News

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro announced that AT&T is now a national stakeholder in HUD's ConnectHome Initiative, a public-private effort designed to help connect low-income families living in HUD-assisted housing to low-cost internet service.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that it is charging a group of landlords in the Pittsburgh area with discriminating against prospective residents who have disabilities. HUD claims the owners and property managers of Beechwood Gardens in Pittsburgh and Southpointe Towers in West Mifflin denied housing to testers posing as prospective renters by refusing to grant them reasonable accommodations.

In an effort to immediately help young children with elevated blood lead levels living in federally assisted housing, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is proposing to lower the Department’s threshold of lead in the child’s blood to match the one used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). HUD’s proposed new reference level for lead in a young child’s blood would be lowered from 20 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (µg/dL) to five, and continue to be aligned with CDC recommendations in the future. Read HUD’s proposed rule.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today that owners of privately owned apartment buildings under Section 8 contract can now offer Family Self-Sufficiency programs to the more than one million households living in their properties. HUD will now allow owners of multifamily properties to use funding from residual receipt accounts to hire service coordinators for their own Family Self-Sufficiency program.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) today announced new procedures to strengthen the process mortgage servicers use to help struggling families avoid foreclosure and remain in their homes. FHA is streamlining its loss mitigation protocols that servicers must use when evaluating and deploying ‘home retention options,’ foreclosure alternatives that allow delinquent borrowers to retain their home.

Sales of new single-family houses in July 2016 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 654,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau. This is 12.4 percent (±12.7%)* above the revised June rate of 582,000 and is 31.3 percent (±19.9%)* above the July 2015 estimate of 498,000

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today an agreement with Delvista Towers Condominium Association, Inc., of Aventura, Florida, and its property management company, resolving allegations of housing discrimination against residents with disabilities. HUD claimed the condo association and its property managers denied the reasonable accommodation requests of residents with disabilities who needed assistance animals. Read the Conciliation Agreement.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced a second round of funding to help provide permanent homes to an estimated 108 veterans experiencing homelessness in seven states. The rental assistance announced today is provided through the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program which combines rental assistance from HUD with case management and clinical services provided by VA (see attached list of HUD’s voucher awards).

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Census Bureau jointly announced the following new residential construction statistics for July 2016

Statement from MBA President & CEO David H. Stevens on the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau's (CFPB) proposed updates to the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure "Know Before You Owe" rule

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that the Springfield Housing Authority in Springfield, MA, has entered into agreements settling allegations of housing discrimination based on disability. The allegations involved an 82-year-old deaf housing authority resident who allegedly did not receive the same access to communications as individuals without disabilities, as required by the Fair Housing Act, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Read the Conciliation and Voluntary Compliance agreements.

The alarming security, economic, and political trends in Libya are currently a critical issue for the international community. Despite some progress toward establishing a unified government and against the growing presence of the Islamic State, or IS, in Libya, the country faces an extraordinarily difficult rebuilding effort. While Libya’s problems are legion, establishing a single government and creating a more secure environment are the first orders of business.

Sales of new single-family houses in June 2016 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau. This is 3.5 percent (±23.9%)* above the revised May rate of 572,000 and is 25.4 percent (±27.9%)* above the June 2015 estimate of 472,000.

To protect children and families from the hazards of lead-based paint and from other home health and safety hazards, The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded more than $52.6 million in Lead Based Paint Hazard Control grants to 23 local and state government agencies (see chart below).

In order to enable homeowners seeking clean energy technologies in their homes to leverage a range of financing options, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) today announced guidance that makes clear the circumstances under which it will insure mortgages on properties that include Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) assessments. FHA will now approve purchase and refinance mortgage applications in states that treat PACE obligations as special assessments similar to property taxes

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded $75 million to help families living in public housing and those participating in HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher Program connect with services to further their education, find good jobs, and to set them on a path to self-sufficiency. Read more about the local impact of the grants announced today.

Comcast and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) ConnectHomeinitiative took an historic step to close the digital divide in America. Now, public housing and HUD-assisted residents living in Comcast’s service area are eligible to apply forInternet Essentials, the company’s high-speed internet adoption program for low-income families. Including homes covered by Comcast’s pilot public housing expansion announced in March, an estimated total of up to 2 million HUD-assisted homes, including Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher, and Multifamily programs, will now have access to low-cost internet service.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) today announced four model housing developments in California, Illinois, Texas and Washington State are the recipients of the 2016 HUD Secretary's Housing and Community Design Award. Each of these developments are recognized for excellence in affordable or accessible housing design.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced $24 million in grants to assist more than 1,200 low-income persons living with HIV/AIDS and their families annually. These grants provide a combination of housing assistance and supportive services for this vulnerable population

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded more than $5 million to 42 local public housing authorities across the country that are working aggressively to end veteran homelessness. HUD is awarding additional funds to help these housing authorities administer a joint program with HUD and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) which provides permanent homes and needed services to veterans experiencing long-term, chronic homelessness (see local funding below)