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2014 Year End Legislative Efforts

As always, the end of the year brings intense legislative activity in Washington. Recent actions affecting housing include the following:   House Tax Extender Package The House passed the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 on December 3, which will…

New Staff Member for A. J. Johnson Consulting

It is with great pleasure that I announce the addition of a new full time staff member to A. J. Johnson Consulting Services, Inc. Effective February 1, 2015, Linda Moss will be joining us as a Compliance Analyst.   We…

Social Security COLA Announced

The federal government announced on October 22, 2014 that the Social Security Cost of Live Adjustment (COLA) for 2015 will be 1.7%. This will increase the monthly pension for the average retired worker by $22 per month. This is up from…

Supreme Court to Hear Disparate Impact Fair Housing Case

The United States Supreme Court has agreed to accept a petition to consider the case Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs (TDHCA) v. Inclusive Communities.   Background Inclusive Communities successfully argued to the lower courts that TDHCA allocated low-income…

Uniform Relocation Act Requirements

Overview of the Uniform Relocation Act (URA) The Uniform Act, passed by Congress in 1970, is a federal law that establishes minimum standards for federally funded programs and projects that require the acquisition of real property or displace persons from…

HUD Leadership Change

President Obama has nominated San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro to be the next Secretary of Housing & Urban Development. Castro will replace Shaun Donovan, who has been HUD Secretary since the election of Obama. Obama will nominate Donovan to be…

HUD Updates List of Federally Mandated Income Exclusions

HUD is required to periodically publish in the Federal Register a notice that lists amounts specifically excluded by any Federal Statute from consideration as income for purposes of determining eligibility or benefits in a HUD program. The last such notice…

Hobby vs. Self-Employment

As managers of affordable housing, we are often faced with applicants and residents who refer to themselves as “self-employed,” but are unable to adequately document their income. Such individuals are not generally considered self-employed since persons who are self-employed are…

Promise Zones Offer Potential for Affordable Housing

In the 2013 State of the Union address, the President announced the creation of “Promise Zones. (PZ)” The goal of these zones is to provide a mechanism for a partnership between the federal government and local governments in order to…

HUD Releases 2014 HOME Income and Rent Limits

HUD has released the 2014 Income and Rent limits for the HOME program. The new limits will be effective May 1, 2014. To obtain the new limits go to www.onecpd.info/news/2014-home-income-and-rent-limits-published/. Keep in mind that if HOME funds are combined with…

HUD to Ease PHA Income Verification Requirements

HUD is in the process of preparing new rules that will allow public housing authorities (PHAs) to drastically alter the income verification requirements for public housing and Section 8 Voucher tenants. These changes could impact owners of Low-Income Housing Tax…

DOJ Aggressively Pursuing Accessibility Cases

On February 24, 2014, the Department of Justice announced that a federal district court in Jackson, MS approved a settlement of a DOJ lawsuit against the original owners and developers of nine apartment complexes in Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee. The…

2014 Appropriations Act Makes Changes to Program Rules

The President signed the 2014 Omnibus Appropriations Act into law on January 17, 2014. In addition to funding for the Nation’s various housing programs, the Act also made some substantive changes to the law relative to Housing Choice Vouchers and…

Farm Bill Protects Rural Area Designation

After a three-year struggle, the Farm Bill (H.R. 2642) was finally passed by Congress on February 4, 2014, and will now go to the President, who has indicated that he will sign the bill into law. The 357 page bill…

Nonprofit Set-Aside Issues for LIHTC Properties

IRC §42(h)(5) requires that a portion of each state’s annual credit ceiling be set aside for allocation to projects involving qualified nonprofit organizations. Specifically, at least 10% of the state’s allocable credit must be set-aside for a nonprofit pool.  …

HUD Amends Verification Requirements

On December 10, 2013, HUD put online a revised transmittal for Handbook 4350.3, Chg. 4. It provided clarification for verification techniques – primarily those relating to EIV disputes and discrepancies. There is also an important change to Appendix 3, Acceptable…

Developer Fees in Eligible Basis

The most important calculation in the LIHTC program – at least in terms of credit generation – is qualified basis. Qualified basis is directly related to the amount of eligible basis (Eligible Basis times Applicable Fraction = Qualified Basis). So,…

Small HUD Projects Get Break from Financial Reporting

HUD projects that receive less than $500,000 in total federal financial assistance annually no longer have to have full financial audits performed. HUD Notice 2013-23 eliminates the audit requirement for these projects regardless of existing regulatory provisions. Owners of such…
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