Correction: Oregon Emergency Board Staff Recommends 21% Cut From OHCS Hardest Hit FTE Staffing Request for Now, Says "Lotttery" Will be Used to Select Homeowners to Receive Assistance.

Corrrection:
Hearing is scheduled for Room F and NOT E.
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On Wednesday September 22, the Human Services Subcommittee of the Emergency Board will consider an OHCS request for 47 positions (16.21 FTE) for the Hardest Hit program. Scheduled time is 8 AM, in Hearing Room F of the State Capitol.

Hardest Hit Staffing Request Pared Back for Now

Staff for the Emergency Board are recommending a lesser authorization of 35 positions (12.75 FTE), a reduction of 21% from the OHCS FTE request. The staff recommendation notes however that " A package can be added to the agency’s 2011-13 budget for the remaining administrative funding and to continue some of the limited duration positions."

"Lottery" to Decide Who Gets Hardest Assistance?

The staff summary also says "Because HCSD anticipates much higher demand for mortgage assistance than capacity, eligible applications are anticipated to be entered into a lottery".

This is first time I can recall any mention of using a "lottery" to determine which homeowner will get funded. ("Lottery" seems like a loaded term and I hope that OHCS can offer up a more complete explanation at the hearing and in future communications).

Three OHCS Items Before the Board

The staff summary for Emergency Board requests from ALL agencies is HERE; OHCS E Board items begin on PDF page 56. 

To find individual OHCS items navigate to these pages:

• Item 44, Moving all HUD CDBG functions from OHCS to Oregon Business Development Department (Pg 56).
• Item 45, the Hardest Hit staff authorization (Pg 58).
• Item 46, a retroactive approval of a $9.7 million DOE grant application that was funded (page 60). For this last item the staff summary says:

OHCS will work with community action agencies to identify eligible low income single and multi-family residences for installation of solar photovoltaic panels, and to increase energy efficiency in manufactured homes in southern Oregon...OHCS anticipates serving approximately 530 households with solar panels, and enhanced energy efficiency for 106 manufactured homes.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Portland Housing Bureau Awards $1.37 Million in Homeownership Funds to Non Profits.

PR is HERE.  Summary of award amounts and organizations:

• $968,250 was awarded to the Minority Homeownership Assistance Collaborative (MHAC), led by the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA Family Center). MHAC is a strategic partnership of NAYA, the African American Alliance for Homeownership, Hacienda CDC, and the Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives (PCRI). A total of $600,000 of the entire MHAC award will fund downpayment assistance loans for people seeking to buy homes in the Interstate and Lents urban renewal areas (URA), while $62,000 is available for homebuyers seeking to purchase homes elsewhere in the city. Another $206,250 will fund homebuyer education and counseling, and $100,000 of the total award will fund services aimed at helping people avoid foreclosure.
• Proud Ground received $173,550 for down payment and closing cost assistance, as well as education and counseling activities.
• The Portland Housing Center is awarded $123,200 to provide homebuyer education and counseling.
• Habitat for Humanity Portland-Metro East received $92,500 to fund down payment assistance loans in Interstate and Lents, and $10,000 to provide homebuyer education and counseling.
• The Asian Pacific Islander Community Investment Association (APICIA) received $10,000 to provide help for homebuyers seeking assistance with down payment and closing costs.

Full disclosure: I was one of several people who served on an advisory committee for this RFP; decision making remained with the Bureau.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

American Community Survey Data Coming Tuesday Sept 28th; Advance Webinar Next Week.

Census PR HERE also includes information about Thursday Sept 23th webinar on same subject.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Moisture Testing and Building Envelope Standards Part of Oregon House Legislative Hearing.

Not clear if this is just SF or whether it includes MF.

House Consumer Protection and Government Accountability Committee, Thursday-September 23, 1 PM, Hearing Room E.

Agenda includes:

Moisture Testing Requirements for New Residential Structures

-Pat Allen, Department of Consumer & Business Services

-Scott Barrie, Oregon Homebuilders Association

Building Envelope Warranties

-Craig Smith, Construction Contractors Board

-Jon Chandler, Oregon Homebuilders Association

Committee agendas are HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Oregon Legislative Schedules Currently Showing Only One OHCS Apperance Next Week, More Seem Likely.

In looking through current legislative agendas (as of Friday morning) I can see that OHCS is currently scheduled for only one appearance before the Interim Committees meeting next week. That appearance is before the Senate Consumer Protection and Public Affairs and is scheduled for Tuesday Sept 21, at 9 AM in the State Capitol Hearing Room B. 

OHCS and DCBS are scheduled to appear to update the Committee on the Hardest Hit program (I note that Legal Aid and the Oregon Law Center are also scheduled to provide testimony on tenants in foreclosure). 

It seems likely that OHCS may appear also before House or Joint Committees; Oregon legislative agendas can be searched by keyword HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Oregon Housing Council Agenda for Bend on Friday Sept 24th Includes Several Goodies.

The Oregon Housing Council Materials link in the right pane has been updated to include materials for the Friday September 24th meeting to be held in Bend. (It's a large file, so be patient as it will take a couple of minutes to download).

Location for the 9AM meeting is Ameritel Inn, 425 SW Bluff Drive,Bend, OR 97702

$9.5 Million FHA Risk Share Loan for 6 RD Properties

One of the agenda items is for Council approval of up to a $9.5 million FHA risk sharing loan for a portfolio of 6 properties in 5 different Oregon cities (this is the first FHA risk sharing loan in Oregon in many years): 

Beaver State Apartments is a proposed acquisition of a portfolio of six properties consisting of 239 units located in five Oregon cities (Wilsonville, Mt. Angel, Willamina, Lincoln City and Ashland). The projects were constructed from 1976 through 1986 using USDA Rural Development financing. Currently only 147 of the 239 units received rental assistance. Willamina has 100% project-based rental assistance through a HUD Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) Contract. As part of the Rural Development Multifamily Preservation Revitalization (MPR) Program the projects will receive an additional 92 units of rental assistance, providing 100% rental assistance for all projects.

Legislative Updates, NSP and Hardest Hit Updates Too.
Agenda also includes a legislative update and updates on the Hardest Hit fund and the Neighborhood Stabilization Fund as well as a legislative update. (Because I expect keen interest in status of set aside and RFP for funding of acquisition program in Deschutes and Jackson counties, I am going to try to attend this meeting).

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

NYC PHA Gets $20 Million from Goldman Sachs for New $100 MILLION School in Harlem Public Housing Project.

From NY Times blog story HERE:

The 134,600-square-foot building aims to be a model for education in housing projects nationwide. There will be classrooms for 1,200 kindergarten through 12th grade students, as well as a gymnasium, fitness center, music room, outdoor rooftop spaces and space set aside for health and social services for the neighborhood. Children from the St. Nicholas Houses, which will surround the building, will be given priority in the charter school’s lottery.
The $100 million building is a public-private partnership. The city is contributing $60 million from a capital fund for charter school construction, and the Harlem Children’s Zone is raising $40 million. The city will own the building, and the Harlem Children’s Zone will be responsible for its operation and upkeep according to the terms of a 99-year-lease, a spokesman for the organization said.

PR from Harlem Children's Zone with more details about the K-12 school is HERE.

$20 million apparently comes from a Goldman Sachs Gives fund that was established with a $500 million allocation made last year by Goldman partners for charitable purposes.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Mortgage Bankers Recommendations for Future of FHA and Ginnie Mae.

Full report is HERE. 

FHA recommendations were:

1. Give FHA and Ginnie Mae the needed appropriations to hire new staff.
2. Provide FHA with the needed appropriation to develop and implement modern information technology (IT) systems and processes, including anti-fraud tools. FHA should also refine the FHA TOTAL Scorecard.
3. Define and update FHA’s mission, including a re-examination of the current FHA loan limits.
4. Strengthen the FHA reverse mortgage product (Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM)).
5. Provide FHA with the expanded authority to increase premiums.
6. Give the FHA Commissioner the authority, with the concurrence of the HUD Secretary, General Counsel and Ginnie Mae president, to temporarily suspend problem lenders.
7.Balance FHA’s proposed multifamily risk management protocol against the backdrop of rising affordable housing needs, declining incomes and the on-going credit crisis.
8.Examine the existing Homeownership Center and Hub structure.

 Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Metro Local Infrastructure "Residential Incentives"/Subsidies: $3.8 Billion Projected, but ZERO Require Income Targeting; City of Portland to Produce 71% of Units, Supply 84% of $$.

Metro is accepting comments on their Community Investment Strategy/ Infrastructure report through October 1, 2010. (My prior post HERE).

I hope to get a complete set of my comments posted by the early part of next week in time for others to review and make their own comments. [I will provide more details on where to comment in a future post, I would NOT use the on line questionnaire].

In the interim, this post contains one of the most important conclusions I reached after reading through most of this long report and its appendices.

Problem 1: Metro Says 97,290 Units will Receive Residential Infrastructure "Incentives"/Subsidies, But Does Not Show 
A. Total Costs. 
B. That Any Subsidies Will be Required to be Targeted to Low Income Renter Households with the Highest Cost Burden Rates. 
C. The Heavy Concentration of Units and Subsidies Within the City of Portland.

After reading through the report and appendices it is apparent to me that Metro clearly understands that:

1. Rising housing costs, NOT rising transportation costs are the reason that H+T cost burdens are projected to increase significantly.
2. The rate of cost burdens are the highest among low income renter households. 

With this knowledge the policy responses from Metro to deal with growing cost burdens can only be viewed as disappointing and ineffective.

The principle tool that Metro apparently sees to address the affordability problem is the use by local government of residential "incentives" /subsidies. These are primarily urban renewal funds and incentives in "centers".

Appendix 1 includes a  residential "incentives"/subsidy table by sub area HERE. I added the numbers in that table and conclude that Metro projects that a total of 97,920 units will receive these subsidies by 2030, but there are three problems:

1. NONE of the subsidies are REQUIRED to be targeted to low income renters who have the highest cost burdens and there is no apparent ongoing local reporting requirement for these incentives. 
2. There is no calculation that shows the projected COST of these subsidies. 
3. No where does Metro shows residential incentive totals by city, which would have revealed that the region is HEAVILY dependent on the City of Portland to deliver housing units and subsidies in centers and urban renewal districts for the entire region. 

To help address the second and third problems above I have created a table HERE that shows my projections (using Metro data) that:

1. Costs for these residential infrastructure "incentives"/ subsidies will total $3.8 billion through 2030. 
2. Residential "incentives"/subsidies in the City of Portland are projected to account for 71% of the units and supply 84% of the regions cost of these residential incentives. 

REQUIRED METRO ACTIONS:
With projecting rising rates of cost burdens (Metro's updated table is HERE) and a projected $3.8 billion local expenditure for residential "incentives" /subsidies through 2030:

1. SOME of those "incentives"/ subsidies must be targeted for exclusive use by low income renter households.
2. Future reporting on the actual deployment/use of these subsidies must include reporting by subarea and City on the income levels of the housing built with these subsidies.  
3. Metro's  Appendix 1 table must breakout residential infrastructure "incentives" by units and costs for each city and explicitly acknowledge that Metro's stated  "housing choice/ share the burdens and benefits of growth" policy is HEAVILY dependent on residential infrastructure incentives within the City of Portland, which is projected to produce 71% of the total regionwide units in center and urban renewal areas and supply 84% of the dollars through 2030.
4. Metro must help create/support an effective REGION WIDE strategy to leverage additional FEDERAL dollars for housing, as federal dollars have been and continue to be the primary source of funding for affordable housing, especially outside the City of Portland. This unified housing approach should be similar to the existing region wide approach that provides unified support for annual and long range federal transportation funding.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

New National Info on Fannie/Freddie Loan Peformance.

PR from FHFA is HERE. Example:

Performance. Roughly 5 percent of Enterprise-acquired, fixed-rate mortgages and 10 percent of Enterprise-acquired ARMs were over 90 days delinquent at some point before the end of 2009. Roughly 20 percent of fixed-rate mortgages and 30 percent of ARMs financed with private-label MBS were over 90-days delinquent at some point before year-end 2009.

Lots of data tables in Excel HERE. However, it does not appear there is any geo specific data.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog