News

WASHINGTON, DC - February 6, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Department of Housing and Urban Development today allocated $5.4 billion in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery funding to five states and New York City, representing the first round of CDBG grants from the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 signed into law by President Obama on January 29. This is the fastest HUD has ever allocated CDBG funding to grantees following the passage of a funding bill

WASHINGTON - February 4, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Several federal agencies today unveiled Advancing Healthy Housing – A Strategy for Action. White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Chair Nancy Sutley, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Shaun Donovan, Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, M.D., and Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman discussed the new plan during an event at the National Building Museum this morning.

WASHINGTON, DC - February 1, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, who serves as President Obama’s Chairman of the Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, and Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco today announced that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac will extend expiring protections against foreclosure actions against homeowners whose properties were damaged or destroyed due to Hurricane Sandy.

WASHINGTON, DC - January 23, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that Bloomington, Minnesota-based U.S. Bank National Association will pay $12,000 to a loan applicant with disabilities under a Conciliation Agreement settling allegations that the bank required him to provide unnecessary documentation to establish he would continue receiving disability income for three years before they would approve his mortgage loan

WASHINGTON, DC - January 16, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that Virginia Realty Company of Tidewater, Inc., a property management company based in Virginia Beach, VA, will pay $82,500 to settle allegations that it refused to allow a Hispanic woman to apply for an apartment because she did not speak fluent English. Virginia Realty had a policy of not renting to persons with limited English proficiency.

WASHINGTON, DC - January 11, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Cyndi Lauper are joining the effort to "Make Everyone Count," a national campaign to support local one-night counts of homeless persons and families. Cyndi Lauper and the True Colors Fund's Forty to None Project produced a national public service announcement to encourage viewers to contribute their time to gather needed data on the scale of homelessness throughout the U.S.

WASHINGTON, DC - January 10, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- To stem the loss of critically needed public and other forms of subsidized housing as a result of the severe backlog of capital needs, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today officially launched its Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), the Obama Administration’s groundbreaking strategy to preserve tens of thousands of public and HUD-assisted housing units.

WASHINGTON, DC - January 04, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Nearly 20 percent of recent movers identified “convenience to job” as the most important factor in their choice of neighborhood in 2011, according to the 2011 American Housing Survey (AHS), the definitive source of information on the quality of housing in the United States. For the first time ever, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have made survey results available on the Census Bureau’s

WASHINGTON, DC - January 02, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced an agreement with Bank of America (BOA) to settle a claim that the mortgage lender refused to provide financing to a lesbian couple. The agreement is the first enforcement action taken against a lender involving HUD’s recent rule ensuring that the Department’s core housing programs be open to all eligible persons, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status.

PHILADELPHIA - December 21, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- In the days following the catastrophic impact of Hurricane Sandy, HUD responded swiftly to support the federal government's response to the widespread devastation in New York and New Jersey.

WASHINGTON, DC - December 20, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today awarded $26 million in grants to the owners of multi-family housing developments in nine states to convert some or all of their apartments into assisted living or service-enriched environments for elderly residents (see attached list for grant recipients).

WASHINGTON? ?? - December 18, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced today that public housing agencies in Columbus, Ga.; Fairfax, Va.; Holyoke, Mass.; and Reno, Nev. have been selected to participate in HUD’s Moving to Work (MTW) program. HUD selected these housing agencies for this innovative program that Congress authorized in 1996 through a competitive process. The MTW program is designed to provide local housing authorities with added flexibility to create and test innovative strategies to use Federal funding more efficiently to assist families either living in public housing or who are assisted through HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. Congress authorized four additional designations in 2011 and 2010.

WASHINGTON, DC - December 18, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to the District of Columbia in addition to resources being provided by FEMA and other federal partners. HUD will provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes due to Hurricane Sandy.

WASHINGTON, DC - December 13, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan announced today that four communities will receive a combined $108.9 million to redevelop distressed housing and bring comprehensive neighborhood revitalization to blighted areas.

PORTLAND - December 11, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- On a single night in January, 2012, 633,782 people were homeless in the United States, largely unchanged from the year before. In releasing HUD's latest national estimate of homelessness, U.S. Housing ...

WASHINGTON, DC - December 11, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- On a single night last January, 633,782 people were homeless in the United States, largely unchanged from the year before. In releasing HUD’s latest national estimate of homelessness, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan cited as hopeful that even during a historic housing and economic downturn, local communities are reporting significant declines in the number of homeless veterans and those experiencing long-term chronic homelessness.

WASHINGTON, DC - December 10, 2012 - (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 – a comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market. Data continue to show signs that the housing market is strengthening – as home values continue to rise and home sales remained strong in October. The full Housing Scorecard is available online at www.hud.gov/scorecard.

WASHINGTON, DC - December 7, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today unveiled a new and improved online data tool to help HUD, state and local planning agencies, and others more clearly identify federally recognized Indian tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, and Alaska Natives so they can consult with them on development projects in places that have tribal historic, environmental and cultural significance.

FORT WORTH - December 5, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that it has reached an agreement with the Houston Housing Authority. The agreement settles allegations that the housing authority initially refused a Deaf resident’s requests to have a sign language interpreter present at a hearing to determine her eligibility to remain in HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program.

OLYMPIA - December 4, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced that HUD has okayed a $1,765, 000 loan guarantee to the City of Olympia that will enable it to establish a Economic & Community De...