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Q: Under HUD rules, to be a “legitimate tenant organization,” an organization must include at least one representative of the site owner or its management. True or false?

On Jan. 16, the Senate passed by a vote of 72 to 26 the fiscal year (FY) 2014 omnibus spending bill, H.R. 3547. The House approved the same bill on Jan. 15 with a vote of 359 to 67, with an overwhelming majority vote from both parties. The omnibus, which includes all 12 appropriations bills, sets the final appropriations levels and funds all federally funded agencies, including HUD, through the end of FY 2014, which occurs on Sept. 30, 2014.

HUD recently issued a notice requesting public comment on its efforts to establish a baseline assessment of the renewable energy capacity in HUD’s public housing and federally assisted multifamily housing portfolios. The assessment will support President Obama's Climate Action Plan, which calls for the installation of 100 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy generation capacity by 2020 at LIHTC properties (Treasury), Rural Development properties (USDA), and publ...

If you think your local tax assessor may have overvalued your site, it may be a good idea to hire a company that specializes in appealing real estate tax assessments. When tax assessors overvalue assisted sites, they mistakenly assume that an assisted site's value is similar to that of nonsubsidized sites in the area. They may assess an assisted site as though it had the income and marketability of a nonsubsidized site, even though HUD regulations limit rental incom...

Recently Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies’ (JCHS) released a report entitled America’s Rental Housing: Evolving Markets and Needs. The report describes how the 2008 recession has affected rental housing trends. Currently, there are 43 million rental households, representing 35 percent of Americans—the highest rate in more than a decade. Additionally, a disproportionate number of lower-income families and individuals living in rental hou...

Building on $2 billion in financing commitments from the private sector for energy-efficiency updates to commercial buildings under the President’s Better Buildings Challenge, HUD recently expanded the challenge to multifamily housing and launched the Better Buildings Accelerators to support state- and local government-led efforts to cut energy waste and eliminate market and technical barriers to greater building efficiency.

HUD recently announced selections for the $14.8 million in HUD's Senior Preservation Rental Assistance Contracts (SPRACs) for properties in HUD’s Section 202 “Supportive Housing for the Elderly” program where rental assistance may expire without this important preservation tool. The awards will continue to support affordable rent for seniors living in more than 1,700 units located in 12 properties in six states.

HUD recently announced the funding awards for the Section 811 Project Rental Assistance Demonstration Program. Under this program, HUD provides project-based rental assistance funds to state housing finance agencies to award and administer to multifamily rental properties. A total of $97,849,801 was awarded to 13 states to assist 3,501 housing units nationwide.

A year after Hurricane Sandy devastated coastal communities in the Northeast, HUD has allocated a combined $5.1 billion through a second round of recovery funds to five states and New York City. Provided through HUD’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program, these recovery funds will help affected communities meet remaining housing, economic development, and infrastructure needs.

Many owners and managers of assisted sites use leases that give them the right to conduct periodic inspections of units to discover unsafe and unsanitary conditions and unreported maintenance problems. Early detection of these and similar situations can help prevent problems, such as insect and rodent infestations, offensive odors, major repair jobs, and flooding.