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After giving Westchester County in New York one last chance to comply with its demands over a central element of a 2009 fair housing settlement, HUD has decided it would take $7.4 million in grants to help low-income areas away from the county and send them to other communities.

Employees at the Department of Housing and Urban Development won’t have to take the last two scheduled furlough days. In March, HUD announced it would furlough all 9,000 of its employees for seven days between May and August to offset automatic budget cuts due to sequestration. Furlough dates were scheduled for May 10 and 24; June 14; July 5 and 22; and Aug. 16 and 30.

A former police officer of Newark, N.J., was recently sentenced to three months in prison, after he admitted conspiring to cheat taxpayers out of $60,000 in federal rent subsidies his wife received despite living with him rent-free in a house he owned.

HUD encourages and supports a range of environmentally friendly practices, such as the use of renewable energy sources and green construction and renovation techniques. Many sites are taking steps in the right direction, finding that when they use such practices, they can trim operational costs, reduce health risks, and improve comfort for residents.

Local governments and states that receive Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME), Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG), and Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA), as well as public housing agencies (PHAs) are required to affirmatively further the purposes of the Fair Housing Act. To help with this obligation, HUD recently proposed an improved structure and process whereby HUD would provide these program participants with...

HUD's Final Rule that adds a requirement for smoke detectors/alarms to be included in its regulations for subsidized housing for the elderly and disabled went into effect on July 22 [24 CFR Part 891, Docket No. FR-5167-F-02]. This final rule amends HUD’s regulations governing the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program (Section 202) and the Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities Program (Section 811).

A North Bergen Housing Authority official in New Jersey recently admitted to extorting cash in exchange for vacation days. He was terminated by the housing authority following his guilty plea, and was sentenced to nearly four years in prison.

HUD's model lease clears the way for site owners and managers to access residents' units “for the purpose of making reasonable repairs and periodic inspections.” Doing so can help uncover unsafe or unsanitary conditions and unreported maintenance problems. Dealt with early, these conditions can help prevent more serious problems later, such as insect or rodent infestations, flooding, and major repairs.

HUD recently released the nation’s first-ever national study examining housing discrimination against same-sex couples in the private rental market. The study, An Estimate of Housing Discrimination Against Same-Sex Couples, measures the treatment same-sex couples receive from rental agents when inquiring about apartments advertised online, as compared to how otherwise similar heterosexual couples are treated.

Sequestration has resulted in cuts to the three New York agencies that administer more than 150,000 Section 8 vouchers in the city: the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), and the state's Department of Homes and Community Renewal. The cuts will affect not only owners whose tenants receive Section 8 vouchers, but also those owners who contract directly with HUD through the project-based Sec...