Feature

RSS

A recent follow-up to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition's study of national housing patterns indicates that in the four-year period from 2001 through 2004, more than 1.2 million housing units ceased to be affordable.

In some cities, such as New York, affordable housing is declining at an even faster rate. According to the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, the number of New York City units that a family making $33,000 a year could afford fell by 205,000 between 2002 and 2005—an average annual loss of more than 50,000 units.

In 2007, HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO), the division devoted to anti-discrimination and Fair Housing concerns, investigated approximately 10,300 cases involving claims of discrimination, according to Kim Kendrick, assistant secretary for FHEO. Based on a pattern of investigation by HUD, going back several years, HUD is increasing its efforts to end discrimination in housing.

One obstacle to building or acquiring sites for affordable multifamily housing is the notion of “not in my back yard” (NIMBYism). Although it is a difficult problem, developers and prospective site owners can get local support for buildings they want to construct. With the help of Gehbre Selassie Mehreteab, chief executive officer of NHP Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization, we will show you how you can limit local opposition to controversial housing projects.

This month, the manager of an affordable housing site in Texas reported how—as many managers have done—she had brought Internet access into the management office to help run the site and communicate with HUD, prospects, applicants, and residents. She expected site employees to spend a lot of time using the Internet and sending site-related email. What she did not expect was that Internet access would also lead employees to spend a good deal of time using the Internet for personal purposes.

In August, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that federal law trumps, or preempts, the “innocent tenant defense” that residents facing eviction often raise, which typically is based on local law.

Many tax credit managers use computer software programs to help them manage their tax credit sites. A good software program should save time and money by making it easier to keep your site in compliance with tax credit rules and perform many other management functions.

New York's Westchester County is beginning an experiment to keep affordable housing affordable. A land trust designed to preserve affordable housing, including tax credit sites, in perpetuity, is being devised in Westchester, says Rosemary Noonan, Executive Director of the Housing Action Council, an affordable housing advocacy group. The trust is to be called the Westchester County Land Trust, she adds.