Multi-Housing News - September 2009 - (Page 14)

finance/investment HUD Secretary on Housing It’s nine months into President Obama’s new administration, and an opportune time to catch up with the new Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary, Shaun Donovan. MHN ’s Keat Foong, executive editor, talks to Secretary Donovan about his housing philosophy, his top priorities and HUD’s accomplishments thus far. How would you describe the current state of housing in the U.S.? Well, obviously, we are facing the greatest economic crisis our country has seen since the Great Depression—and it’s rooted in our housing market. But of course, before there was a foreclosure crisis in this country, there was an affordable rental housing crisis, and it’s still going on. How do you think we can best address the shortage of affordable housing? It’s not an exaggeration to say that the need for HUD’s Multifamily Housing Programs has never been greater—and its importance in addressing the shortfall of affordable housing throughout the country is critical. Right now, over six million households lack either quality or affordable housing. That’s why HUD’s proposed Fiscal Year 2010 budget includes $1 billion to capitalize the National Housing Trust Fund—which represents the first major federal housing production program since the creation of the HOME program in 1990—and is a critical component of HUD’s overall strategy to address our national affordable housing shortfall. We are also focused on modifying existing programs to make them as flexible as possible to meet current market demands. For instance, we are working to improve coordination between FHA’s insured programs and Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) to facilitate more development of affordable insured housing. We are also re-working two existing insured programs to increase liquidity for both construction and permanent financing, and we are revising our environmental practices so that they’re not overly restrictive and preventing us from developing multifamily housing. Low-income families across the country spend nearly 60 percent of their budgets on housing and transportation costs alone, so we are also working more collaboratively with other federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Departments of Transportation, Energy and Education to ensure that HUD-financed housing is located in sustainable communities with access to transportation, jobs and education. President Obama’s Recovery Act and HUD’s FY 2010 budget offer us critical tools to address the affordable housing shortage. Both the Recovery Act and our budget make the clearest statement in a generation that the federal government intends to get back into the business of affordable rental housing—from our $4 billion investment in our nation’s 1.2 million units of public housing, to our $2 billion injection into the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, to the $2.25 million in HOME funding to stabilize projects financed by the Low Income Housing Tax Credit. We designed our FY 2010 budget to build on all of these investments, both through a major preservation bill making its way through Congress and through our proposal to build on the successes of HOPE VI, called Choice Neighborhoods. Our budget also increases funding for the Housing 14 September 2009 | Multi-Housing News

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Multi-Housing News - September 2009

Multi-Housing News - September 2009
Contents
From the Editor
Letters to the Editor
Executive Insight: Jack Kern
Market Pulse
Conversation with Shaun Donovan
Property Management
Global Market Report
Development & Design: Low-Rise
Directory: Top Architects
Kitchen & Bath: Cabinets
Products: Leasing Tools
Technology: Lead Management
NMHC Notebook

Multi-Housing News - September 2009