The ACTION Campaign is calling on Congress to expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit).

Leaders from both sides of the aisle, including President Obama and House Speaker Ryan, recognize that persistent poverty is both destructive to families and a barrier to our nation’s economic growth. Affirmative policy solutions are needed to prevent people from falling through the cracks and instead, expand opportunity to improve economic well-being.

Unfortunately, the scarcity of affordable housing is a significant obstacle to the nation’s efforts to alleviate poverty. While programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit are critical to increasing the incomes of low-income families, more help is needed to bring down the costs of housing – the single largest expense for low-income families.

For this reason, the ACTION Campaign is calling on Congress to address our nation’s severe shortage of affordable rental housing by raising the cap on Housing Credit allocation authority by at least 50 percent.

Read the letter and sign on. The deadline for signing on to the letter is Friday, March 11.

All existing ACTION Campaign members will be included in the letter, so if you are already an ACTION Campaign member you do NOT need to sign on. However, it is  encouraged to share the letter with networks to show broad support for the Housing Credit.

If you have any questions or want to remove your organization from the letter, contact Emily Cadik at ecadik@enterprisecommunity.org before the March 11 deadline.

(L-to-R: Michael Chiappa, APAH; Derrick Perkins, BAML; Peter Engel, APAH; Crystal Jackson, BAML)

The Springs Apartments – an affordable, family-friendly, 104-unit, transit-oriented, located in the heart of Arlington – may not be scheduled to open until mid-2016, but this new mixed-use community is creating a lot of buzz within the region.  With developer Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) and the rest of the development team on board, the property has already had a “topping out” and is well on its way to becoming a sound home for Arlington residents. As part the investment team, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) is one of the property’s proud funders and is excited that it has been able to help bring housing stability to this northern Virginia neighborhood.

“We are focused on helping local communities address critical housing needs and revitalize neighborhoods,” said Derrick Perkins, senior vice president of community development, BAML. “With our investment in The Springs, we are succeeding in our efforts in helping to create homes for families in this dynamic region.”

For nearly 30 years, BAML has fueled economic development and achieved national award-winning recognition by providing communities across the country with greater access to capital and credit. A leader in community development, the bank has achieved an extensive track record of success by dedicating itself to the financial needs of its clients and strategic partners – and the development needs of its communities.

Nationally, the bank is working diligently to achieve its community development lending and investment goal of $1.5 trillion within a decade. Launched in January 2009, BAML is on the right path in executing against this goal and is using financing tools such as LIHTC to reach its target.  To date, it has placed more than $7.5 billion in equity in LIHTC-financed communities – which represent more than 5,000 apartment communities across the nation.

With The Spring, BAML invested more than $20 million in LIHTC equity; however that was not the banks only contribution. It also used an innovative funding source from the Department of Justice which allowed for a greater reduction on some of the targeted rents within the apartment community.

“Investing in projects like The Springs is a rewarding experience. In addition to helping to create homes close to employment centers and sound community amenities, it’s also gratifying to work with partners like APAH, who are truly committed to providing sustainable investment in our neighborhoods,” said Derrick. “Being a HAND member allows us to interact with strong affordable housing developers throughout the region – and at times, throughout the country.”

In addition to providing valuable networking opportunities, BAML also leverages the other benefits of being a HAND member.  The training and capacity building series helps to refresh the skills of experienced associates, and affords educational opportunities to those who are new to the industry as well.

HAND is pleased to spotlight Bank of America Merrill Lynch as a member who certainly contributes to our organization’s COLLABORATION, INNOVATION and TRANSFORMATION within the metropolitan area!

To support anyone using the 2015 Criteria, Enterprise Green Communities is releasing a series of newly developed resources to help you achieve your sustainability goals.

This live online event  (February 25, 2016, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET), introduces new resources developed to accompany the 2015 Green Communities Criteria: The 2015 Criteria Cost Survey and the 2015 Criteria Specifications with Scopes of Work (SOW).

By attending this web event, participants will be able to:
– Understand the purpose of these resources, what they cover and how to access them.

– Estimate the incremental cost of meeting the individual measures of the 2015 Criteria as compared to standard construction practices.

– Edit our building specifications template for your multifamily or single-family affordable housing, to ensure that your construction documents are aligned with the 2015 Criteria.

– Customize a model SOW for your single-family project to ensure your contractors and trades are aligned around your sustainability goals.

Presenters will include: Jessica Pitts of Bridgewire Consulting (2015 Criteria Cost Survey) and Alistair Jackson of O’Brien and Company (2015 Criteria Specifications and Scopes of Work).

Click here to register!

The Community Foundation in Prince George’s County is pleased to announce the 2016 Request for Proposals for the Transforming Neighborhood Initiative (TNI) Fund for Community Innovation. Created by The Office of the Prince George’s County Executive and Prince George’s County Public Schools, the TNI Fund will offer program and general operating support of up to $15,000 for organizations serving youth, ages 0-18, in the TNI communities of East Riverdale/Bladensburg, Glassmanor/Oxon Hill, Hillcrest Heights/Marlow Heights, Kentland/Palmer Park, Langley Park, and Suitland/Coral Hills.

For more information, please view the full set of application guidelines here.

Technical Assistance
The Community Foundation will offer a pre-proposal webinar to review the RFP Guidelines and online application system on Thursday, February 18, 2016 from 10:00 – 11:30AM. Pre-registration is required. To register for the webinar, click here.

Apply Online
Before applying, please carefully review the eligibility requirements and the program objective defined in the application guidelines document to ensure your proposal will be accepted and reviewed by the Foundation. All applications must be submitted online on Tuesday, March 8, 2016 at 5pm. Final grant decisions will be announced by July 1, 2016.

To begin the online application, click here.

HUD No. 16-008

FHA TO CUT INSURANCE RATES ON MULTIFAMILY MORTGAGES
Lower rates expected to stimulate production and rehabilitation of affordable rental housing

WASHINGTON – In an effort to help preserve and increase the amount of affordable, quality rental housing across the country, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) today announced a multifamily insurance rate reduction designed to encourage capital financing of affordable and energy-efficient apartments. The rate reductions announced today will take effect on April 1, 2016, and will directly impact FHA’s Multifamily Housing Programs and properties housing low- and moderate-income families and/or developments installing energy-efficient systems or building within federal energy guidelines. Read FHA’s new Multifamily Insurance Rates.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro made the announcement today during a visit to an affordable housing complex in Columbus, Ohio. FHA estimates that the multifamily insurance rate reductions will spur the rehabilitation of an additional 12,000 units of affordable housing per year nationally, meaning over the next three years nearly 40,000 families could benefit from higher quality and affordable housing.

“Families across the country are struggling through an affordable housing crisis,” said Secretary Castro. “By reducing our rates, this Administration is taking a significant step to encourage the preservation and development of affordable and energy efficient housing in communities large and small. This way, hard-working families won’t have to make the false choice between quality or affordable housing.”

FHA’s new annual multifamily insurance rates include:

– For ‘Broadly Affordable’ housing (at least 90% of the units are under Section 8 contract and/or covered by Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) affordability requirements), FHA is lowering annual rates to 25 basis points, a reduction of 20 or 25 basis points from current rates.

– For Affordable mixed-income properties that is properties that set-aside units based on affordability including partial LIHTC, partial section 8, inclusionary zoning, or other local affordability requirements, FHA is lowering annual rates to 35 basis points, a reduction of 10 to 35 basis points from current rates.
For energy-efficient properties (those committed to industry-recognized green building standards,AND committed to energy performance in the top 25 percent of multifamily buildings nationwide), FHA is lowering annual rates to 25 basis points, a reduction of 20 to 45 basis points. Qualification for the top 25% will be determined using EPA’s Portfolio manager 1-100 score.

– To ensure that the Broadly Affordable and energy-efficient properties benefit directly from the lower rates, FHA will limit the fees that can be charged on these loans.

– Multifamily insurance rates for market-rate properties that are not energy efficient (as defined above) will remain unchanged.

FHA is also reducing upfront premiums to support the affordable housing and energy efficiency goals stated above and to streamline the premium structure. Upfront insurance rates will be set at 25 basis points for Broadly Affordable and Energy-Efficient properties and 35 basis points for Mixed-Income properties. Upfront premiums for market rate properties that are not energy-efficient will remain unchanged.

Each year the U.S. loses more than 300,000 affordable housing units. FHA’s multifamily rate reductions will help preserve and maintain affordable housing by making rehabilitation more cost-effective and allowing the U.S. to better preserve its limited affordable housing stock. Most of the affordable housing in the U.S. was built prior to 1980, making it more than 30 years old. These premium reductions will allow developers to renovate this housing, providing families with better quality places to live. The reductions will allow owners of affordable housing developments to free up the capital needed to support higher levels of rehabilitation or increase the number of affordable units—both of which will increase the access families will have.

Nearly half (49.3 percent) of all renter households spent more than 30 percent of income on housing in 2014, including more than one quarter (26.4 percent) who devoted more than half of income to housing.[1] Since 2000, rents have risen while the number of renters who need affordable housing has increased. The pressure to find affordable housing to rent is more severe for very poor households. Only 28 of every 100 extremely low-income renter households in the United States were able to find decent, affordable homes in 2013.

Encouraging more energy efficient multifamily housing

One-out-of-every-four U.S. households live in multifamily housing units and spend approximately a combined $40 billion on energy costs each year. Making these housing units 20 percent more energy efficient would save $8 billion per year and cut greenhouse gas emissions by over 430 million tons. The lower multifamily insurance rate for energy-efficient projects will contribute to this effort by encouraging owners to adopt higher standards for construction and rehabilitation, resulting in greater energy and water efficiency, reduced utility costs, and improved indoor air quality.

Lowering rates in a responsible way

The reduced rates announced today are made possible by the strong health of the FHA Multifamily portfolio,which stands at a historically low default/delinquency rate of 0.15 percent. FHA’s Multifamily business traditionally generates significant revenue for taxpayers; these changes will leverage over $400 million in new mortgage financing for affordable housing/energy-efficient development without significantly decreasing overall revenue. Even with these reductions, affordable and energy-efficient loans originated in Fiscal Year 2016 are projected to generate net revenue for the federal government.

**The proposed rule is available in the Federal Registrar. Comments are due on Feb. 17, 2016.**