News
Join the NHC in Denver this September
Join the National Housing Conference, Center for Housing Policy and their partners in the Mile High City -- Denver, CO -- this September 27-28 for two great events exploring the intersection of housing and transportation. Register online now through September 15 for Partners in Innovation: Including Affordable and Workforce Housing within Transit-Oriented Development, a national symposium taking place September 27, and Partners in Innovation: Preserving Affordable Rental Housing Near Transit, a policy forum taking place September 28. Learn more
— Posted on 8/26/2010
Network for Oregon Affordable Housing Receives $750,000 CDFI Award
On August 19, 2010, Network for Oregon Affordable Housing (NOAH) became one of 180 Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) nationwide to receive a Financial Assistance Award for Fiscal Year 2010. NOAH’s award totaled $750,000. This money--the maximum awarded by the CDFI Fund this year--will help the nonprofit lender preserve affordable rental housing through NOAH’s Oregon Housing Acquisition Loan (OHAF) program, which seeks to preserve federally subsidized, rent-assisted housing throughout Oregon. Specifically, the CDFI award will provide the funds necessary to cover the financing gap between the maximum loan that can be borrowed under NOAH’s OHAF program and the actual cost to acquire a property.
“This CDFI award will allow NOAH to be more aggressive with its lending under our preservation loan program, and ultimately will allow us to preserve many housing projects for low income households that otherwise may have been lost to market investors,” said Bill Van Vliet, NOAH Executive Director.
Federally subsidized, rent-assisted properties have been the backbone of affordable housing in Oregon for over two decades. These properties offer deep rent subsidies and house some of the state’s most vulnerable populations. Thousands of these units are reaching the end of their contracted period of affordability. In fact, over 9,000 HUD units are subject to contract expiration over the next five years.
— Posted on 8/23/2010
House Financial Services Committee Approves H.R. 4868
On July 28, 2010, the House Financial Services Committee approved H.R. 4868, the Housing Preservation and Tenant Protection Act of 2010, comprehensive affordable housing legislation introduced by Chairman Barney Frank which seeks to stem the loss of affordable rental housing units across the country and prevent the displacement of low-income tenants, many of who are elderly or disabled.
Since the 1950s, HUD has subsidized about 1.7 million rental units in over 23,000 privately-owned, multi-family properties that are typically affordable to low-income tenants. Many of these units are over forty years old and in need of recapitalization. The bill includes a number of provisions intended to improve and help preserve these properties and will protect the significant investment made by the federal government in the original construction and decades of operation of housing for very low and low income tenants.
The Committee approval of this legislation is a huge step in moving these important provisions forward. Much work remains to be done, and prospects in the Senate this year are uncertain, but the Committee’s action conveys a strong endorsement of these preservation principles. House Financial Services Committee News Release is here
— Posted on 8/06/2010