Federal Update
Our Homes, Our Voices
The National Low Income Housing Coalition is hosting Our Homes, Our Voices National Housing Week of Action between May 1 – 8. The goal is to bring more attention to the shortage of affordable homes. You can find guides for planning events on their website as well as talking points, press release drafts, and social media images. If you are interested in hosting an event in your area, please contact Samuel Gunter at sgunter@nchousing.org.
Implementation of LIHTC Income Averaging
The spending bill passed last month made two changes to the low income housing tax credit. The first was the 12.5% increase in volume cap over the next 4 years. The second, less well understood change is the introduction of “income averaging” — one of many provisions in the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act. Novogradac has written an excellent blog post about the issues surrounding income averaging and its implementation.
CRA Recommendations from Treasury
The Treasury Department has released a report with findings and recommendations for the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Among the recommendations are:
- updating the definition of assessment areas to include low- and moderate-income communities outside of the bank’s physical footprint;
- establishing clearer standards around eligibility;
- less subjective evaluation techniques and greater consistency; and
- standardizing CRA exam schedules across the three agencies.
Learn more about the recommendation in Enterprise’s blog post.
Local Update
Raleigh Fair Housing Conference
The City of Raleigh’s Fair Housing Hearing Board, and the Fair Housing Project of Legal Aid of North Carolina are proud to announce the 15th Annual Raleigh Fair Housing Conference. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Eddie J. Glaude, Jr., chair of the Center for African- American Studies and the William S. Tod Professor of Religion and African- American Studies at Princeton University. For more information & to register, click here.
Kannapolis Fair Housing Event
The City of Kannapolis and the Salisbury-Rowan Community Action Agency, Inc. and Phil Jordan with the North Carolina Human Relations Commission will lead a discussion on fair housing laws. The lunch and learn event will be held from 11 – 1 p.m., on Thursday, April 12, at The Laureate Center, Kannapolis City Hall, 401 Laureate Way. Lunch will be served and reservations are required. RSVP by calling 704-786-3183 (extension 226 or extension 219).
Charlotte Fair Housing Event
On April 19th, the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association is offering a morning and afternoon training session – your choice – led by Mindy McCorkle. The event will observe, celebrate, and re-focus on the spirit and complex compliance aspects of the Fair Housing Act for its 50th Anniversary. You can register for the sessions here.
Reports
National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty: Protect Tenants, Prevent Homelessness
Harvard Joint Center for Housing and Community Studies and Enterprise Community Partners: Creating Well-Designed Affordable Housing — Opportunities and Obstacles
National Community Reinvestment Coalition: How 1930s discrimination shaped inequality in today’s cities
UNC Charlotte Urban Institute: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Evictions
