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Recently, a bipartisan group of 32 U.S. representatives from states affected by Hurricane Sandy, including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, sent House Speaker John Boehner a letter urging tax relief for victims of Super Storm Sandy.

HUD recently issued a final rule to formalize the national standard for determining whether a housing practice violates federal fair housing law as the result of discriminatory effect.

On Feb. 5, the Treasury Department released the second quarter update to the 2012-2013 Priority Guidance Plan. The Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy and the IRS use the Guidance Priority List each year to identify and prioritize the tax issues that should be addressed through regulations, revenue rulings, revenue procedures, notices, and other published administrative guidance.

Recently, the IRS suspended certain requirements for qualified residential rental projects financed with tax-exempt bonds that are providing emergency housing for victims of Hurricane Sandy. IRS Notice 2013-9 temporarily suspends income limitations and the non-transient use requirement for the property. The IRS says Notice 2013-9 complements Notice 2012-68, which provides relief from certain requirements for residential rental projects financed with low-income housing tax credits.

On Dec. 20, 2012, Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed a bill into law that will keep real estate taxes lower for properties with income restrictions, including low-income housing tax credit properties. The provision was added to H.B. 510 during Ohio’s lame duck congressional session in an effort to make law a practice that had been common in the state before a bill passed earlier in 2012 prohibited it.

HUD recently released a request for comments on the statutorily mandated collection of information for tenants of low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC)-funded properties. The Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) required that each state agency administering tax credits annually furnish HUD with information concerning the race, ethnicity, family composition, age, income, use of rental assistance under Section 8(o) of the U.S.

Recently, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report, “Agencies Implemented Changes Enacted in 2008, but Project Data Collection Could Be Improved.” GAO conducted the study in accordance with a congressional requirement in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) that it analyze Housing Credit changes enacted in that law.

On Oct. 16, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced the 2013 cost of living adjustment (COLA) of 1.7 percent. The COLA increase will begin with benefits that more than 56 million Social Security beneficiaries receive in January 2013. Increased payments to more than 8 million Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries will begin on Dec. 31, 2012. This will increase the monthly benefits received by 62 million people in the U.S. who receive benefits such as SS retirement or SSI disability.

The IRS recently announced that the amount used to calculate the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) ceiling in 2013 will be the greater of $2.25 multiplied by the state population or $2,590,000. The previous multiplier was $2.20 and a small state minimum of $2,525,000.

Also, according to Revenue Procedure 2012-41, the private-activity bond volume cap will be the greater of $95 multiplied by the state population or $291,875,000 in 2013. The bond cap for 2012 is the greater of $95 multiplied by the state population or $284,560,000.

Earlier this year we reported on a physical inspection pilot program that was launched in six states in November 2011. Its goal is to test methods for developing a single, periodically scheduled physical inspection for jointly subsidized multifamily housing that can be performed by one housing agency but will satisfy all other agencies' inspection requirements. The hope is that by cutting back on repetitive housing inspections, those resources can go toward providing more affordable housing.