Washington Watch

Obama Taps Lawmaker To Head FHFA
   Despite back channel warnings the Senate GOP will block the nomination, President Barack Obama will name Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC) to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Watt has been in the forefront demanding the removal of FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco for refusing to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy mortgages
posted 5/1/13 11:08 AM  read complete story

Housing Tax Incentive Skirmish Mounts
   Differing approaches to income tax reform came together at a House Ways & Means Committee hearing Apr. 25 on housing tax incentives, and the weight of their views leans heavily toward preserving incentives -- but with qualifications.
posted 4/26/13 09:26 AM  read complete story

DeMarco Solidifies FHFA Hold For Now
   While rumors and trial balloons abound in Washington over who will get President Barack Obama’s nod to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Acting Director Edward DeMarco strengthens his position with the emergence of significant financial profits and operating
posted 4/18/13 4:18 PM  read complete story

GAO Slams Foreclosure Process
   Bank regulators gave too much leverage to mortgage servicers to investigate their own foreclosure proceedings, the Government Accountability Office says in a soon-to-be-released report.
posted 4/5/13 09:47 AM  read complete story

Housing Regulator Search Heats Up
   Under pressure from the Congressional Black Caucus and the House Progressive Caucus to replace Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward DeMarco quickly, President Barack Obama steps up his search for a replacement. But the tenor of the search indicates the
posted 3/18/13 2:41 PM  read complete story

HUD Told To Stop Overpaying Slumlords
   In a caustic, four-page letter going viral through the housing industry, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) tells HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to stop complaining about the lack of money to repair public housing and maintain housing services, and start paying attention to HUD responsibilities, including halting the overpayment of housing subsidies to slumlords
posted 3/15/13 10:05 AM  read complete story

HFAs Set Sights On Tax, Other Reforms
   Preservation of low-income housing tax credits and housing bonds are uppermost on the National Council of State Housing Agencies as advocates gather for the group’s annual legislative conference in Washington, DC to lobby lawmakers and debate the future role of HFAs.
posted 3/8/13 10:09 AM  read complete story

Panel Would Nix Fannie, Freddie
   Eliminate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and keep a government corporation in place, most likely a revamped Federal Housing Administration, as a backstop for government-insured mortgages. That’s the thrust of a study by the Bipartisan Policy Center targeting modernization of the housing sector by expanding private capital in the mortgage
posted 2/26/13 4:44 PM  read complete story

Urbanist Urges Department of Cities
   Urban studies theorist and author Richard Florida is calling on the Obama administration to create a Cabinet-level Department of Cities. Florida, in a recent editorial, notes that Obama needs to make the revitalization of U.S. cities the centerpiece of his final term.
posted 2/15/13 09:52 AM  read complete story

Housing Spending Needs Reevaluation
   Contending that federal spending in the nation’s housing sector is uneven and stacked against rental housing, Smart Growth America calls for a reevaluation of housing spending in a new report, Federal Involvement in Real Estate, A Call for Examination.
posted 1/18/13 09:16 AM  read complete story