This funding will be offset by estimated collections of $6.9 billion from responsible credit premiums charged for HUD mortgage insurance and other credit enhancements.

 

Increase Funding for the Housing Choice Voucher Program

• $19.6 billion for the Housing Choice Voucher program to help more than two million extremely low- to low-income families with rental assistance to live in decent housing in neighborhoods of their choice.
• Continues funding for all existing mainstream vouchers and provides flexibility to support new vouchers that were leased and $85 million in special purpose vouchers for homeless and at-risk of homelessness families with children, and persons with disabilities.

 

Preserve Affordable Rental Units

• Provides $9.4 billion for the Project-Based Rental Assistance program to preserve approximately 1.3 million affordable rental units through increased funding for contracts with private owners of multifamily properties.

 

Launch the Conversion of Public Housing to Project-based Vouchers

• Requests $350 million to fund the first phase of this multi-year initiative to regionalize the Housing Choice Voucher program and convert Public Housing to project-based vouchers. The primary goals of this initiative are to improve the physical condition and management of the public housing stock, increase the mobility of assisted families, and streamline HUD oversight of its rental assistance programs.

 

Implement the Homeless Emergency Assistance Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act

• $2.1 billion for HUD’s Homeless Assistance Programs to effectively implement the HEARTH Act. Enacted in May 2009 to fundamentally transform the Federal response to homelessness. HEARTH streamlined three current homeless programs into one, placed greater emphasis on homelessness prevention, and provided increased funds for renewal costs and permanent housing beds.
• Support the key priorities reflected in HEARTH, including $200 million for Emergency Solutions Grant funding for about 10,000 new permanent housing beds.

 

Expand Opportunity and Enhance Sustainability

• Provides $150 million to help stimulate comprehensive regional and community planning efforts that integrate transportation and housing investments that result in more regional and local sustainable development patterns, reduce greenhouse gases, and increase more transit accessible housing choices for residents.
• Invests $250 million in 2011 in order to continue HUD’s effort to make a range of transformative investments in high-poverty neighborhoods where public and assisted housing is concentrated.
• Requests $88 million to support homeownership and foreclosure prevention through Housing Counseling and $20 million to combat mortgage fraud.

 

High-Priority Performance Goals

 

The Administration is committed to building a transparent, high-performance government capable of addressing the challenges of the 21st century. As part of developing the budget, every department identified high-priority performance goals (along with the strategies and in-house resources to achieve them) that each will work to accomplish over the next two years. Highlights of this department’s goals are:

• Together with the Department of Treasury, HUD will offer assistance to 3 million homeowners who are at risk of losing their homes due to foreclosure.
• By the end of 2011, HUD programs will meet more of the growing need for affordable rental homes by serving 5.46 million families, 207,000 more than in 2009.
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs will jointly reduce homelessness among veterans.
  • Reduce the number of homeless veterans to 59,000 in June, 2012.
  • HUD is committed to assisting 16,000 homeless veterans each fiscal year to move out of homelessness into permanent housing (6,000 through Continuum of Care programs, and 10,000 in partnership with VA through the HUD-VASH program).
• Together with the Department of Energy, HUD will enable the cost-effective energy retrofits of a total of 1.1 million housing units in FY 2010 and FY 2011.

News Alert:  March 12, 2010

CW Capital keeps control of Riverton Houses

By Crain’s New York Business

In an auction held Thursday, special servicer CW Capital Asset Management won control of the Riverton Houses for $125 million on behalf of a trust that includes Wells Fargo Bank.

The only other bidder was Steven Sinatra, representing Morgan Capital, who bid $120.1 million.

CW Capital, the same firm that is representing Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village bond holders, already controlled a $240 million mortgage on the rent-regulated apartment complex in Harlem, which had been appraised at up to $108 million.

Alex Guggenheim, senior vice president of CW Capital, would not comment on what will now happen to the complex, but several groups, including advocacy association New York State Tenants & Neighbors, are pushing for affordable housing options.

“We are doing everything in our power that has to happen for the building to be sold to a responsible group,” said Emily Goldstein, the association’s subsidized housing organizer.

In 2005, the Rockpoint Group and Laurence Gluck of Stellar Management bought the property for $135 million. A year later they refinanced the property and received a $25 million loan and $225 million mortgage, both of which they defaulted on in 2008.

News Alert:  March 8, 2010

 

Centerline Capital Group Completes Comprehensive Restructuring

 NEW YORK -- Centerline Capital Group, a real estate asset management and financial services firm and subsidiary of Centerline Holding Company, announced today it closed a series of transactions with Island Capital Group LLC and the holding company's creditors and preferred shareholders. The transactions, which eliminated approximately $1.6 billion of aggregate liabilities and contingent exposure and provided over $100 million of new equity, restore Centerline to financial stability by restructuring substantially all of its outstanding debt. Centerline also sold its real estate debt fund management and commercial mortgage loan special servicing business to an Island Capital affiliate, C-III Capital Partners LLC, and recapitalized the majority of the outstanding equity interests in the holding company.

Centerline retains and will continue to operate its core businesses: Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) origination, asset management, and affordable and conventional multifamily lending, principally as an agency, or Government-Sponsored Enterprise lender.

Centerline has entered into an advisory agreement with an affiliate of Anubis Advisors, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Island Capital. Anubis will provide strategic, restructuring, and general advisory services to Centerline.

Island Capital was founded and is controlled by Andrew L. Farkas, who also founded Insignia Financial Group, Inc., which grew to one of the world's largest commercial real estate owners and operators by the time of its sale in 2003.

Centerline has been one of the largest syndicators of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, with $9.3 billion of investor equity under management. It provides asset management services to approximately 1,500 affordable multifamily properties. Centerline's agency lending platform has originated and services in excess of $9 billion of mortgage loans. Centerline anticipates that Anubis, the Island-controlled external advisor, will assist in the acquisition of other companies in ancillary or complementary businesses. Such activities may include the acquisition and/or creation of additional asset management companies, controlling interests in real estate limited partnerships and similar investment vehicles, other agency lenders, and an affordable housing property management business.

 

 

News Alert:  March 8, 2010

NYCHA Creates New Office of Private-Public Partnership

 

The New York City Housing Authority has formed a new Office of Public Private Partnerships with the goal of fostering collaborations between NYCHA, nonprofits, foundations and the private sector.   Dawn Walker, formerly Deputy Press Secretary for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, will lead the effort.

 “The Office of Public Private Partnerships is part of NYCHA’s overall mission to identify and recruit partners from the private sector who share the Authority’s vision for improving the lives of its 400,000 residents,” said NYCHA Chairman John B. Rhea.  “Through this effort, led by the very capable expertise of Dawn Walker, NYCHA will launch a new period of civic engagement by effectively linking the work of the non-profit and philanthropic sectors to our efforts to enhance the educational, economic and social needs of our public housing residents.”

As Director of the Office of Public Private Partnerships, Walker will be responsible for managing key relationships with external stakeholders, and creating an outreach and development strategy for future public-private partnerships, foundations and not-for-profit institutions, including the implementation of a comprehensive fundraising strategy for NYCHA.

“The overall goal of these efforts will be to maintain and expand cost-effective, quality programs for NYCHA by strategically utilizing resources,” Chairman Rhea, said.  “We hope to develop, build and sustain diverse funding sources that ultimately will enhance the quality of life and opportunities for NYCHA residents.”

NYCHA is currently implementing initiatives that exemplify this mission.  The Authority recently announced partnerships with Habitat for Humanity-NYC and the Harlem Children’s Zone, as two examples.  Early childhood education and health, workforce development and reaching disconnected youth are particular areas of focus for NYCHA, and these efforts will be strengthened with expanded public-private collaboration.

 . News Alert:  March 3, 2010

HUD RELEASES DETAILS ABOUT LIHTC TENANT DATA COLLECTION

Washington -- The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will use a system similar to, and based on, the current Tenant Rental Assistance Certification System (TRACS) system to collect data about tenants of low-income housing tax credit properties, according to a notice published in today’s Federal Register. The Housing and Economic Reform Act of 2008 requires each state agency to furnish HUD, not less than annually, information concerning the race, ethnicity, family composition, age, income, use of rental assistance under Section 8 or other similar assistance, disability status, and monthly rental payments of households residing in each property receiving LIHTCs through the agency. On March 30, 2009, HUD published a notice seeking early input on a methodology or approach for the data collection. HUD says it received approximately 25 comments from state housing finance and tax credit agencies; tax credit property managers; housing trade associations; research institutes; and not-for-profit organizations. In today’s notice, HUD summarizes those public comments, addresses the significant issues raised and issues specific information collection requirements.