveland to buy distressed foreclosed homes for $100

Posted under In The News on July 7, 2010

N.J. groups say abolishing affordable housing will further polarize towns into rich, poor

Posted under In The News on June 16, 2010

Fannie Mae Announces its Own Foreclosure Prevention Plan Under HAFA

Posted under In The News on June 2, 2010

Housing Wire: Cancelled Foreclosures Outnumber Sales in California

Posted under In The News on May 27, 2010

HUD’s “Worst Case Housing Needs” Report Provides More Sobering Data

Posted under In The News on May 26, 2010

Ford Foundation Invests $200M For Metro Program

Posted under Industry News on May 20, 2010

The Ford Foundation has announced a five-year, $200 million effort to help “transform the way that cities, suburbs and surrounding communities grow and plan for the future” by anchoring housing, transportation, and land-use policy to promote economic growth.

The program also aims to build on successful collaborations and policy innovations Ford has supported in communities throughout the country, providing models that can be adopted and adapted in other metropolitan regions.

The initiative was announced Tuesday by Ford Foundation President Luis A. Ubias as local, state, and federal leaders gathered to discuss communities that once relied solely on the auto industry for jobs and growth. Urbinas said metropolitan communities should plan together and collaborate on challenges that include affordable housing, infrastructure investments, education and job creation.

“Economic growth requires that cities and suburbs work together,” Urbias said. “The notion that suburbs can thrive while city centers atrophy has proved damaging to our nation. We now know that metropolitan areas share a common economic destiny.”

The foundation said all the urban revitalization work it funds will reflect this metropolitan approach. It seeks to help communities move away from competing for public and private funding toward collaborating on regional initiatives, making limited resources go further.

George McCarthy, director of Metropolitan Opportunity at Ford, said the aim is to unite policymakers and innovators: “When investments in these major systems are planned with an understanding of how they intersect and impact the lives of all people in a region, the result can be transformative.

Strategic investments include:

• Transportation projects, including the M1 rail in Detroit, the redevelopment of the Claiborne corridor in New Orleans, and the construction of 25 transit villages along BART in San Franciscos Bay Area.

• Creating permanent affordable housing in communities including New Orleans and the Bay Area. Specifically, Ford pointed to shared equity homeownership, where families receive a public subsidy to buy a home agree to share the equity they earn with government, which then makes those funds available to another family.

• Create land bank authorities: Programs in metropolitan Detroit, Flint, Mich., New Orleans and other areas enable communities to revitalize blighted areas and increase quality housing opportunities, the foundation said in a news release. This includes funding for the Center for Community Progress, a national resource center for communities that provides training and technical assistance for any metropolitan region that wants to develop its own land bank authority.

The foundation aims to serve as a “national convener and advocate for innovation” that will “bring people together from across the country to share ideas and inform the national policy dialogue by demonstrating what is working on the ground.” It will also work to bring more partners and funding to these longstanding metropolitan issues, including not just philanthropic dollars but government and private sector funds, as well. Ford is supporting the Living Cities collaborative of financial and philanthropic institutions to lead a broad national effort to advance innovation, build systemic capacity in cities, and get new players and resources to the table.

HUD Awards $28M to PHAs

Posted under In The News on May 12, 2010

Carrion Leaves WH Office of Urban Affairs for HUD NY/NJ Regional Director Post

Posted under In The News on May 6, 2010

NLIHC Releases “Out of Reach 2010”

Posted under In The News on April 23, 2010

New Report Shows Growing Gap Between Income and Rent

Posted under Industry News on April 22, 2010

The gap between income and rent continues to widen, and despite a robust level of rental housing, there remains a dearth of housing that can be considered affordable, according to new data released yesterday by a prominent national housing advocacy group.

The data, which also points to lower wages nationwide, was provided by the National Low Income Housing Coalition as part of its Out of Reach series, an annual report first launched in 1999 that calculates the amount a person working full-time must earn to afford the Fair Market Rent on a two-bedroom, otherwise known as the Housing Wage.

The report, Out of Reach 2010, indicates that:

• A family in the United States needs to earn $18.44 an hour, or nearly $38,360 a year, in order to afford a modest rental home;

• The national two-bedroom Fair Market Rent (FMR) is $959 a month;

• Seventy-four percent of those renting in metro areas with two full-time minimum wage jobs would preclude them from affording the two-bedroom FMR.

In 2010, according to the report, the estimated average wage for renters in the United States is $14.44, a 25-cent decline from 2009. The report goes on to note that at the federal minimum wage of $7.25, a household would have to work 102 hours each week to afford the nations average FMR for a two-bedroom home.

“Despite the recession, rents are going up, wages are going down, resulting in a larger gap between what people earn and what they need to earn,” said NLIHC research analyst Megan DeCrappeo, Wednesday on a call with reporters, adding that competition for affordable units is also on the rise. DeCrappeo added that nine states, Hawaii, California, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Alaska, and Florida, and the District of Columbia surpassed a two-bedroom Housing Wage of $20.

Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said the report reminds ” us how people are struggling with the necessities of life.

“This shows us very clearly [that] things are getting worse during the downturn and not likely to get better any time soon. It’s a grim picture.”

But Baker went even further, saying the data should have larger, long-term policy implications, pointing to the five million jobs the economy lost between December 2008 and December 2009, and what will likely be a protracted economic recovery. “Many people were happy to see job growth, but to get us back to where we were, considering the labor market grows at 125,000 jobs per month, it will take us almost 20 years to make up for the lost jobs without a pickup of job growth—and no one’s predicting that in 2010 or 2011.”

Baker pointed to the country’s vacant housing stock, roughly 13 percent of the entire housing stock, as an opportunity to fulfill affordable housing goals. “We have the housing, the labor, and the workers to make affordable housing. It’s just a question of making it available. We need a housing policy for middle and bottom.”

NLIHC President Sheila Crowley said that providing $1 billion for the National Housing Trust Fund, a centerpiece of the NLIHC policy portfolio, will help address the growing shortage of affordable housing. She added that such an injection of funds would create new jobs, insofar as every $1 billion provided to the trust fund would support the immediate construction of 10,000 rental homes, creating 15,100 new construction jobs and 3,800 new jobs in ongoing operations, she said.

Much of the federal response to the housing crisis has been keeping prices high or where they were, but not about lowering rents, creating an imbalance in the housing market, according to Danilo Pelletiere, research director at NLIHC. He also echoed Baker’s assertion that there is housing available, but that it sits vacant rather than addressing rental needs: “Until we have policy from a housing and people perspective, we’re going to have this mismatch. It’s ‘water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.”

To view the complete Out of Reach 2010 report, click here.

Low Income Housing Group to Release New Housing Wage Data

Posted under Industry News on April 21, 2010

The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) will release its annual Out of Reach report at 11 a.m., ET, today. Speakers will release for 2010 the often-cited Housing Wage, which shows, for every state, metropolitan area and county in the country, the hourly wage that an individual must earn to afford a modest market-rate rental home. The report also provides local wage and income data for comparison purposes.

This years data, according to NLHC, will highlight the connection between the recession and the deepening gap between the income needed to afford decent housing and the incomes Americans actually earn. While rents continue to hold strong, wages continue to fall. The new data factors in how the recession, labor markets, and the foreclosure crisis have played a role in moving affordable rental housing further out of reach and the fundamental role rental housing can play in the economic recovery.

The data is slated for release later today. Check back here at www.nhi.org or at www.rooflines.org for updates.

Making Big Profits From Tiny Loans

Posted under In The News on April 17, 2010

Reporting From The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2010 Annual Housing Policy Conference

Posted under NHI News on April 12, 2010

Rooflines, the blog of the National Housing Institute will be reporting live from the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2010 Annual Housing Policy Conference. Highlights will include presentations from HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, NLIHC’s Sheila Crowley, and Mercedes Marquez, HUD’s Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development. The conference will also include discussions of HUD’s new Transforming Rental Assistance program, sustainable communities, fair housing, low-income housing tax credits, poverty and housing affordability, and opportunities in green building and climate legislation.

Please go to www.rooflines.org for regular updates.

Geithner promises mortgage fix

Posted under In The News on March 24, 2010

Acorn on Brink of Bankruptcy, Officials Say

Posted under In The News on March 20, 2010

NLIHC President Sheila Crowley Testifies on Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Proposal

Posted under In The News on March 17, 2010

Washington, DC – National Low Income Housing Coalition President Sheila Crowley testified before the House Financial Services Committee today on the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI), which is the Obama Administrations proposal for the next iteration of the controversial HOPE VI public housing program. As written, CNI is intended to transform neighborhoods with distressed housing, including federal public or assisted housing. However, it would ultimately provide little help to the millions of low and extremely low income people most in need across the country.

Ms. Crowley offered suggestions for improving the CNI proposal, but also renewed her call for the Administration to secure $1 billion in funding for the National Housing Trust Fund and 250,000 new housing vouchers. Each would have a positive impact on the lives of many more people with extremely low incomes, she said.

CNI is intended to transform neighborhoods with distressed housing, including federal public or assisted housing, into thriving communities. CNI is based on the HOPE VI program, which was developed in the early 1990s and of which NLIHC has been critical. While HOPE VI is credited by some with creating restored communities, the program came with a very high cost. In many HOPE VI projects, original residents were displaced, and the demolition of units helped to contribute to the shortage of rental homes that the lowest income people could afford.

Ms. Crowley testified that in addition to CNI being rooted in the HOPE VI program, the proposal has its own flaws. Ms. Crowley made several recommendations to increase the potential of the program. These include:

• CNI grantees should be required to develop and adhere to a long term Affordability Plan, which would include an initial assessment of housing affordable to extremely low and very low income households (both assisted and unassisted) in the neighborhood. It is critical that communities preserve and work to increase subsidized and private housing that is affordable to the lowest income people.

• The proposals one-for-one replacement of each unit of housing provision needs to be made stronger and clearer. The new proposal does not make any changes to the original CNI draft provision on one-for-one replacement, which NLIHC fears could potentially result in the loss of units, or strengthen CNIs resident participation requirements, which NLIHC recommends.

• The funds provided for resident participation and services should be realistically based. The proposal would place restrictions on the use of CNI funds: no funds could be used to construct or rehabilitate a school; not more than 15% could be used for supportive services; and not more than 15% could be used for non-housing activities, such as parks, commercial facilities, and public transit.

Ms. Crowley concluded her testimony by stating that the affordable housing crisis has reached a critical tipping point. The Administration and Congress must act now if a real solution to help those in dire need of assistance is to become a reality.

“The Obama Administration and Congress should tackle the macro problem of the shortage of homes that are affordable to the neediest of our citizens. We urge that an agreement be reached soon on how to provide the initial capitalization of the National Housing Trust Fund, said Ms. Crowley. This should be followed quickly by agreement on long term revenue sources to allow the program to go the scale needed to actually change the supply side of the supply and demand equation for housing that the lowest income people can afford. Revenue sources need to be sufficient to reach the goal of 1.5 million new homes over ten years.”

Other witnesses at the hearing include: Shaun Donovan, Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; Orlando Cabrera, former Assistant Secretary for Public and Assisted Housing, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and CEO, National Community Renaissance; Sheila Crowley, President and CEO, National Low Income Housing Coalition; Edward Goetz, Director, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota; Nancy Rockett Eldridge, Executive Director, Cathedral Square Corporation; Jill Khadduri, Principal Associate, Abt Associates; Saul Ramirez, Executive Director, National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials; and Kristin Siglin, Vice President and Senior Policy Adviser, Enterprise Community Partners.

Ms. Crowleys full testimony is available at:

http://www.nlihc.org/detail/article.cfm?article_id=6859&id=130

Democrats Appeal Across the Aisle on Financial Overhaul

Posted under In The News on March 15, 2010

Coverage from NCRC’s 2010 National Convention

Posted under NHI News on March 11, 2010

Rooflines, the blog of the National Housing Institute conducted live blogging from the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s 2010 National Conference. Continued conference coverage, featuring real-time reporting and guest blogs can be found at the conference section on Rooflines and on Facebook. This important annual event that featured a host of panels on topics that included financial protection, financial investment in your neighborhoods, strategies to influence elected officials, understanding refinance and mortgage modification, green jobs, and much, much

View conference coverage here.

Program Will Pay Homeowners to Sell at a Loss

Posted under In The News on March 8, 2010