Topic: In the News

Two major government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, announced recently that they are not making new tax credit investments. Together, these GSEs accounted for approximately 40 percent of tax credit investment annually for the past decade or so.A lower price for tax credits has been the main effect of reduced GSE participation. The price for tax a credit in 2007 averaged approximately 93 cents, and that number is likely to drop below 84 cents in 2008, according to Affordable Housing Finance magazine.

In February, the D.C. Court of Appeals dealt the D.C. Housing Authority (DCHA) and its residents a setback. The court's decision in Pratt v. District of Columbia Housing Authority put a dent in DCHA's efforts to have local D.C. law support HUD's “One-Strike” policy. The One-Strike law, which permits owners to evict assisted housing residents for lease violations involving criminal activity, applies to Section 8 (Housing Choice Voucher) and Section 9 (safe public housing) residents, says Margaret McFarland, former general counsel to DCHA.

In February, the D.C. Court of Appeals dealt the D.C. Housing Authority (DCHA) and its residents a setback. The court's decision in Pratt v. District of Columbia Housing Authority put a dent in DCHA's efforts to have local D.C. law support HUD's “One-Strike” policy.

Sales of new homes fell by 26 percent in 2007, the biggest drop since 1963, when record-keeping began, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported last month.2007 was also the worst year for housing starts in 16 years and, perhaps, since the Great Depression. In December 2007, housing starts were 1.006 million units, compared with 996,000 units built in 1991, Commerce Department officials report. December 2007 was itself a terrible month for housing starts: They were down 14.2 percent from November, when starts were at 1.173 million units.

A study of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, released in January 2008 by the Urban Institute, indicates that as the result of an aging population, demand for affordable housing will rise significantly over the next 30 years. The study, titled “Housing in the Nation's Capital—2007,” also indicates that the findings of the Institute, a Washington-based nonprofit think tank, are equally valid for other regions of the nation.

In line with New York City Mayor Michael C. Bloomberg's stated goal of locating and using public land to increase the supply of affordable housing, a new housing project is scheduled for construction on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

HOPE VI, a federal program that converts distressed public housing into mixed-income sites, has strong, bipartisan support in both Houses of Congress, although the current administration claims that HOPE VI has outlived its usefulness.

The national trust fund bill (H.R. 2895) passed by the House of Representatives sets a goal to create 1.5 million affordable housing units over the next 10 years.“The growing shortage of affordable housing is one of the most serious social and economic problems facing our country,” says Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). According to him, the trust fund's main purpose is to build, rehabilitate, and preserve affordable rental housing nationwide. But funds will also be available to promote homeownership.