News

PHILADELPHIA - April 29, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- After two years under federal receivership, U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Assistant Secretary Sandra Henriquez today officially returned the Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) to the City of Philadelphia and welcomed the newly appointed 9-member Board of Commissioners

WASHINGTON, DC - April 25, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced a series of restructuring and systemic changes within its Office of Multifamily Housing Programs and the Office of Field Policy and Management (FPM). The changes, which include consolidating Multifamily hubs nationwide and closing 16 smaller offices, affect approximately 900 of the Departments’ 9,000 employees.

WASHINGTON, DC - April 15, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today a $90,000 Conciliation Agreement with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage and the seller of a home in Worcester, Massachusetts, settling allegations they violated the Fair Housing Act by preventing the sale of a house to be used as a group home for persons with disabilities. The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in rental or sales transactions based on disability, including preventing a home sale because the home is going to be used by persons with disabilities.

WASHINGTON, DC - April 12, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today released details of the Obama Administration’s proposed Fiscal Year 2014 HUD Budget, a plan that seeks to protect the rental housing and homeless assistance for millions of extremely poor Americans while increasing investments in key initiatives to serve some of the nation’s most distressed neighborhoods.

WASHINGTON, DC - April 12, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- In an effort to expand relief to homeowners impacted by Hurricane Sandy, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, who also chairs the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, today announced a series of additional measures to allow families to get back on their feet without having to face the prospect of foreclosure

WASHINGTON, D.C. - April 8, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury today released the March edition of the Obama Administration's Housing Scorecard – a comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market. The latest data shows important progress across many key indicators—as home prices continue to show strong annual gains and purchases of new homes and sales of existing homes sustained their upward trajectory—although officials caution that the overall recovery remains fragile.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - April 3, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) today launched a national media campaign to educate the public and housing providers about their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act. The campaign, titled “Fair Housing Is Your Right. Use It,” includes English, Spanish, and Chinese radio and print public service advertisements (PSAs) that feature examples of actions which violate the Fair Housing Act and let the public know what to do if they experience housing discrimination.

WASHINGTON, DC - April 3, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has taken significant steps towards eliminating radon exposure in renter-occupied homes by issuing two new policies that will incorporate radon testing and mitigation into HUD programs to help prevent some of the estimated 21,000 lung cancer deaths radon causes in the United States every year.

NEW YORK, NY - March 15, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today released several model programs designed to help communities get Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds more expeditiously to residents struggling to rebuild, repair or restore their homes. These program designs can be adapted to a locality's unique needs and readily implemented so each community does not have to develop entire new programs on their own

WASHINGTON, DC - March 15, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Approximately 20 percent of American households live in multi-family rental buildings, yet until today little was known about how these larger rental properties are financed. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau today released the new 2012 Rental Housing Finance Survey, which provides a more complete picture of the nation’s multi-family rental properties, including data on property values, how their mortgages are financed, and characteristics of the structures.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 13, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan today renewed support for 7,000 local homeless housing and service programs across the U.S. Provided through HUD’s Continuum of Care Program, the funding announced today will ensure these local projects remain operating in the coming year. This year, HUD challenged local communities to reexamine their response to homelessness and give greater weight to proven strategies, from providing ‘rapid re-housing’ for homeless families to permanent supportive housing for those experiencing chronic homelessness (see attached chart).

WASHINGTON, DC - March 11, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury today released the February edition of the Obama Administration's Housing Scorecard – a comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market. Data continue to show important progress across many key indicators—as home prices ended the year with strong gains and purchases of new homes and sales of existing homes were also strong—although officials caution that the overall recovery remains fragile. The full Housing Scorecard is available online at www.hud.gov/scorecard.

WASHINGTON, DC - March 5, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan and Melanie Schultz van Haegen, the Kingdom of the Netherlands’ Minister of Infrastructure and the Environment, today signed an agreement pledging closer cooperation between their two countries on issues related to disaster mitigation, sustainable and integrated planning and water management infrastructure.

WASHINGTON, DC - February 28, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today unveiled the first housing discrimination mobile application (app) for iPhone and iPad. Developed by HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) and Hewlett Packard (HP), the app uses the latest technology to provide the public with a quick and easy way to learn about their housing rights and to file housing discrimination complaints, and inform the housing industry about its responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act.

WASHINGTON, DC - February 22, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The nation’s largest mortgage servicers have distributed $45.83 billion in direct relief to over 550,000 homeowners, or roughly $82,000 per homeowner as part of the National Mortgage Settlement, according to a progress report released today by independent settlement monitor Joseph A. Smith of the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight. Almost one year ago, the Department of Justice, Department of Housing Urban Development (HUD) and 49 state attorneys general reached a landmark agreement with the nation's five largest mortgage servicers to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses.

WASHINGTON, DC - February 22, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The number of lower income households struggling to pay their monthly rent and who may also be living in substandard housing continued to grow between 2009 and 2011 according to a new report released today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In 2011, HUD reports nearly 8.5 million lower income families paid more than half their monthly income for rent, lived in severely substandard housing, or both

WASHINGTON, DC - February 13, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, who also chairs President Obama’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, today announced that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will speed the approval of applications of multifamily apartment owners in New York and New Jersey seeking to refinance their mortgages, substantially rehabilitate their properties or construct new developments in areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy.

WASHINGTON, DC - February 12, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- To prevent thousands of people with disabilities from experiencing homelessness or unnecessary institutionalization, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced nearly $98 million in funding for 13 state housing agencies for rental assistance to extremely low-income persons with disabilities, many of whom are transitioning out of institutional settings or are at high risk of homelessness.

WASHINGTON, DC - February 11, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury today released the January edition of the Obama Administration's Housing Scorecard – a comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market. Data continue to show signs that the housing market is strengthening, with the number of underwater borrowers continuing to decline as home prices continue to improve, although officials cautionthat there is regional variation and the overall economic recovery remains fragile. The full Housing Scorecard is available online at www.hud.gov/scorecard.

WASHINGTON, DC - February 11, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that it is issuing a final rule to formalize the national standard for determining whether a housing practice violates the Fair Housing Act as the result of discriminatory effect.