Articles Tagged With: HUD News

April 21, 2019

HUD Awards Millions To Fight Housing Discrimination

April is Fair Housing Month, a time when the Department of Housing and Urban Development wants to raise awareness about Fair Housing Act laws, remind people of their rights, and reinforce the agency’s commitment to fair housing for all. As part of that fight to end housing discrimination, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded “an additional $15 million to support dozens of fair housing organizations working to confront violations of the nation’s landmark Fair Housing Act. These grants, made possible through the HUD Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), are intended to help victims of housing discrimination and to raise awareness of fair housing laws. The funds are intended to support a “wide range of fair housing enforcement, education, and outreach activities” under several categories:. Private Enforcement | more...

December 24, 2018

HUD Announces Settlement In Housing Discrimination Case

By Bruce Reichstein

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced a settlement in a New Jersey housing discrimination case. According to the HUD official site, Tamaron Association, which represents a condominium development in Waldwick, New Jersey must pay $9,000 under an Initial Decision and Consent Order. The order addresses allegations that the association refused to sell a condo to a man with disabilities and his wife, “because the couple planned to have their adult, disabled daughter live with them” according to a HUD press release. Fair Housing Act laws forbid denying or limiting housing to those with disabilities, and it is a violation of federal law to refuse reasonable accommodation for those with disabilities. “No family whose members have disabilities should be denied the reasonable accommodations they need to make | more...

March 15, 2018

HUD Announces Additional Hurricane Recovery Efforts In Houston

By Bruce Reichstein

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a Fair Housing agreement with the City Of Houston designed to enhance hurricane recovery efforts there. According to a press release at the FHA/HUD official site, HUD and the city reached, “a joint agreement designed to expand housing choice and mobility for lower income residents, including those experiencing homelessness and victims of Hurricane Harvey.” The agreement includes a new requirement for the City of Houston to adopt “multifamily priorities and a policy for objectively evaluating federally supported affordable housing developments in all areas of Houston; to seek to invest additional funds in homeless assistance programs, and; to encourage more landlord participation in Houston’s housing voucher program”. “Today, we announce a positive agreement that works to expand housing options for lower income | more...

February 8, 2018

HUD Announces Hurricane Aid For The Virgin Islands

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a multi-million dollar aid package for hurricane recovery efforts in the U.S. Virgin Islands. According to a press release at the HUD official site, “The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded $242.7 million to help the U.S. Virgin Islands to recover from Hurricanes Irma and Maria. HUD’s Deputy Secretary Pamela Hughes Patenaude announced the disaster recovery grants with Governor Kenneth E. Mapp during a tour of damaged homes in St. Thomas”. The HUD recovery funds, similar to those authorized for disaster recovery efforts in Puerto Rico, are via HUD’s Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program and “support long-term recovery, including infrastructure, seriously damaged housing, and economic recovery in the Territory” according to the HUD | more...

February 6, 2018

HUD Announces Aid Package For Puerto Rico

By Bruce Reichstein

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a billion dollar relief package for Puerto Rico. According to a press release on the HUD official site, the agency “awarded more than $1.5 billion to help Puerto Rico to recover from Hurricanes Irma and Maria.” The funds are available via $7.4 billion in CDBG-DR (see below) funding for major disasters declared in calendar year 2017 thanks to a continuing resolution signed into law in September 2017. The HUD Deputy Secretary Pamela Hughes Patenaude discussed these HUD disaster recovery grants with Governor Ricardo Rosselló during a visit to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Governor Rosselló, quoted in the press release, added, “On behalf of the many thousands of survivors here in Puerto Rico, I want to | more...

January 26, 2018

HUD Announces Major Review Of Manufactured Housing Rules

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued a press release announcing a major review of manufactured housing rules. According to the HUD official site, the agency is in the public comment period prior to “a top-to-bottom review of its manufactured housing rules as part of a broader effort to identify regulations that may be ineffective, overly burdensome, or excessively costly given the critical need for affordable housing.” For the next 30 days, the agency says it will accept public comments “to identify existing or planned manufactured housing regulatory actions to assess their actual and potential compliance costs and whether those costs are justified against the backdrop of the nation’s shortage of affordable housing”. General changes in manufactured housing regulations may not seem to have anything to do with | more...

January 22, 2018

HUD Settles California Fair Housing Case

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a settlement in a California Fair Housing case. According to a press release on the HUD official site, the agency “has reached a conciliation agreement with the Richmond Housing Authority (RHA) in Richmond, California, settling allegations that it discriminated against a resident with disabilities.” Federal Fair Housing Act regulations prohibit the discrimination in the process of selling or renting a place to live because of the applicant’s disability. Fair Housing laws also forbid refusal to make reasonable accommodations for those disabilities. The settlement is the result of a resident’s complaint, “alleging that the Richmond Housing Authority failed to renew his Housing Choice Voucher before it expired” according to the press release. The complaint states that the resident submitted a request to | more...

December 21, 2017

HUD Announces New Foreclosure Prevention Guide

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a new publication aimed at helping home owners avoid foreclosure and fraud. According to a press release on the HUD official site, the Homeowners Guide to Success is part of a “public-private partnership between federal agencies and industry partners. The guide provides homeowners with information on the critical first steps to take if they are at risk of missing a mortgage payment or facing foreclosure.” Foreclosure avoidance is an important issue, and with 2017’s natural disasters in Texas, Puerto Rico, Florida, and elsewhere, there is an emphasis not just on borrowers taking steps to keep their homes, but also to become more aware about the potential for fraud and scams aimed at those who struggle to keep up with mortgage payments. | more...

December 15, 2017

HUD Announces Settlement In California Fair Housing Case

By Joe Wallace

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a settlement in a California Fair Housing Act case. According to a press release on the HUD official site, HUD has entered into an agreement “with the owner and property manager of Shadowbrook Gardens Senior Townhomes in Morgan Hill, California, a city in Santa Clara County, resolving allegations that they discriminated against a resident with disabilities”. A tenant of that property, “requested to have a live-in aide and a key to a locked gate near her unit that would make it easier for her to come and go” according to the HUD press release, which adds that in each case, “the owner and property manager allegedly asked her intrusive questions about her disability, challenged whether she really had a disability, asserted | more...

November 30, 2017

HUD Announces Hurricane Irma Aid Package For Hardest-Hit Florida Communities

By Joe Wallace

HUD has announced a multi-milllion dollar Hurricane Irma aid package for hardest-Hit Florida communities. A press release at the Department of Housing and Urban Development details the federal aid, intended for areas HUD deems the most affected. According to HUDNo.17-106, the aid package include $615,922,000 made available via the HUD Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program. “The entire federal family” stands with the people of Florida “to help them recover from this devastating storm as quickly as possible,” according to HUD Secretary Ben Carson, who is quoted in the press release, adding, “HUD and the State of Florida will work together to speed the rebuilding of seriously damaged homes and businesses that lack the resources to recover on their own if not for these recovery dollars.” In September, the | more...