Cincinnati is the heart of Ohio's largest metro area, and the "Queen City" has continued to prosper despite the challenges facing many Midwestern cities like it. Local CDC's have led the resurgence of its historic downtown and neighborhood fabric. Thanks to their leadership, Cincinnati is the city that can't stop and won't stop!

Join us at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza on October 10-11, 2013 for Ohio CDC Association's 29th Annual Conference! For more information about the conference, click here! The Early Bird Registration and Hotel Discount deadline is September 18th, so register today!

This year's keynote speaker will be Christopher P. Leinberger, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, President of LOCUS, a coalition of real estate developers pursuing smart growth policies, and author of The Option of Urbanism: Investing in a New American Dream. Other featured speakers include green development pioneer Kaid Benfield, community organizing guru Jim Capraro, and cutting-edge urbanist Kyle Ezell, and other workshop sessions will look at creative financing, local food, and form-based codes, among other topics.

The Ohio Development Services Agency's (ODSA) Office of Community Development is seeking nominations for the 2013 Director's Awards for Excellence in Housing. Grant administrators and chief executive officers that manage Community Housing Improvement Program and Neighborhood Stabilization Program grants in communities that received funds from the Office of Community Development may submit nominations of successfully completed projects.

Eligible nominations must describe the significant impact on the overall community and how the project benefited its citizens, in particular, low- and moderate-income individuals and families. Nominations can be submitted on the Office of Community Development's Grantee Success Stories web page. September 15, 2013 is the deadline for submitting nominations. Selected nominees will be honored at a ceremony during the 2013 Housing Conference luncheon at Sawmill Creek Resort in Huron on Wednesday, November 20, 2013.

With a few weeks remaining in FY13, USDA still has approximately $14 million available for Section 504 loans - more than half of the program's appropriation. Loan funds not obligated by September 30 will be lost. This program provides loans and grants to very-low-income homeowners to repair, improve or modernize their homes. All states will have access to the loan funds after Rural Development pools and redistributes the amounts not used in some states. For more information please contact your local Rural Development Office.

The HUD Choice Neighborhoods Implementation grant program has a closing date of September 10th, 2013.

Changes to the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) regulations were published in the Federal Register. One aspect of the rule mandates that any home ownership unit that is not sold within nine-months of the end of construction must convert to rental. Additionally of note are professional staff development experience requirements for CHDOs and the allowance of consultants and volunteers to demonstrate experience in the first year of a CHDO's existence. For a summary of key changes click here.

This month President Obama endorsed winding down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, stating "I believe that while our housing system must have a limited government role, private lending should be the backbone of the housing market, including community-based lenders who view their borrowers not as a number, but as a neighbor." President Obama called for preserving access "to safe and simple mortgage products like the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage." Obama also called for strengthening the mortgage market for first-time buyers, promoting the recovery by rebuilding the nation's hardest hit areas, and supporting new affordable rental opportunities. Analyses are available of the president's remarks by NCRC and NLIHC.

Economists from Harvard University and the University of California Berkeley's new study The Equality of Opportunity Project uncovers disparities among peoples' relative abilities to rise to a higher income bracket across the United States. This study is the first nationwide survey of upward economic mobility in the U.S. that contains enough data to enable comparisons between metropolitan areas. Nationwide, the areas with the least upward mobility are clustered in the Southeast and the industrial Midwest, while in general the Northeast, Great Plains, and West experience greater mobility. Increased income mobility is most likely to exist in areas where poor residents are well integrated into neighborhoods rather than being isolated in areas of concentrated poverty and where income inequality is minimal. The Equality of Opportunity Project contains additional project data available for download, a short summary of the project's findings, and a map depicting intergenerational income mobility by county on a national level.  Access "In Climbing Income Ladders, Location Matters," a discussion of the study results and interactive map from The New York Times, here.