In the News

RSS

CoreLogic, a financial services company providing financial and property information analytics, recently released its 2018 Natural Hazard report. The report examines the impact of last year’s natural disasters on residential and commercial real estate. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there were 11 weather and climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion in the U.S. alone.

Since the government has been reopened temporarily, developers and property owners have been anticipating IRS guidance on the new Qualified Opportunity Zone (QOZ) provisions included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The QOZ incentive provision allows taxpayers who recognize a gain from the sale of an asset (including non-real estate assets such as stocks or securities) to defer the tax on the gain by reinvesting the proceeds from the sale within 180 days into a QOF formed and operated for the purpose of investing in QOZs, which have been designated in all 50 states.

The Boston University Initiative on Cities recently announced the results of its 2018 Menino Survey of Mayors, a nationally representative survey of mayoral thoughts and challenges on today’s top issues. According to the survey, which is based on interviews with a representative sample of 110 mayors from 37 states, municipal leaders believe that insufficient living-wage jobs (32 percent) and high housing costs (27 percent) are the top two obstacles to achieving social mobility for residents.

The IRS Chief Counsel is appointed by the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate, and serves as the chief legal advisor to the IRS Commissioner on all matters pertaining to the interpretation, administration, and enforcement of the Internal Revenue Code, as well as all other legal matters. Under the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, the Chief Counsel reports to both the IRS Commissioner and the Treasury General Counsel.

President Donald Trump recently announced that he would nominate Mark Calabria, chief economist to Vice President Mike Pence, to be the new director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) for a term of five years. Prior to his current position in the administration, Mr. Calabria was director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute. Before that, as a senior aide on the Senate Banking Committee, he was one of the lead drafters of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) which created the Housing Trust Fund (HTF) and the FHFA. In addition, Mr.

A recent report from Zillow Research titled, “Homelessness Rises More Quickly Where Rent Exceeds a Third of Income,” looked at the relationship between rent affordability and homelessness. The report found that communities where the median rent is more than 32 percent of the median household income are likely to have sharply higher rates of homelessness.

The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University released a study highlighting housing needs as the U.S. population ages. More than half of the nation’s householders are at least 50 years of age, and more than one-quarter are at least 65 years of age. Between 2011 and 2016, the number of households headed by adults between the ages of 65 and 74 increased by 26 percent to more than 17 million. With the aging of these “baby boomers,” the number of householders at least 80 years old will double by 2037.

The IRS recently announced an increase in the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) and private-activity bond caps for 2019. Revenue Procedure 2018-57 sets the 2019 amounts used to calculate each state’s LIHTC ceiling at the greater of $2.76 multiplied by the state population, or $3,166,875.

The per-capita number is an increase of nearly 36 cents over the initial 2018 figure, which was $2.40 before being raised to $2.70 by an increase included in the omnibus spending bill. The state minimum is a jump of $401,875 from $2,765,000 this year.

The Treasury Department and IRS recently released their third quarter update to their 2018–2019 Priority Guidance Plan, detailing tax guidance the government intends to focus its efforts on in the coming months. The update identifies projects needed to implement tax changes made by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

State and local source-of-income nondiscrimination laws prohibit landlords from discriminating against potential renters who receive income from sources such as alimony, disability benefits, and Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs). Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) recently introduced the “Fair Housing Improvement Act of 2018.” The bill would prohibit discrimination based on source of income and veteran status. The bill (S.3612) was referred to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.