Neighborhood Homes Investment Act reintroduced in the House

Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) reintroduced the bipartisan Neighborhood Homes Investment Act (Neighborhood Homes) which creates a new tax incentive that would produce 500,000 starter homes in under-resourced communities over the next decade. Neighborhood Homes provides a tax credit that covers the "appraisal gap," or the delta between what it costs to build or rehabilitate a home and the market value of the home upon completion. Every state has communities where homes are in too poor a condition and where property values are too low to support new construction or substantial renovation. Designed after the successful Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, the new tax credit makes projects in these communities feasible, thereby reducing neighborhood "blight" and increasing the inventory of affordable starter homes for sale.

“Struggling urban, rural, and suburban communities face a dilemma,” said Buzz Roberts, President and CEO of the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders. “They need new and renovated homes to revitalize, but home values are too low to support development costs. Neighborhood Homes offers a straight-forward way to break the vicious cycle of neighborhood decline.”

Original cosponsors of the House version of the bill are Reps. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa) and Dwight Evans (D-Pa.) Identical legislation was introduced by Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) in March.

Bipartisan legislation introduced to increase homeownership opportunities 

Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) introduced the Affordable Housing Bond Enhancement Act. If passed, the bill would strengthen the Mortgage Revenue Bond (MRB) and Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC) programs, making homeownership more accessible through efficiency improvements. The legislation specifically would increase the MRB home improvement loan limit, allow MRBs to be used for refinancing, simplify the calculation of a borrower’s MCC benefit, and eliminate lenders’ MCC reporting requirements, among other reforms.

“Mortgage Revenue Bonds and Mortgage Credit Certificates historically have been the state housing finance agencies’ primary tool for financing affordable homeownership opportunities for working families, having helped nearly four million home buyers combined,” said Stockton Williams, Executive Director of the National Council of State Housing Agencies. “This legislation will enact a series of simple, commonsense reforms to the MRB and MCC programs that will allow HFAs to better stretch their resources and help more underserved households.”

Shaun Donovan named new Enterprise Community Partners CEO and President

Enterprise Community Partners announced Shaun Donovan, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), will be its next CEO and President, effective Sept. 1. Donovan’s career in housing has spanned 30 years, including serving as Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

“Coming to Enterprise is, in a way, coming home for me,” said Donovan. “Housing touches everything in a person’s life. A good education, a good job, a healthy, prosperous life – all of it revolves around having a safe, stable place to live. Unlike any other time in my life, housing affordability is on the national radar. It’s a moment I’ve been preparing for throughout my whole career. I am honored to work with my new colleagues, our partners, developers, and investors to achieve our shared vision of a country where home and community are steppingstones to so much more.”

Five agencies seek comments on joint appraisal reconsideration guidance

Five federal agencies announced a joint request for information on their proposed reconsiderations of value (ROV) guidance for residential real estate transactions. ROVs are requests from a financial institution to an appraiser or other preparer of a valuation report to reassess the property’s valuation based on deficiencies or other information that may affect the estimated value. They can be initiated by a consumer complaint or a request by the loan officer or lender representative.

The announcement came from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. It comes a week after the Biden Administration announced new actions from its Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) to address racial bias in evaluations, including promoting industry-wide consistency for ROV processes to increase consumer knowledge and empowerment when valuation is lower than expected.

“The PAVE Task Force agencies’ action is an important step in empowering consumers and promoting fair appraisals,” said Nikitra Bailey, Executive Vice President of the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), after the PAVE announcement. “Recently, NFHA and other leading civil rights and consumer advocates provided feedback to FHA to further protect consumers during the Reconsideration of Value process and urged FHA to work with the other PAVE Task Force agencies to issue consistent, industry-wide guidance. We applaud the federal financial regulators and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) for joining FHA in the ROV initiative. We also urge the U.S. Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Veterans Affairs (VA) to soon follow suit.”

Comments on the guidance are due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.

Freddie Mac introduces mortgage product for Tribal communities 

Freddie Mac announced a new mortgage product, HeritageOne, to foster more homeownership opportunities on Tribal lands. The product offers financing options for single-family properties on rural Tribal lands and will provide financial counseling and other resources for Tribal members. To qualify, at least one borrower occupying the property as a primary residence must be enrolled in a federally recognized Tribe. As part of their 2022-2024 Duty to Serve plans, Freddie Mac identified providing more housing support for Indian Country.

“The limited access to affordable mortgage financing options has affected our communities for far too long and it has impacted the ability of our members to build generational wealth through homeownership,” explained Tawney Brunsch, Executive Director of Lakota Funds, a Native community development financial institution. “HeritageOne can help break down these walls, providing greater access to responsible homeownership and broader economic opportunities through financial counseling for our historically underserved communities. We look forward to making HeritageOne widespread in tribal lands.”

Sonu Mittal, Senior Vice President of Acquisitions at Freddie Mac, noted HeritageOne helps break new ground in expanding opportunities to traditionally underserved communities. “Our commitment to make home possible for Native American families not only requires long-term planning and prudent execution, but strong partnerships with industry members and tribal leaders. Through this collaboration, we can help create more affordable mortgage options in tribal lands and rural areas,” he said. 

HUD announces $45 million in funding to fight homelessness



The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced $45 million in funding to 135 public housing authorities and Continuum of Care communities across the United States. The money will provide 3,379 Stability Vouchers for households experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. The announcement follows the launch of the 2022 House America campaign, a national initiative placing over 100,000 households into permanent housing and adding over 40,000 units of affordable housing into development.

“These vouchers will enable communities to partner with health and housing agencies to coordinate efforts to reduce homelessness and help thousands of people move off the streets into permanent housing,” said HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge. 

HUD makes $22.5 million available for Jobs Plus 



The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it’s making $22.5 million available for Public Housing Authorities to assist families through the Jobs Plus program. The money will support work readiness and help connect public housing residents to services to improve their economic mobility. The Jobs Plus program provides employment, education, and financial empowerment services with rent incentives, building assets for renters. “Programs like Jobs Plus help individuals and families to reach their goals, this funding notice allows public housing authorities to become a resource to their residents so that they can thrive,” said HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge.