Barbara Fields, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) has been announced as President Obama's appointee to take over as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) regional administrator for the New England area, according to a LISC press release on Friday.

Fields, who has been at the helm of Rhode Island LISC office since 1991, is expected to take on her new duties sometime in April.

LISC is a community-development group that assists communities in raising capital.

Last year, Fields' organization invested more than $17 million in communities across Rhode Island. Fields led the organization as it expanded its scope beyond housing and commercial properties to take on more of a comprehensive approach to community development, including public safety, child care and development of the workforce.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced the fiscal year 2012 budget proposal, titled "Creating Strong, Sustainable, Inclusive Communities and Quality Affordable Homes."

HUD plans for budget cuts to several programs, including the Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investment Partnerships, and new construction line items within the Supportive Housing Programs for the Elderly and Disabled.

The $48 billion budget will be offset by about $5 billion in projected Federal Housing Administration and Ginnie Mae receipts which will be credited to HUD's appropriations accounts, leaving a net budget of $43 billion, about 1% below the fiscal year 2010 level.

"While it requires hard choices to reduce the deficit, this blueprint for fiscal year 2012 is one that will deliver results," HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan said in a release.

The full budget proposal is available from the HUD Website here. [PDF]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), January's residential real estate results were mixed.

There were fewer privately-owned housing units approved in January, falling 0.3 percent to 10.4 percent compared to the prior month.

The total number of private residential real estate projects finished totaled 512,000, almost 10 percent lower than the revised prior month estimate of 566,000 and much lower than the 662,000 housing completions recorded in January of 2010.

On the positive side of the equation, more home builders broke ground in January, with housing starts totaling 596,000, adjusted for seasonality.

But the National Association of Realtors claims that 80 housing markets across the United States have shown an increase in home prices in the fourth quarter, which means that more people are in the mood to move, as demand has increased.