Two Tampa Area PHA's Looking to Merge Voucher Programs.

St. Petersburg Times story is HERE, says two agencies have combined 7,000+ vouchers.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Florida HFA Seek Comments on Paper That Compares Job Creation of New Construction vs. Rehab/Preservation.

Thanks to Novogradac for tip. Florida HFA paper for comment by FEB 17th can be found HERE. 

From Novogradac summary: 

The white paper examines whether constructing new LIHTC developments or preserving existing developments creates more jobs. FHFC found that new construction creates, on average, 340 jobs per property whereas each preservation project creates 217 jobs. When considering the amount of tax credits needed for a project, the study also found that FHFC can fund an estimated 22 preservation developments to create 4,772 jobs versus an estimated 12 new construction developments, which create 4,079 jobs. FHFC will accept comments on the draft until 5 p.m. February 17 and anticipates releasing the final version of the white paper at the end of this week.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Hardest Hit Housing State Plan Analysis: Geographic Allocation Methods Show Wide Variations.

I have looked at the proposed geographic allocations in the three complete Hardest Plans I currently have copies for and am struck by the wide variations in the methods used. (All three plans are combined in link in right pane, Hardest Hit Plan Submissions, First Round States).

1. Arizona: Their plan states what the allocation is going to be, with no supporting background data. From page 9 of their plan: "Based on the geographical makeup of our market place we suspect approximately 75 percent of these households will be in Maricopa County, which includes the Phoenix metropolitan area. It is estimated that of the remaining 25 percent of households to be assisted is estimated to be 9 percent will be in Pinal County and 8 percent will be in Pima County with the remaining 8 percent spread throughout other rural counties in the state."
2. Florida: Pages 60-62 of their plan provide detailed formulas used to calculate the geographic distribution and include county level data. The formulas used include housing cost decline, a double weighting of unemployment, and county share of seriously delinquent loans.[Note that for second round states Treasury did NOT use housing cost decline in their decision on distribution between the second round states].
   
3. Michigan: On page 71, they propose NO geographic distribution in their plan: "The Authority does not anticipate targeting this assistance on a geographic basis, nor have we anticipated specific hard income limits. However, in practical terms these programs will overwhelmingly assist working and middle-income families."

(Note: No guarantee that any of these methods will be accepted by Treasury).

Some Thoughts for Oregon (and other Second Round States):

1. There is a wide latitude of choices made about geographic distribution, along with supporting data provided.
   
2. For any geographic distribution it is important for transparency purposes to provide the specific data, sources, and formulas used to calculate the allocations. (Without locking into the Florida exact formulas, they have done a VERY good job in documenting their sources, methods, and data).
3. Not ALL funding needs to be geographically distributed, some can be held back for statewide or special project purposes.
4. An alternate to provide the greatest amount of flexibility in Oregon would be to use an EXISTING county level definition of economic distress found in state statutes. The formula used is described HERE, the Administrative Rule is HERE, and the current county level results are shown HERE.
   

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

HFA Hardest Hit Plans Received from Michigan and Arizona.

I am very pleased that both the Michigan and Arizona housing finance agencies have provided me with copies of the Hardest Hit housing plans they submitted to Treasury.

I have combined those plans along with the Florida plan I previously posted into a single PDF file HERE. For future reference, the same document can be found in the links section in the right pane as "Hardest Hit Plan Submissions, First Round States".

Public Thanks to Michigan and Arizona HFA's
I want to publicly acknowledge the promptness and completeness of the information provided by both Michigan and Arizona in response to my public record requests for their plans. Electronic copies were provided within days of my request at no charge.

I will try to post some highlights of what I see in the Michigan and Arizona plans as time permits.

Caveat: These are NOT the Final Plans, But Only the Plans Submitted to Treasury
There likely will be extensive conversations between the first round applicants and the Treasury. I expect substantial changes could be made in the plans submitted so please do NOT represent these plans as THE finally approved plans. (I expect the finally approved plans will eventually appear on the US Treasury website).

Plans Submitted by California and Nevada Not Yet Received.
I have public record requests outstanding for the two remaining states, California and Nevada. I am following up with both requests and will post what I receive as soon as I receive it.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Florida Posts First State Draft Allocation Method and Strategies for Hardest Hit Funding.

As I have said previously, Oregon will benefit from the work being done by states selected in the first round of Hardest Hit funding. (Use keyword Hardest Hit to find all posts on this program).

I have done a quick search of websites for the first 5 states funded (Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, and Nevada) and Florida appears to be the best in posting information up to this point.

Florida's DRAFT targeting formula uses a variety of factors to arrive at how funds will be allocated. All of this I am sure is subject to change, but nonetheless the draft Florida allocation formula HERE is a good idea of the kinds of factors being considered elsewhere.

A second DRAFT Florida strategies document HERE provides more background on the factors being considered in putting together their program.

While allocation method and strategies are important, the delivery model, program design, outreach, and public transparency will be at least as important in putting together a successful $88 million Hardest Hit program for Oregon.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.