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A recently published study in Housing Policy Debate, “Rethinking Opportunity in the Siting of Affordable Housing in California,” found that residents’ perspectives on housing affordability, neighborhood conditions, and access to educational and economic opportunity can differ from commonly used measures.

A recent study by the Urban Institute, “Despite Labor Market Gains in 2018, There Were Only Modest Improvements in Families’ Ability to Meet Basic Needs,” found that families saw little improvement over the past year in their ability to meet basic needs despite rising employment and real wage growth.

In October 2018, the IRS published the first set of proposed regulations providing much of the direction taxpayers had been seeking. And while those regulations represented a step forward in understanding how to implement an Opportunity Zone project, many questions remained. Recently, the IRS sought to address many of those questions by publishing a second set of proposed regulations.

President Trump established the Opportunity and Revitalization Council in December 2018 to target, streamline, and coordinate federal resources to be used in Opportunity Zone (OZs) and other economically distressed communities. The interagency Council is chaired by HUD Secretary Ben Carson. 

HUD recently released a document that provides a snapshot of HUD’s programs and initiatives within Opportunity Zones (OZs) and requested input and recommendations on how HUD can incorporate OZs into existing policies, practices, planned actions, regulations, and guidance. According to HUD:

U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tim Scott (R-SC), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), and Todd Young (R-IN) have introduced S.1344, a bipartisan bill to restore reporting requirements for Opportunity Zones. Specifically, the bill would require the Treasury Department to collect data on the number of Opportunity Funds created and the impact the funds are having on underserved communities. The data would have to be reported on an annual basis to Congress.

HUD launched its LIHTC pilot program in 2012 to streamline processing of Section 223(f) LIHTC transactions with repairs up to $40,000 per unit. As a result of the pilot program, 34 percent of HUD’s 912 loans insured in 2018 were LIHTC transactions. And of the 148,726 units insured last year, 31 percent were LIHTC units. When the pilot program started in 2012, less than 5 percent of HUD’s loan volume was LIHTC.

The White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, chaired by HUD Secretary Ben Carson, recently published its Implementation Plan. It details how the council will accomplish the goals specified in Executive Order 13583 of Dec. 12, 2018. The Implementation Plan explains the various subcommittees of the council and describes the strategy to implement administrative reforms and initiatives that will target, streamline, coordinate, and optimize federal resources in ec...

The National Housing Conference (NHC) recently released its 2018 Paycheck to Paycheck report and database highlighting housing affordability challenges for workers in 81 occupations living in 259 metropolitan areas in the United States. The annual report focuses on the affordability challenges of workers in five vocational categories and provides average rent and homeownership costs for each profession in these metropolitan areas. The five vocational categories include ...

HUD recently announced charges against Facebook for violating fair housing law by encouraging, enabling, and causing housing discrimination through the company’s advertising platform. The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination against consumers based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, and national origin. The Fair Housing Act also makes it illegal to “make, print, or publish, or cause to be made, printed, or published any ...