Good Stuff Buried in HUD FY 2012 Detailed Congressional Justifications.

Be the life or your party! Amaze your friends! Or...if you have difficulty sleeping you can download HERE very detailed justifications by program area from HUD's FY 2012 proposed budget.( I count close to 50 separate justifications by programs and topics).

All kidding aside, there really IS a lot of detail buried in these reports; for example from the Section 202 Housing for the Elderly CJ HERE you will find these tidbits:

A. Graph below shows the rapidly growing annual costs of renewing existing PRAC /operating subsidy costs for existing Section 202 elderly projects, with annual renewal costs in FY 2012 projected at more than 5 TIMES the annual costs in FY 2007: 

Click to Enlarge

B. HUD plans shift in focus for 202 in the future

In fiscal year 2012, HUD proposes appropriations language changes to allow funds to be used for the newly authorized senior preservation rental assistance contracts to maintain affordability in older Section 202 developments originally financed with direct loans. Going forward, HUD will also continue to align new Section 202 developments with ongoing efforts by the Department of Health and Human Services and its state partners to better deliver services to frail elderly aging in place in the community. New Section 202 housing would increasingly serve Medicaid-eligible households receiving licensed care in the context of independent living and would increasingly be co-located with community-based health care facilities.In addition, HUD will be doing more with Section 202 program funds by prioritizing leveraging of other mainstream affordable housing funds rather than fully funding the full capital advance award amount and streamlining the operating subsidy structure to increase efficiency and leverage. HUD is also working to better ensure that Section 202 program funds are awarded to higher capacity sponsors who have projects that are lined up and ready to go. Taken together, these reforms will: 1) create and sustain more affordable units at a lower initial cost than in previous years; 2) streamline and modernize the program to reduce administrative processing and increase the likelihood of units successfully being completed under a shorter timeframe; and 3) ensure that new housing serves as a platform for elderly persons to age-in-place in the community

[Editorial comment: If HUD would just publish the damn LONG delayed NOFA for Section 202 that uses FY 2009 funds it might have a little more cred on the "shorter timeframe" goal]. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Barring Appeal, Lake Oswego Senior Housing Project Moving Forward Again.

Story from Lake Oswego Review is HERE.

Section 202 Bill Introduced in Senate.

S.118 introduced by Herb Kohl of Wisconsin.

Thomas doesn't yet have text; but I constructed PDF of bill text from January 6th, Congressional Record HERE.

Oregon FHA HECM/ Reverse Equity Loans Top $572 Million in FY 2008.

I have just prepared the first ever summary of HECM loans in Oregon. It covers[federal] FY 2008, from October 2007 to September 2008.

The report HERE includes loan counts and $$ for the state as a whole, by county, and also by individual lender.

Highlights:

• 2,460 FHA HECM loans were made.
• Total loans $$ (maximum claim amounts) exceeded $572 million.
• 2/3rds of all Oregon FHA HECM loans were made OUTSIDE of the 3 county Portland Metro area (Clackamas, Multnomah, Washington).
  
• While there were 159 different lenders who made FHA HECM loans, the top 10 lenders accounted for more than 51% of the loan activity, and the top 25 accounted for 74% of HECM loans made.

HUD Issues New 202/811 Operating Costs for FY 2008 Projects.

Notice H08-08 (MS Word) is HERE.

Amounts given are to be used "for calculating the annual per person/per unit amount of a Project Rental Assistance Contract (PRAC) when making Fiscal Year 2008 subsidy fund reservations for Capital Advance applications under the subject programs."

On last page of Notice, operating cost standard for Portland is given as $4,378, less than Anchorage, Seattle, and Spokane, but more than Boise.

But notice also says "Historically, some areas significantly exceed the National CPI average. To assure that those areas are not precluded from program participation, each HUD Office noted below is authorized to adjust its annual OCS by up to the additional percentage shown: .... Seattle – 8.9 percent "

Notice also says that PRAC terms for these new projects are being cut from 5 to 3 years.

Comment: Historically HUD used to announce 202/811 awards before the elections, but not clear that this will happen this year.

Lake Oswego Senior Project on Hold After LUBA Decision.

From Oregonian today:

"A planned 45-unit development for low-income seniors in Lake Oswego is on hold after the state Land Use Board of Appeals ruled the city improperly applied its code when granting the nonprofit developer a conditional use permit.

The city erroneously assumed that age alone is a disability in granting the permit, the land use board ruled. Developers intended the project to house low-income seniors 62 or older.The Waluga Neighborhood Association filed the appeal after city councilors in January unanimously upheld a lower body's decision to grant the permit.

Land use board members ruled in favor of the city on four other points. Waluga had argued the development did not meet the approval criteria for a conditional use permit; that the city committed a procedural error; that a flawed parking study was used; and that the city failed to require a traffic study.

Lake Oswego staff members will meet Monday to discuss their options, said Evan Boone, deputy city attorney.Both sides could appeal the decision.

The nonprofit Northwest Housing Alternatives would have developed the four-story building at 4255 Oakridge Road on behalf of nearby Lake Grove Presbyterian Church.Martha McLennan, executive director of Northwest Housing Alternatives, could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon. "

Lake Oswego Review story on same decision HERE.

(I couldn't yet find an opinion or order on the LUBA website HERE).

Older Americans and the Mortgage Crisis.

Interesting new report from AARP Policy Institute HERE.

Report says that:

• More than 684,000 homeowners age 50 and over were delinquent, were in foreclosure, or lost their homes during the six months ending December 2007.
  

• Homeowners aged 50 and above with subprime loans were nearly 17 times more likely to be in foreclosure than those in this age group with prime loans.

WSJ: Payday Lenders Target Senior and Disabled Close to HUD Subsidized Housing.

WSJ story yesterday makes that assertion HERE.

After looking at maps in the story, I'm not totally convinced there is real case that payday lenders set up close to subsidized housing, although if there is a cluster of large projects I could see that being the case. Unfortunately it may be that HUD projects are often located in low income, and sometimes minority neighborhoods that are the real targets of payday lenders.

Irregardless of whether there is direct link to HUD subsidized housing, payday loans to seniors and disabled, who often rely only on their Social Security of SSI check, is a shameful practice.