WASHINGTON, DC – December 23, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — In an effort to help families find decent housing and to prevent future foreclosures, the Obama Administration today announced nearly $73 million in housing counseling grants to more than 500 national, regional and local organizations. As a result of the funding announced today, hundreds of thousands of households will have a greater opportunity to find housing or keep the homes they have because of the housing counseling and counseling training grants awarded today by U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan.

WASHINGTON, DC – December 22, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury today released the December edition of the Obama Administration’s Housing Scorecard. The latest housing figures show continued home affordability in the housing market, with interest rates near record lows, but the market remains fragile, as prices are unsettled. Foreclosure starts and completions dropped significantly in November, as lenders review internal servicing procedures. The housing scorecard is a comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market.

WASHINGTON, DC – December 22, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council (EHOC), and First National Bank of St. Louis today announced an agreement that will increase the bank’s commitment to minority and low-income communities.? As part of the agreement, the bank will invest more than $2.5 million over four years in St. Louis City, North St. Louis County, and St. Clair County, Illinois.

WASHINGTON, DC – December 14, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — The Federal Housing Administration’s Mortgagee Review Board (MRB) today announced that it is permanently withdrawing FHA approval of Cambridge Home Capital, LLC (CHC), a Great Neck, New York-based lender. In addition, the MRB will seek a monetary penalty of $182,000.

WASHINGTON, DC – December 9, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that it is launching multiple investigations into the practices of certain mortgage lenders to determine if their home loan policies illegally deny qualified African American and Latino borrowers access to credit.

WASHINGTON, DC – December 7, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — The San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA) will reinstate a Native American family’s rental assistance under a voluntary agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that settles allegations that?SFHA employees said they did not work with Indian tribes and refused to accept the family’s tribal documents.

WASHINGTON, DC – December 3, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — All across the country, there are environmentally challenged areas called ‘brownfields,’ contaminated properties that often require substantial cleanup before they can be reused for another purposes. In the latest issue of Cityscape, an independent journal published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, several scholars are calling for new policies and approaches that could significantly accelerate stalled brownfield redevelopment.

CINCINNATI, OH – December 3, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced two settlements against landlords for failing to inform tenants that their homes may contain potentially dangerous lead. The agreements require the landlords to replace windows and cleanup lead-based paint hazards in 31 residential properties containing a total of 294 units (see attached list). In addition to the $480,000 worth of lead abatement work being performed, the landlords also agree to pay civil penalties totalling $12,500.

WASHINGTON, DC – December 2, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan announced today that homelessness for 750,000 Americans was prevented or ended, thanks to HUD’s Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP), funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The program provided $1.5 billion to local communities to keep families in their homes or help them find other affordable housing after a sudden financial crisis, which might have otherwise led to homelessness.

WASHINGTON, DC – December 2, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced that $25 million in grants is available to help rural and tribal communities struggling to address distressed housing conditions and concentrated poverty. In a speech to the Housing Assistance Council in Washington, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said HUD’s new

WASHINGTON, DC – November 22, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today unveiled a new website that consolidates a wide variety of economic and housing market data at the regional, state, metropolitan area and county levels. Using data from the Census Bureau, Labor Department, State and Local governments, housing industry sources, as well as HUD’s own field economists, the new website employs interactive maps that allow visitors to access a variety of reports – from a region-wide look at employment and housing activity to individual county-level figures on population trends, rental activity and vacancy rates.

WASHINGTON, DC – November 22, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — At a Middle Class Task Force event today, co-hosted by the Department of Justice’s Access to Justice Initiative, Vice President Biden announced a series of steps designed to help middle class and low-income families secure their legal rights. These actions include strengthening foreclosure mediation programs, helping veterans secure the legal help they need, and making it easier for workers to find a qualified attorney when they believe their rights have been violated.

WASHINGTON, DC – November 19, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury today released the November edition of the Obama Administration’s Housing Scorecard (www.hud.gov/scorecard). The latest housing figures show continued signs of stabilization in house prices and high home affordability due in part to record low mortgage interest rates. The housing scorecard is a comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market

WASHINGTON – Federal employees who fail to report their income to qualify for housing assistance they would not otherwise be eligible for stand to lose their jobs, pay steep fines and face possible criminal penalties.

WASHINGTON – December 4, 2007 – Thousands of residents displaced by the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes are continuing to have their rent paid through a new government initiative, the Disaster Housing Assistance Program, which is being administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on behalf of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)