HUD Assisted FHA Project Where First Lady Was Born Getting Preserved.

Story in WSJ (at bottom HERE) says that Parkway Gardens in Chicago has been acquired by Related and Wells Fargo venture. Says acquisition price for 694 unit project was about $40 million and plan is to spend $40 million on rehab, and extend low income use by another 30 years.  

From web sources, first lady is quoted as saying she was born while family lived in project, but appears that grandparents lived in project and not her family?

anything could have happened, you know, and I realize … looking back on the … where my grandparents lived, they lived in this housing development called Parkway Gardens. I was actually born there. But I saw it as a wonderful, small apartment building. That’s how I remember it. But now when I pass it, it’s … I was like, God, I never saw that apartment in the way that I’m seeing it now … you know, without … but that’s where my grandparents lived. But it was different in the ’70s than it was in 2009. Those were different neighborhoods, different communities.

From web sources looks like this 100% assisted project may have been originally financed as a cooperative and at least once was foreclosed upon by HUD. 1988 story HERE provides some background about acquisition by non profit after default.  From HUD MF and FHA databases it also appears that property was refinanced as a Section 223a/223f loan as recently as 2003.

Map of project is HERE.

Readers may recall that President Obama also lived with his grandparents in a FHA insured multifamily project in Hawaii, Punahou Circle Apartments.  [Prior blog post is HERE]. I think we can safely say that it is highly unlikely that ANY future first family will have had such a direct personal connection to HUD/FHA programs.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Donovan Ranks Above the President in Executive Branch Net Worth: $1.6 to $6 Million.

Net worth summary for HUD Secretary Donovan, from Open Secrets, is HERE; PDF of his actual filing is HERE.

At 5th place, Donovan's executive branch net worth ranking is one spot HIGHER than the President; the President's net worth summary is HERE.

Mary Shapiro, the Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission has the highest net worth in the Executive Branch, with a net worth between $11.2 to $42 Million.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

HUD Asst. Secretary for CPD Nominated; Former Oregon DHS Director Gets Obama Post at Agriculture.

Obama Administration continues to roll out new nominees. Two of Note:

1. Nominee for HUD AS for Community Planning and Development is Mercedes Márquez.

Mercedes Márquez assumed her duties as the General Manager of the City of Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) in January 2004. Mercedes returned to public service after serving as Vice-President of McCormack Baron Salazar, Inc., a national firm specializing in the development, consultation, and management of urban communities. Márquez oversaw developments throughout the Southwest and California, which included initiating new developments, coordinating the planning process, acting as liaison with joint venture partners, and interfacing with government officials and local community groups. Prior to her time with McCormack Baron Salazer, Inc, she served in the Clinton administration as the Senior Counsel to the Secretary and Deputy General Counsel for Civil Rights and Fair Housing for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Washington, D.C. She was principal advisor to former Secretary Andrew Cuomo on civil rights policy including fair lending and fair housing enforcement, and led investigations and negotiations of housing discrimination cases resulting in landmark settlements. She also advised the Secretary on rural housing and economic development policy, supervised farm worker and Colonias Community Builder specialists in five states, and served as a U.S. delegate to international commissions. From 1992 to 1997, Márquez was a partner at Litt & Márquez, where she specialized in complex public interest litigation including slumlord, fair housing, public housing, sexual harassment, employment discrimination, and constitutional issues cases. Márquez is an Advisory Board Member of The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers & Human Rights Project and the Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence, a former Trustee of The McAuley Institute, and past national Vice-President of the YWCA of the USA. Márquez has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California and a J.D. and LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center.

2. Former Oregon DHS Director Kevin Concannon was nominated to be the Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, United States Department of Agriculture

Kevin Concannon was appointed Iowa Department of Human Services Director in March 2003. He was re-appointed as DHS Director by Governor Culver and Lt. Governor Judge in January 2007. Iowa DHS provides authority and financing for health care for Iowans of all ages through the Medicaid program and the Iowa hawk-i program. The agency also is the lead agency for child welfare, low income assistance programs, child support collections, food assistance and behavioral health care, and directly operates four state psychiatric hospitals and two State Resource Centers for Iowans with developmental disabilities, two state juvenile residential centers, and the Civil Commitment Unit for Sexual Offenders (CCUSO). Previously, Concannon served as Maine’s Department of Human Services Commissioner from 1995 to 2003. From 1987 to 1995 he was the Director of the Oregon Department of Human Services. From 1982 to 1987 he was Commissioner of the Maine Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. From 1980 to 1982 he was Commissioner of the Maine Department of Mental Health and Corrections. He has led efforts at the state level to obtain more affordable prescription drugs for state residents. He has been instrumental in increasing access to food stamps, farmers markets, and simplified application processes for state residents. He has been a leader in long-term care system reform for elderly and disabled persons and has championed improved child support and child care programs. Concannon has served as President of the American Public Welfare Association (APWA) and previously served as President of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors.

Oregon Impacts from Recovery Plan.

Released by the White House today, HERE.

Oregon specific impacts are found on page 75-76 and are pasted below:

• Creating or saving 46,300 jobs over the next two years. Jobs created will be in a range of industries from clean energy to health care, with over 90% in the private sector. [Source: White House Estimate based on Romer and Bernstein, “The Job Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.” January 9, 2009.]

• Providing a making work pay tax cut of up to $1,000 for 1,400,000 workers and their families. The plan will make a down payment on the President’s Making Work Pay tax cut for 95% of workers and their families, designed to pay out immediately into workers’ paychecks. [Source: White House Estimate based on IRS Statistics of Income]

• Making 41,000 families eligible for a new American Opportunity Tax Credit to make college affordable. By creating a new $2,500 partially refundable tax credit for four years of college, this plan will give 3.8 million families nationwide – and 41,000 families in Oregon – new assistance to put college within their reach. [Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis of U.S. Census data]

• Offering an additional $100 per month in unemployment insurance benefits to 329,000 workers in Oregon who have lost their jobs in this recession, and providing extended unemployment benefits to an additional 53,000 laid-off workers. [Source: National Employment Law Project]

• Providing funding sufficient to modernize at least 102 schools in Oregon so our children have the labs, classrooms and libraries they need to compete in the 21st century economy. [Source: White House Estimate]

Oregon and Portland Metro Area Profiles of Taxpayers Eligible for the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit.

With earned income credits likely to be included in an Obama stimulus package, I thought this would be a good time to post a profile of Oregon and Portland Metro area taxpayers eligible for the federal earned income tax credit.

(People who know me know that I have said for more than a decade that, given the size of the EITC, it is as important as any rental housing subsidy program in increasing housing affordability by rewarding work and providing additional income to families with children).

[CASH Oregon is the Portland Metro group formed several years ago to help coordinate EITC outreach efforts. Their website is HERE.]

Data is from Brookings Institution, which made estimates using data from the 2007 American Community Survey.

I compiled a side by side PDF file with a table HERE showing Oregon and the Portland metro area; file also includes the Brookings profiles for Oregon and the Portland metro that I used to construct the side by side table. [Table comes first in the download, then the profiles].

Variables include number of children, adjusted gross income, education level, top 5 industry and jobs, race and ethnicity, amount of the EITC, age of tax filer, tenure of tax filer, and food stamp use of filer.

Oregon Highlights:

1. 298,000+ EITC eligible filers have a total household population of more than 816,000.
2. 57% of EITC eligible filers have an adjusted gross income of less than $15,000.
3. 32% of EITC eligible filers receive food stamps.
4. 38% of EITC eligible filers have two or more children.
5. 12% of EITC eligible filers are in the military.
6. 41% of EITC eligible filers would receive a credit of $2,000 or more.
7. Top 5 industry employers of EITC eligible filers are retail, health care, manufacturing, food service/accommodations, and construction.
8. 43% of EITC eligible filers have at least some college; 19% have an associate degree or higher.

Obama HUD/FHFA/Homeless Transition Leads.

From Change.gov website (see right pane of my blog) some of the usual suspects showing up as leads:

"Department of Housing & Urban Development, Federal Housing Finance Board, and Interagency Council on Homelessness Review Team Leads

Roberta Achtenberg is an economic and workforce development consultant and has served in senior policy-making roles with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the San Francisco Center for Economic Development from 1998-2004. She serves as a director of the Bank of San Francisco and the San Francisco-based software company, Andrew J. Wong, Inc. Previously, Ms. Achtenberg served in the Clinton Administration, first as Assistant Secretary of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and later as Senior Advisor to then HUD Secretary Henry G. Cisneros. A former member of the Board of Supervisors for the City and County of San Francisco from 1990-1993, she also represented San Francisco as a Director for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

Xavier de Souza Briggs is an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. A former Deputy Assistant Secretary at HUD, his expertise includes affordable housing, economic development and inequality, environmental sustainability, and civic engagement and collaboration.

Bruce Katz is a vice president of the Brookings Institution and Director of its Metropolitan Policy Program. He is a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and is a frequent writer and commentator on issues of urban and metropolitan growth and competitiveness. Katz served as Chief of Staff to Henry G. Cisneros, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, from 1993 to 1996, and as Staff Director of the United States Senate Subcommittee on Housing and Urban Affairs."

HUD Employee and Housing Authority Presidential Nominee Contributions Total Slightly More Than $16,000; Obama Gets 75%..

As we get closer to next Tuesday, I thought it might be interesting to see the level of contributions made by HUD employees and housing authority employees to the two major party nominees for President.

Using "HUD" and "Housing Authority" as employer search terms, and searching ALL states, total contributions to the two nominees was only slightly more than $16,000 through October 28th, with 75% of the contributions going to Obama.

[Individual contributions up to that date total $733 Million for the two candidates, so no danger the $16,000 will overly influence the candidates:)]

Breakout is in one page PDF HERE.

Obama's FHA Connection: Both Homes and Apartments.

As I have posted previously I am a big Obama supporter.

I recalled that during his Democratic convention speech from 2004 he said that his grandfather and grandmother had bought their first home using an FHA loan following his grandfather's World War II service was complete:

"The day after Pearl Harbor he signed up for duty, joined Patton's army and marched across Europe. Back home, my grandmother raised their baby and went to work on a bomber assembly line. After the war, they studied on the GI Bill, bought a house through FHA, and moved west in search of opportunity. "

After seeing some recent video of his grandmothers apartment in Honolulu I wondered if that apartment might have been FHA insured at one time. I dug into some on line HUD records [the f47t terminated database] and it turns out that the project, Punahou Circle Apartments, appears to have been a previously FHA multifamily insured loan, which was paid off more than 20 years ago in 1987 (and was under construction in 1964).

I extracted the project data and put it into a PDF file HERE.

As someone whose mom also worked on a bomber assembly line, my hopes for Senator Obama and my best wishes for his grandmother run high.

If the election goes as I hope next week, I think I can safely say there will never have been a president elect (and his grandmother) with a more direct, personal, and long standing connection to FHA.

Obama and Chicago Housing News Story.

Boston Globe story HERE about some of low income housing developments in Obama's State Senate district. Extent of his direct involvement in any of the specific projects appears to be limited to legal representation of one non profit owner in lawsuit with city. Story does provide some additional detail about his support for housing efforts in state and federal legislatures, including support for a state housing tax credit bill.

Non profit his firm represented was owner of Grove Parc, a now foreclosed project mentioned in story. HUD Multifamily contract database I reviewed shows Grove Parc had a total of 504 assisted units, with 252 three bedroom units, and with a FMR rent level range of between 100-120% of FMR. F-47 terminated mortgage database shows a insured mortgage amount of $6.38 M.

Obama "Discounted" Loan Story in Washington Post--A Non Story?

Washington Post story is HERE. Placement on page A-3 is an indicator IMO of weakness of story.

Gist of story is that Obama loan rate of 5.625% was below "average" of 5.93% for that week. Countrywide NOT involved.

By definition "average" means some loans above that rate, and some below that rate, so IMO it should not be surprising (or newsworthy?) that some buyers got loans that were better than "average".

I Don't Want to Say, "I Predicted It", But...

According to MSNBC HERE it looks like the former Fannie Mae head is no longer on the VEEP Search Committee for Senator Obama.

My weekend post on same subject is HERE.

Put this in the "Every squirrel finds a nut, sometime" category; no likelihood I am going to start predicting lottery numbers anytime soon.

Cross Post: Slate's Delegate Calculator Shows Daunting Clinton Task Ahead.

Cross post on subject from my Open Oregon Government blog HERE.

WSJ Story on Clinton, Obama Housing Policies.

HERE

Cross Post: Democratic Elected Delegate Counts and Comparisons.

Posted on my Oregon Open Government Blog, a hard to find count of elected delegates and states where Obama or Clinton have won the elected delegate battle to date.

Direct URL to post is HERE.

Full Disclosure: I Contributed to Obama Yesterday.

I have been a registered Independent for the entire time I have lived in Oregon. However for the first time I can remember, I made a Presidential campaign contribution yesterday-- to the campaign of Senator Barack Obama. I did so not so much because I thought he needed by modest contribution ( he raised $32 Million+ in January), but more so that I needed to express my support for his candidacy.

I have tremendous respect for both Bill and Hillary Clinton, and I also applaud the more moderate positions that John McCain brings to the Republican party and for his long and heroic service to our country.

I feel strongly however that Obama is the the proverbial "right person at the right time" to help lead us in a new direction. Should Obama not win the Democratic nomination, I will be supporting Senator Clinton in the general election.

This will be a historic election, no matter what happens, and will set the direction of our country for years to come. I am pleased to see the new voters who have come forward in the primaries to date and the excitement that both Senator Clinton and Obama are bringing to this election cycle.

I hope you find a candidate that you strongly support and do so in a way that works best for you.

Obama Economic Plan--$20 Billion for Housing, All Home Ownership.

Prior to the upcoming caucuses in Nevada, Senator Obama has announced his version of an economic stimulus plan with a PDF fact sheet HERE.

On the housing front, his economic stimulus plan would

• Provide $10 Billion for a foreclosure prevention plan with money going to Fannie , Freddie, and FHA for pre-foreclosure counseling and to allow families to "responsibly refinance" their current loans.
  
• Provide $10 Billion to the "Hardest Hit' states and local governments (Oregon would currently be unlikely to be identified as one of the states "hardest hit" by foreclosures)