Federal Housing News

May 11, 2012

FEDERAL BUDGET

House Approves Budget Reconciliation Measure

Despite opposition from Democrats, legislation passed the House on May 10, after passing committee consideration on May 7, altering Congress’s agreement on sequestration. This legislation protects defense programs from sequestration’s January 2013 cuts while shifting more of these cuts onto safety net programs, including the food and nutrition programs, child welfare services and the SCHIP, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The House Committee on the Budget approved a budget reconciliation measure on May 7 by a vote of 21 to 9. The measure incorporated savings recommended by six House Committees in order to meet the goals of the House-passed budget resolution (see Memo, 3/30). In the markup the Committee also approved the Sequester Replacement Act (H.R. 4966) that would halt the round of across-the-board cuts known as sequestration, scheduled to take effect in January 2013, by a vote of 21-13 (see Memo, 1/6).

After approving H.R. 4966, the Committee began debate on four “motions to proceed” offered by Committee Democrats that would allow for amendments that would undo cuts to certain safety net programs, among other provisions,  prior to consideration of the measure the House floor. None of the motions to proceed were approved by the Committee.

While Representatives on both sides of the aisle expressed opposition to sequestration in the markup, Democrats on the Committee raised many concerns about the Republican measures under consideration that would cut programs that aid low income people while protecting funding for defense programs. Sequestration, as provided for in the Budget Control Act, called for cuts to be applied equally between defense and non-defense discretionary spending (see Memo, 1/6).

“The President’s budget, and the very similar Democratic alternative, includes specific, balanced approaches to deficit reduction. We do think that’s a better approach, by far, than the meat-ax approach that the sequester would impose. But we need to come together and develop that kind of balanced approach to getting it done,” said Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) in a statement.

On May 10, the full House of Representatives passed legislation (H.R. 5622) that combines the Sequester Replacement Act with savings that would be achieved through the Budget Committee-passed reconciliation bill. The Senate is not expected to approve the measure.

A summary of the votes taken during the markup are available at: http://budget.house.gov/CommitteeVotes/markup572012.htm

House Votes to Eliminate Funding for Critical Census Survey

The House passed its version of the FY13 Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill, H.R. 5326, on May 10. This bill includes all funding for the Census Bureau. During debate on the bill on May 9 an amendment sponsored by Representative Daniel Webster (R-FL), which eliminates all funding for the American Community Survey (ACS), passed with a vote of 232 to 190.

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a nationwide survey of approximately three million households conducted annually. It provides timely data on the social, economic, demographic and housing characteristics of the U.S. population. The ACS replaced the Census “long form” in 2010 and eliminated the long waiting period for new data between each decennial census. What distinguishes the ACS from other surveys is that it provides these data for even the smallest geographic areas. Data from the ACS help determine how more than $400 billion in federal and state funds are spent annually.

In a statement released on May 10, the Census Bureau said that eliminating the ACS would “mark the first time in the country’s history that we would not collect and share vital economic and demographic measures of the country.” The National Low Income Housing Coalition uses ACS data to produce the majority of its research products, including Out of Reach, the Congressional District Profiles and other research reports, including editions of Housing Spotlight. It would be nearly impossible to determine the need for affordable housing without these data. 

Right before the House approved the Webster amendment, it approved, by voice vote, an amendment sponsored by Representative Ted Poe (R-TX) to make response to the ACS voluntary, by prohibiting both the Census Bureau and the Justice Department from using funds to enforce penalties in the Census Act that make survey response mandatory. Census research shows that moving to a voluntary ACS would make the survey more expensive, less accurate and would significantly reduce the number of communities that would receive reliable annual estimates from the survey.  

According to members of the Census Project, a nonpartisan coalition of census stakeholder organizations, including the National Low Income Housing Coalition, it is unlikely that the final Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill would include a provision to eliminate the ACS entirely, but there is concern that House Republicans may use this as a bargaining chip in conference. They may agree to fund the ACS if conferees agree to make responses voluntary, for example. Furthermore, H.R. 5326 proposes significant funding cuts to the Census Bureau’s FY13 budget. The bill allocates $601.4 million for Periodic Censuses and Programs, which is $110 million below the President’s request.

The Census Project has drafted a sign-on letter to all Senators expressing strong opposition to the House funding cuts and to making the ACS voluntary or eliminating the survey entirely. The Senate could take up their version of the Appropriations bill (S. 2323) as early as May 15. The Senate bill currently funds the Census Bureau at the President’s requested level of $970 million.

Contact Brendan Nichols at The Census Project (bnichols@ccmc.org) by 5 pm EDT on May 14 if your local, state or national organization is interested in signing onto the letter to the Senate on these issues. Advocates are also asked to reach out to Senate offices, urging them to support a comprehensive and statistically valid ACS and full funding for the Census Bureau. For identification purposes, local and state groups should include city/state in parentheses after the organization name, e.g., “Growing Local Economies, Inc. (Denver, CO).”

View the sign-on letter at: http://nlihc.org/article/house-votes-eliminate-funding-critical-census-survey

For more information on these issues go to www.thecensusproject.org.

MORE CONGRESS

House Marks Up VAWA Reauthorization Bill

The House Committee on the Judiciary approved H.R. 4970, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2012, on May 8. The measure was approved by a vote of 17 to 15, along party lines, and now awaits action by the full House of Representatives. It is expected that the full House may take action on the measure as soon as May 15.

The policy provisions included in the House bill are significantly different from the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization that was approved by the Senate on April 26 (see Memo, 4/27). The differences between the bills center on three politically charged issues:

• The ability for tribal authorities to prosecute domestic violence cases that occur on tribal land.
• Assurances that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered victims of domestic violence are covered by VAWA protections.
• Protections for immigrant victims of domestic violence.

H.R. 4970 would remove these provisions, which were included in the Senate bill.  “The Senate set aside partisan differences to protect the most vulnerable members of our society. The Senate bill, which passed with a supermajority of Democrats and Republicans, including every woman Senator, is a true reauthorization of VAWA, as is the bill introduced in the House by Representative Gwen Moore. This body needs to consider one of those bills,” said Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI) in a statement.

The House bill weakens the expansion of housing rights included in the Senate VAWA bill (see Memo, 4/27). Specifically, H.R. 4970 would make voluntary the emergency transfer provisions required in S. 1925. The manager’s amendment to H.R. 4970 that was approved in the Committee mark-up struck language requiring that victims be informed of their VAWA rights upon eviction.

Advocates are working to ensure that the broader housing protections included in S. 1925 and in H.R. 4271, the alternative House VAWA reauthorization bill introduced by Representative Moore (D-WI), are included in the final VAWA bill. Many national advocacy organizations, including the National Low Income Housing Coalition, signed a letter in opposition to H.R. 4970.

An archived markup webcast and all amendments offered are available at:  http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/Markups%202012/mark_05082012.html

A copy of the letter in opposition to H.R. 4970 is available at: http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/VAWA_Opposition_Ltr_5-14-12.pdf  

National Low Income Housing Coalition Urges Co-sponsorship of Bill to Protect Tenants at Foreclosure

The National Low Income Housing Coalition issued a “Call-to-Action” (CTA) on May 10 urging its members to ask their Congressional Representatives to co-sponsor H.R. 3619, the Permanently Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act. H.R. 3619, introduced by Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN), would make the federal Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA) permanent (see Memo, 12/6/11). The PTFA, which ensures that after foreclosure bona fide tenants have the right to stay in their homes for at least 90 days, is currently slated to expire at the end of 2014. H.R. 3619 would also add a private right of action to provide renters with more and clearer tools against violations of the PTFA. The National Low Income Housing Coalition has endorsed the measure (see Memo, 12/9/11).

Mr. Ellison circulated a “Dear Colleague” letter asking Members of the House of Representatives to co-sponsor his legislation on April 30 (see Memo, 5/4).

The CTA is available at: http://capwiz.com/nlihc/callalert/index.tt?alertid=61307796

House Field Hearing on REO to Rental

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises held a field hearing, “An Examination of the Federal Housing Finance Agency's Real Estate Owned (REO) Pilot Program,” on May 7 in Chicago.

The pilot program, announced by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in February, will allow qualified investors to purchase pools of foreclosed properties owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with the requirement to rent the purchased properties for three years. For the first transaction of the pilot, Fannie Mae is selling approximately 2,500 properties, divided into eight sub-pools located in Las Vegas, Phoenix, various communities in Florida, Chicago, Atlanta, and Riverside and Los Angeles, California. To facilitate investor interest, a large portion of the properties made available are already occupied by renters.

The legislators present for the hearing were Subcommittee Chairman Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Subcommittee Vice-Chairman David Schweikert (R-AZ), Representative Bill Huizenga (R-MI) and Representative Bobby Schilling (R-IL).

Meg Burns, Senior Associate Director, Office of Housing and Regulatory Policy, FHFA, and Michael Stegman, Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury for Housing Policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury, testified on the first panel. 

Ms. Burns stated that FHFA’s objectives for the pilot program are to gauge investor appetite for scattered-site single family rental housing, to determine whether the disposition of properties in bulk creates economies of scale that can stabilize and improve market conditions, and to assess whether the model can be efficiently replicated at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and other financial institutions. Ms. Burns stressed that both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will continue to rely on selling individual properties to home purchasers and investors as the primary sales strategy and that it is not a goal of the pilot program to increase the national supply of affordable rental housing.

For the first transaction, interested investors that pre-qualified based on their financial capacity, relevant market experience, and obligation to follow the transaction rules were made eligible to submit an application to participate in the auction. Evaluation of those applications is now underway.  FHFA’s goal is to complete this first pilot transaction in the next few months.

Mr. Stegman stated that there are several conditions that make this scattered-site, single family rental model an attractive business investment today. Most importantly, the economics of an investor purchasing a home for the purposes of renting it have become more attractive as home prices nationally are down by over 30% since 2006, while rents are now up significantly in certain areas. Mr. Stegman stressed, however, that there are many inherent challenges in this business model, including that investors and their partners must be properly equipped to deal with the complexities associated with managing and maintaining dispersed properties in a cost-effective manner.

Chairman Garrett asked Ms. Burns about role of nonprofit organizations and community groups in the pilot program. Ms. Burns responded that while there is no mandate that investors partner with these organizations, the evaluation process for applications favors those investors that establish relationships with organizations to provide supportive services, such as credit counseling, to residents.

Mr. Schweikert questioned whether the pools were large enough to sustain investor interest.  Ms. Burns responded that one of the goals of the pilot program is to offer pools of various numbers of properties in the initial sale to determine what sizes of pools are most attractive to investors.

Testifying on a second panel were Sean Dobson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Amherst Holdings; Robert Grossinger, Vice President, Community Revitalization, Enterprise Community Partners;  Mary Kenney, Executive Director, Illinois Housing Development Authority; and Tim Skiba, Chief Executive Officer, Community Associations Institute.

Mr. Grossinger suggested that a monitoring component on each sale is necessary to ensure that purchasers coordinate their activity with local and federal revitalization activities. Such a monitoring component would help to ensure that the purchaser accomplishes its stated intentions (including quality property management) and does not "walk away" from problems that develop as a result of market miscalculations or unintended outcomes resulting from bulk purchases.

Access the full testimony of all the witnesses at: http://financialservices.house.gov/Calendar/EventSingle.aspx?EventID=293806

A special thanks to Bob Palmer, Housing Action Illinois (a National Low Income Housing Coalition state partner), for contributing this article.

HUD

HUD Notice Implements Four HOME Changes From FY12 Appropriations

The FY12 Appropriations Act imposed four new requirements on HOME-assisted projects funded with FY12 money. Notice CPD 12-007, which HUD published on May 8, implements these Appropriations Act provisions. The requirements in the notice are separate from, although similar to, proposed changes to the HOME regulations published on December 16, 2011. The requirements in the notice generally apply to FY12 HOME allocations only, with variations for the four provisions.

1. According to the FY12 Appropriations Act, a participating jurisdiction (PJ) may only provide FY12 HOME funds to a Community Housing Development Organization (CHDO) if the PJ has determined that the CHDO has staff with demonstrated development experience. The notice elaborates, requiring the CHDO staff to have experience developing projects of the same size, scope and level of complexity as the activities for which HOME funds are being reserved or committed. The notice places a higher threshold than specified in the Appropriations Act, essentially preventing a CHDO from undertaking a CHDO set-aside project that is larger or more complex than a project that at least one staff member has done previously.

The notice requires PJs to develop and implement written policies and procedures for assessing CHDO staff capacity. It also defines CHDO staff as paid employees who are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the CHDO and does not include consultants, volunteers, or board members.

2. The FY12 Appropriations Act requires a PJ receiving a FY12 HOME allocation to repay any HOME funds invested in a project that is not completed within four years of the date the project was formally committed. It does, however, allow HUD to grant a one-year extension if the failure to complete the project is beyond the control of the PJ. The notice defines “completion” for both rental projects and homeowner projects. Importantly, for this provision the notice applies to all HOME activities set up in IDIS (HUD’s information and disbursement system) under a FY12 Annual Action Plan, regardless of the grant year from which funds are distributed.

3. The FY12 Appropriations Act requires PJs to only commit FY12 HOME funds to a project after it has reviewed the project’s underwriting, assessed the developer’s capacity and fiscal soundness, and examined the neighborhood market conditions to ensure that there is an adequate need for the HOME project. The notice explains that this does not apply to commitments of HOME funds to projects not set up in IDIS under a FY12 Annual Action Plan.

4. The FY12 Appropriations Act requires a PJ to convert any FY12 HOME homeownership unit that has not been sold to an eligible homebuyer within six months of construction completion to a HOME-assisted rental unit. The notice defines “sold” and “project completion,” and it clarifies that this applies to all HOME homeowner activities set up in IDIS under a 2012 Annual Action Plan in IDIS.

Notice CPD 12-007 is available at: http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/HOME_Notice_CPD_12-007.pdf  

The National Low Income Housing Coalition Summary of Proposed HOME Regulations is available at: http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/NLIHC_Proposed_HOME_Reg_Summary_1-5-12.pdf

CPD Rolls Out ConPlan Mapping Tool, Requires Use of Electronic Template

On May 7, HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) introduced three major changes relating to the Consolidated Plan (ConPlan) process:

1. Posted Notice CPD-12-009 describing a new electronic template that will be required to submit ConPlans and Annual Action Plans after November 15, 2012.

2. Demonstrated the new mapping tool available to the public as well as to cities, counties, and states.

3. Revamped the ConPlan webpage.

The ConPlan is a jurisdiction’s affordable housing and community development needs assessment, statement of priorities, and strategy for addressing priority needs. A five-year Strategic Plan and Annual Action Plan update are required for all states, cities and counties that receive formula-based funds from CPD. Those funds include HOME, Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG), Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA), the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), and eventually the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF).

According to Notice CPD-2012-009, there are three versions of the electronic template required for submitting ConPlans, Annual Action Plans, and the Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Reports (CAPERs). One template is for “entitlement jurisdictions” (cities with populations greater than 50,000 and urban counties with populations greater than 200,000). Another template is for states, and the third template is for “consortia” (adjacent jurisdictions that jointly apply for HOME funds when the individual jurisdictions do not meet the HOME formula threshold). There is a fourth, optional template for multiple grantees to prepare a single regional Consolidated Plan strategy, with separate, grantee-specific Annual Action Plans.

Jurisdictions will be able to customize their templates by adding additional text, data, or images from other sources. An actual, stand alone template is not on the ConPlan website. However, a 213-page Desk Guide contains the components of the template, with instructions for using CPD’s management information system (IDIS) for completing the template. For advocates involved with ConPlan, the Desk Guide is a valuable resource to explore because it outlines the regulatory requirements that jurisdictions must follow, and because it helps advocates know what the various template tables should look like. Because all ConPlans and Action Plans will be submitted using IDIS, HUD will have the capacity to post all of them on the HUD website.

As previously noted (see Memo, 5/6/11 and 5/4/12) CPD has compiled extensive data sets available to jurisdictions and the public to facilitate planning. Some of the data sets include the 5-year American Community Survey (ACS) from the Census, public housing resident characteristics from the Picture of Subsidized Housing compiled by HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing, and business and employment data from Census.

These data sets are used to pre-populate many of the required data tables in the template. For instance, the template will automatically provide renter data such as the number of extremely low income households (incomes at or below 30% of the area median income, AMI) in the jurisdiction spending more than 50% of their income for rent, http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/comm_planning/about/consolidated_planning/conplan_notice_images/#Link2. Another example is a feature showing how funds will be allocated geographically according to priority needs, http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/comm_planning/about/consolidated_planning/conplan_notice_images/#Link3.

The interim ESG rule made significant changes to that program’s reporting requirements. Therefore, CPD is releasing limited template screens for ESG recipients that must be submitted with their CAPERs after October 1, 2012. HUD will update these screens to reflect new Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) data standards. ESG recipients are instructed to use HMIS information as much as possible, but to use other sources when data are not collected in HMIS.

The new mapping program allows both grantees and members of the public to access a large amount of data in a user-friendly, web-based format. Users can search, query and display information on the map that will help them identify trends and needs in their communities. Some of the features available on the mapping program include the capacity to show where CDBG and HOME activities have been provided, and where public housing and private, HUD-assisted housing is located. It is also possible to see housing, economic and demographic characteristics of an area down to the census-tract level. The web-based software enables advocates to draw custom geographies, such as neighborhood boundaries which might not fit neatly into census tracts. Jurisdictions are not required to use the maps.

The Notice CPD-12-009 is available at: http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/ConPlan_Notice_12-009.pdf

HUD intends to provide ongoing webinars, trainings, and tool kits in the coming months. Advocates should also periodically refer to the ConPlan home page for updates. The revamped ConPlan home page is at: http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/about/conplan/index.cfm 

May 7 webinar slides are available at: http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/about/conplan/pdf/econ_webinar.pdf

The ConPlan mapping tool and a desk guide with instructions for using it is available at:
http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/about/conplan/cpdmaps/index.cfm  

The eCon Planning Suite webpage includes a link to the 213-page Desk Guide, at: http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/about/conplan/cp_idis.cfm

A HUD news release is at: http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/press/press_releases_media_advisories/2012/HUDNo.12-077  

For more about the Consolidated Plan, see page 188 of the 2012 Advocates’ Guide, http://nlihc.org/library/other/guides/2012.

USDA

***The National Low Income Housing Coalition Signs On to Comments Regarding USDA Limited English Proficiency Guidelines

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin, which includes the affects of actions or inactions of recipients of federal funds on people with limited English proficiency (LEP). Under Executive Order 13166, the US Department of Justice is responsible for providing LEP guidance to all federal agencies, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) used to draft its proposed final LEP guidance for all recipients of USDA funds, including the Rural Housing Service and its Rural Development (RD) affordable housing programs.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition  signed on to a comment letter on May 7 submitted by the Housing Justice Network, an informal network of legal services and other organizations advocating for the housing rights of low income households. Comments offered include:

• Some USDA programs, such as RD, already have regulations that require LEP services. Therefore, the final USDA guidance should specifically refer to those in order to prevent RD recipients from misinterpreting the USDA guidance as a retreat from the more specific RD programmatic regulations.

• The guidance should be revised to clarify throughout that the minimum compliance for any USDA-funded recipient is the provision of free oral interpretation for every LEP person.

• The guidance should require that written materials in any language be reviewed for readability at the 6th grade reading level.

• USDA should expand its communications to more languages than Spanish.

• The guidance should expand the list of types of documents that warrant translation to include model leases, denials of benefits or services, notices of rights, and notices of public hearings. Such translated documents should be posted on the USDA and RD websites.

• The guidance should require recipients’ posters, flyers, brochures, and notices to include a sentence in multiple languages explaining that there is a right to an interpreter or translation, and informing an LEP individual how to request that interpreter or translation from the recipient.

The HJN letter is available at: http://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/HJN_USDA_Ltr_5-7-12.pdf

GAO

***GAO Releases Report on Duplication in Federal Homelessness Programs

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report, Fragmentation and Overlap in Programs Highlight the Need to Identify, Assess, and Reduce Inefficiencies, on May 10. GAO previously issued a report on duplication among government programs, including those that serve people experiencing homelessness, in 2011 (see Memo, 3/4/11).

The recent GAO report says that three federal agencies - HUD, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) - have the primary responsibility over administering programs that serve people experiencing homelessness, and that some Department of Labor (DOL) programs serve the same the beneficiaries. GAO found that while the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) has taken notable steps in recent years to improve coordination across agencies, particularly through the issuance of the Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness, more work must be done to improve coordination.

“The strategic plan serves as a useful and necessary step in increasing agency coordination and incorporates some elements of an effective strategy, but lacks key characteristics desirable in a national strategy. For example, the plan does not list priorities or milestones and does not discuss resource needs or assign clear roles and responsibilities to federal partners,” says GAO in the report summary.

GAO recommends that:

·         “The Interagency Council [on Homelessness] and the Office of Management and Budget––in conjunction with the Secretaries of HHS, HUD, Labor, and VA––should consider examining inefficiencies that may result from overlap and fragmentation in their programs for persons experiencing homelessness.”

·         “To help prioritize, clarify, and refine efforts to improve coordination across agencies, and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of federal homelessness programs, the Interagency Council, in consultation with its member agencies, should incorporate additional elements into updates to the national strategic plan or other planning and implementation documents to help set priorities, measure results, and ensure accountability.”

The report is available at: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-12-491

HAC NEWS

SENATE COMMITTEE REJECTS PARTS OF ADMINISTRATION’S HOUSING BUDGET. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed FY13 bills for HUD on April 19 and for USDA April 26. House committee action has not yet been scheduled. S. 2375 would fund most USDA housing programs at the higher of the FY12 appropriations level or the President’s FY13 budget request, although Section 515 and the MPR preservation demonstration would receive less than half their FY12 funding. The committee report chastises USDA for proposing different approaches to rental pre-servation in its FY12 and FY13 budgets and asks USDA for “an effective long-term strategy” for rental housing.

S. 2322 would keep SHOP at its FY12 level of $13.5 million. The National Housing Trust Fund would not be funded. Assistance for tenants, both project-based and tenant-based, would fare better than under the Administration’s budget, but Section 202 elderly housing would fare worse and Section 811 for people with disabilities would see a reduction from its FY12 level. HUD tenants would not be required to pay $75 minimum monthly rent.

a. Figures shown do not include 0.2% across the board reduction.
b. Includes $3.1 billion for CDBG.
c. Funded under Homeless Assistance Grants; amount not specified.

SENATE BILL WOULD ADD ONE YEAR OF ELIGIBILITY FOR RURAL HOUSING PROGRAMS. The Senate USDA appropriations bill, S. 2375, includes a grandfathering provision for places that have gained population and would otherwise become ineligible for USDA housing aid. (See HAC News, 9/28/11.) The bill would keep them eligible through the end of FY13 on September 30, 2013.

HOUSEHOLD WATER WELL SYSTEM GRANTS AVAILABLE. Nonprofits can apply to the Rural Utilities Service to establish lending programs for homeowners. The deadline will be included in the notice in the Federal Register, 5/3/12 and at grants.gov. Contact Joyce M. Taylor, RD, 202-720-9589. 

IDA FUNDING OFFERED FOR REFUGEE PROGRAMS. Nonprofits, government agencies, and educational institutions can apply to the Department of Health and Human Services for grants to establish and manage Individual Development Accounts for low-income refugees, to be used for purposes including homeownership. Deadline is June 18. Contact Yimeem Vu, HHS, 202-401-4825. The next deadline for the standard Assets for Independence IDA pro-gram is May 25. Contact James Gatz, HHS, 866-778-6037.

HUD ISSUES FINAL RULE CHANGES FOR STATE CDBG PROGRAM. The changes update the State CDBG program regulations and clarify program income requirements. A provision requiring entitlement jurisdictions to receive only an incidental benefit from State CDBG program expenditures is replaced by one that allows expenditures in entitlement areas if the activities significantly benefit residents of the state grant recipient and meet the nonentitlement jurisdiction’s needs, and if the entitlement jurisdiction makes a meaningful contribution to the project. See Federal Register, 4/23/12. Contact Eva C. Fontheim, HUD, 202-708-1322.

IRS RULE ADDRESSES SALE OF LIHTC PROPERTIES. A final rule to be published in the Federal Register, 5/3/12, provides guidance on contracts to sell properties at the end of their extended use periods and computation of sales prices. Contact David Selig, IRS, 202-622-3040.

LIST OF QUALIFIED CENSUS TRACTS FOR LIHTC UPDATED. The list of Difficult Development Areas published 10/27/11 remains in effect. Visit HUDUser.org. Paper copies are available for a fee to cover costs, 800-245-2691.

RD SHIFTS FROM NEWSPAPERS TO ELECTRONIC NOTICES OF CHANGES IN ELIGIBILITY BOUNDARIES. An Unnumbered Letter dated April 17, 2012 says email and web posts are more effective than local newspapers to notify stakeholders before changing the boundaries determining eligibility for rural housing programs, and lists types of entities that should be contacted. It also eliminates the use of narrative descriptions of boundaries, stating they have not proved useful. Contact an RD office.

MINORITIES ACCOUNT FOR THREE-QUARTERS OF RURAL POPULATION GROWTH. From 2000 to 2010, Hispanics became a higher proportion of the nationwide rural and small town population than African Americans, with variations among localities. A new HAC Rural Research Note on “Race and Ethnicity in Rural America” presents these facts and other current data. Contact Lance George, HAC, 202-842-8600.