Update: Section 8 Contract Administration Bid Protests; 84% of Units Under Protest.

GAO has updated their HUD open docket bid protest website this morning, showing a total of 48 open bid protests for the HUD Section 8 contract administration solicitation, in 30 different states. 

My NON duplicated count indicates that for ALL projects/units in ALL states, 78% [12,224] of 15,601 estimated projects and 84% [888,968] of 1,063,671 estimated units are under protest.

State HFA's Account For 12 of the 30 States Under Protest

19 of the 48 pending bid protests have been filed by state HFA's; after eliminating amended protests these account for 12 of the 30 states under protest. In addition, of the total of 28 bid awards TO state HFA's, my count is that 20 are under protest.

I have assembled a comprehensive 4 page HUD Bid Protest table HERE that lists for those 30 states only (in alpha order):

1. The current successful bidder and their state location,
2. The contractor(s) who are protesting the award and their state location(s).
3. A count of units and projects for each state. [Note that counts are repeated if there are more than one protest in a state].
4. The GAO file number for each protest.(Multiple protests in a state are indicated by a number greater than 1 to the right of the decimal of the file number, and I have sorted list in numerical order within state).
5. A field indicating the last to first chronological order of the GAO bid protest.
6. A field indicating whether the successful bidder is a state HFA. 
7. A field indicating whether the protesting bidder is a state HFA. 
8. A header that shows the non duplicated count of project and units under protest. 

This was a complex effort to put together; if you discover any errors in the post or the table please DO let me know.


Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

New Study: Income Patterns Do Not Explain Metro Segregation Patterns; Limited Portland Data.

WaPo story is HERE. 

Report is HERE. Note that study focuses on segregation at Metro level and only includes metro areas with largest minority population. This means data for Portland metro for Blacks is missing, Hispanic data is included. 

The exposure of affluent Hispanics to poverty compared to all non Hispanic whites is shown as 1.02 for both Portland and Seattle. This would be the 10th BEST ranking of the 50 metro areas, but still means that, as a group, affluent Hispanics were more likely to be exposed to poverty than were ALL non Hispanic whites. [Affluent appears to have been defined as $75,000+ in household income].

Portland ranks even better when comparing all Hispanic to all non Hispanic white exposure to poverty. For this metric the ratio for the Portland metro area is 1.17 to 1, the 5th AMONG among the 50 metro areas (Seattle is ranked 10th at 1.23 to 1 ). Even with the high ranking this still means that Hispanics had a higher likelihood of being exposed to poverty than did non Hispanic whites. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

HUD Seeking Comments on Rental Alignment Draft Documents for Administrative (Not Legislative) Action.

From web page HERE, deadline for email comments on several different alignment draft reports is NLT August 26, 2011.

These reports detail rental policy alignment activities proposed to be pursued through administrative action [emphasis added]. These policy proposals are preliminary drafts have not yet been recommended for implementation.

The Rental Policy Working Group is seeking stakeholder comment on the alignment reports – please send comments to harmonization@hud.gov by August 26, 2011.

    Physical Inspections
    Income Reporting and Definitions
    Subsidy Layering Review
    Reduction in State-to-State Variability for Income Definition
    Financial Reporting
    Common Energy Efficiency Requirements
    Appraisal Primer
    Market Study Standards
    Capital Needs Assessment
    Improve Sharing of Data on Owner Defaults
    Compliance (Fair Housing MOUs)

If anyone knows on any Oregon based effort to submit joint comments on any of these drafts please email me or add a comment to this post.  [I am aware that Oregon is participating in the Physical Inspections pilot].

These efforts are part of broader HUD effort, Activities to Better Align Affordable Rental Housing Policy and Compliance at the State and Local Level. Web page for that effort is HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog. 

Oregon FHA Condos, 1st Half CY 2011: Klamath County Had 43% of Home Purchase Condo Loans Outside Portland Metro Area.

I have done some analysis of FHA condo loans that are included in the purchase and refi loan totals for Oregon for the first half of CY 2011. That data is in the two page table HERE.

My impression has been that FHA was one of the few lending sources for condos but the low count of FHA condo loans in the first half makes me wonder if other lending sources are being used or if there is continuing difficulty in obtaining condo financing. [Full disclosure-I have only lived in condos during my home ownership years].

Some observations about first half FHA condo loans in Oregon:

1. There were only 151 home purchase condo loans insured.
2. Only 10 FHA condo loans were made outside of the 3 county Portland metro area. Those 10 loans included 7 purchase loans and 3 refinance loans; of the 7 purchase loans outside the Portland metro area 3 (43%) were in Klamath county/Klamath Falls.
3. There were 202 condo loans of all types made in the 5 Portland metro counties out of a universe of 3,720 home purchase and refinance loans in those same 5 counties.
4. FHA condo loans of all types represented only 3.1% of the statewide total of FHA purchase and refi loans (excluding HECM's), that share increased slightly to 5.4% of the FHA purchase and refi loans in the 5 county Portland metro area.
5. For FHA home purchase loans, condos represented 3.5% of statewide all home purchase loans, and 6.1% in the 5 county Portland metro area. 
6. Washington county had the largest county count of condo loans, with 101.
7. Portland had the largest city count of FHA insured condos with 113 (34 of these were in Washington county, 4 were in Clackamas county, and 75 were in Multnomah county).

 Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog. 

CY 2011 Through June: County Breakout of $1.5 Billion in Oregon FHA Loans, With Full Year CY 2010 Statewide Comparison.

I have prepared two tables in a 3 page PDF HERE. File  includes:

• A county breakout of FHA SF loans in Oregon for CY 2011 through June by loan type. (Home Purchase, Refi, and HECM).
• By loan type, a statewide comparison of first half CY 2011 loan volume with full year CY 2010 loan volume. (This is third page of the PDF).

Some observations about the first six months of CY 2011 Oregon FHA loan activity:

1. FHA has insured 7,530 loans, representing the commitment of more than $1.5 billion in private funds.
2. Of that total, 4,272 loans were used to purchase a home, with loan commitments that exceeded $803 million. (That's 53% of total dollars, and 57% of the total number of loans). The remainder of loans were refinance loans, including reverse mortgage loans (HECM's).
3. Oregon FHA SF loan volumes are 38% of record full CY 2010 totals.
4. Compared to full year CY 2010, the amount of the average FHA insured home purchase loan is down 5.2% statewide and 6.2%  in the 5 county Portland metro area of Oregon.
5. The average HECM loan was $81,000+ more than the average home purchase loan; 67% of HECM loans were made outside the Portland metro area, compared to only 46% of regular refinance loans. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.