Oregon Housing Blog

Portland Gets Another $3 Million from HUD for Lead Abatement in 300 Homes.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:12:00 +0000

National HUD PR is HERE.

Local HUD PR with more details is HERE on MS SkyDrive. From that PR:

The effort is a partnership with Multnomah County, the Healthy Homes Coalition of Multnomah County, the Community Energy Project, the Community Alliance of Tenants, the Fair Housing Council of Oregon and Growing Gardens. This is the sixth Lead Hazard Control grant the City has received from HUD. The first was awarded in 1998 and, since then, the City has addressed hazards in just under 1,600 homes

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Busy Day at Oregon Capital: IDA's, Mental Health Housing, and Opportunity Communities/Poverty Reduction.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:52:00 +0000

Links to posted materials are below [Materials likely posted later Monday]:
IDA
Mental Health Housing (HB 3334)
Opportunity Community Model/Poverty Reduction

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Audio of Housing Voucher Source of Income Ways and Means Hearing from Thursday.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:20:00 +0000

State media website was acting up, but managed to capture audio of most of today's hearing on HB 2639; meeting materials and bill text are available HERE.

Audio file is on Internet Archive, HERE.

Speaker Kotek is the first speaker.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Tuesday Metro Council Work Session Has Opportunity Mapping on Agenda.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Tue, 14 May 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Agenda item starts at PDF page 24 of the agenda packet HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Cook County Passes Voucher Source of Income Legislation.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:12:00 +0000

Chicago Sun Times story is HERE. (Story reports that Chicago ordinance has been in effect for many years).

Wikipedia says Chicago about 54% of Cook County population, and that the 5.5 million population of Cook County is larger than 29 states.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

2013 OHCS QAP Includes Several Fair Housing/Housing Choice Improvements and Increased Transparency, Jump Starting Conversations for 2014 QAP/CFC.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The Housing Council package for the May 17th meeting contains the final QAP for Council consideration as well as a summary of comments received on the earlier draft and OHCS staff responses. [ A permanent link to all Housing Council meeting packets for 2013 is in the right pane under Oregon Housing Council Materials].

Along with the Fair Housing Council, for 2013 I had suggested the addition of a discretionary basis boost for project applications in low poverty neighborhoods. I had suggested also that the QAP expand the transparency of waivers, and add an explicit acknowledgement that they had the authority to grant waivers to affirmatively further fair housing.

I am pleased to see that those recommendations were incorporated in the 2013 QAP.
Moreover, I am pleased that OHCS acknowledges the need for an more extensive fair housing conversation and policy review for the 2014 QAP /CFC saying

" Within the next six months OHCS will facilitate a work group to research and recommend Fair Housing policies for program adoption that will be incorporated into Permanent Rules."

(My 2013 QAP comments included a listing of the kinds of topics I think should be included in that conversation and policy review).

In response to FHCO comments, OHCS has indicated the scoring panels will receive Fair Housing training. I anticipate this will include examples of how an application in a low income area can claim points in the scoring criteria.

Note: For non QAP policies, OHCS will be adopting temporary administrative rules and producing other related policy guidance. The OAR chapter for OHCS is HERE; looks like Division 90 contains the rules for the LIHTC program (but rule changes might also occur in other Divisions of the OHCS rules).

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Update: Downtown $50M+ LO Mixed Use Redevelopment Site Proposal: 240 Apts , Rents @$1,500-$2,600.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Thu, 09 May 2013 03:37:00 +0000

Update:
Lake Oswego Review story HERE says that developer will be looking for a $5 milllion city commitment. This was not discussed during the public portion of the LORA meeting, so it may have come up in Executive Session or in following City Council meeting or in seperate discussion with developers. Story also indicates 242 apartments, not 240 and that waiver of 4 story height limit would also be required.
-----

Months after terminating the Foothills Redevelopment Urban Renewal Plan and planned funding for affordable rental housing, the City Council, acting as the LO Redevelopment Agency, heard a presentation this week about a mixed use plan to redevelop the underutilized downtown Wizer Block.

While details are initially absent from the posted on line materials, I attended the LORA meeting; my notes on the planned development include some VERY preliminary numbers:

240 Apartments over retail with enclosed courtyard, up to 5 stories.
Retail , 30k Sq. Ft.
Permanent retail jobs , 30-40.
Temporary Construction jobs, 1K? (Likely part year, not FTE).
Could get close to 500 parking spaces, 130 for retail, and up to 360 for apartment residents. Parking per resident, 1.2 to 1.5 spaces per unit.
The project requires some Planning Commission approvals, including approval of ground floor housing.
Projected increase in property taxes $680k per year; additional one time $193k to Lake Oswego schools in construction excise tax.
Bedroom Distribution: 108 1 BR, 120 2 BR, 12 3 BR.
Rents : 1 BR $1,500;at 750 sq.ft that would be $2 a sq.ft. Top rental rate is projected at $2,600 per month.
Using $200k cost per unit, and modest retail and other costs, this project looks to easily be a $50m+ project.

Oregonian story HERE has details about development firm (O story says 280 apartments, but my notes in two different places say 240 units; I think 280 was mentioned as low end # of parking spaces for apartments).

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

ALL Oregon Housing/Transportation Affordability Data for 1,400+Block Groups, Places, Metro Cities, Counties, and CBSA's.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Mon, 06 May 2013 02:00:00 +0000

I expanded my earlier post that provided an Excel file with Oregon and PDX Metro city place level data that I had downloaded from the new HUD/DOT/EPA location (housing and transportation) affordability portal.

The new Excel workbook HERE, and embedded below, starts with the same graph of HT costs for 50% HUD MFI households for Portland metro cities and includes the same Metro cities and all Oregon place level HT data worksheets in the earlier post.

I have added these worksheets:

A table of contents, that includes a listing of worksheet and an explanation of additional data fields found in the CBSA and Block Group level worksheets. This TOC worksheet also includes a link to the HT data dictionary.
A worksheet with all Oregon county level HT affordability data.
A worksheet with all Oregon CBSA level HT affordability data.
A worksheet with all HT affordability data for 1400+ Oregon census block groups.

All of the data worksheets include column headers I created using coded values in the downloaded data.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog

3 Map Snapshots, Housing/Transportation Affordability in Lake Oswego, Portland, and Tigard, 3 Person HH at 50% of HUD MFI.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Sat, 04 May 2013 19:17:00 +0000

Below are images of three map snips showing location affordability index values for three Portland metro cities for a 3 person household at 50% of HUD median family income ($32,050).

Using these index values Portland is the most affordable, followed by Tigard and Lake Oswego; Lake Oswego has both the highest housing costs and transportation costs, as well as the most vehicle miles driven.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Ranking of Oregon 19 CBSA's: Share of Income for 50% MFI Family Spent on Housing and Transportation.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Thu, 02 May 2013 16:50:00 +0000

Using location affordability index downloadable data I created a MS Word document with a table showing the ranking of 19 Oregon CBSA's (Core Based Statistical Area) by the share of income that a 3 person low income family (50% of HUD MFI) would spend on housing and transportation.

MS Word is HERE and embedded below. Three quick observations:

Portland has second lowest share of income spent on housing and transportation because it has the lowest share of income spent on transportation.
Conversely, Hood River has the highest combined share of income spent on housing and transportation because it has the highest share of income spent on housing.
In ALL Oregon CBSA's families at this income level would spend more than 30% of their income for housing.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

PDX Metro Cities and ALL Oregon Places: Housing/Transportation Affordability BETA Data.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:29:00 +0000

The day after my recent post HERE, the links to the Beta Housing Transportation affordability portal mysteriously no longer worked. Good NEWS is that as of 6 AM Thursday they NOW appear to be working again.

I hope the portal links remain available for this long delayed project.

Before links when dead I had downloaded Oregon data the night before for Oregon places, counties, and 1,400+ block groups.

Each level of geography has values for 11 different metrics for 12 specific housing types. For example there is a combined housing/ transportation share of income cost metric for a Low Income , 50% of HUD MFI household, a similar metric for a Retiree, 80% of Median Income for the Region household, etc., etc..

To make it easier to follow the different housing types, I added a row with column headers that I created that combines the housing type, the income level, and the metric for each of the 11 different household types. (I retained the coded values from the HUD data at the top of the worksheet). Column headers/metrics for each housing type include the number of household members, the number of workers, the number of autos, etc. (A link to data dictionary from portal is HERE).

I have posted an Excel workbook with Oregon BETA data for Portland Metro cities and ALL Oregon places HERE and also embedded it below.

The initially visible worksheet is a graph showing by Portland Metro cities, the share of income spent for housing/transportation by a 3 person family at 50% of HUD MFI; tabs at bottom will get you to other two worksheets.

I would confirm this data with the data you can, as of Thursday AM, now download from the portal.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Who Knew? Housing/Transportation Location Affordability Portal Up as Beta.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 03:30:00 +0000

I haven't seen any HUD PR on this but on Monday night I stumbled across a beta test site for the long delayed housing/transportation location affordability portal; the "my transportation cost calculator " is HERE; home page for entire site is HERE.

Site also includes location affordability index page HERE and downloadable data HERE for places, counties, metro's , and for metro areas only, data down to the block group level. (More than 100 pieces of data for each geography).

It is not clear how long this site has been up or how up to date it is; as I indicated there is no link that I can find anywhere on the HUD website. While Beta it still provides a starting point to understand the kinds of analysis that may be possible.

More to follow I am sure; timing for formal HUD announcement not so much.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

HUD MF Reorg Notice: Staff Reduction of 24%, Seattle MF Transitioning to Healthcare.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 13:58:00 +0000

Published in Public Inspection Federal Register today, I copied to Skydrive HERE.

Notice says:
"..overall staffing in MFH will be reduced from 1,547 employees in FY 2012 to 1,173 by the end of FY 2016." That's a reduction of 374 positions, 24%

"The Seattle WA office will remain open however; MFH employees will be transferred into like positions in that office to support the Office of Healthcare Programs."

Notice also indicates that reorg will be completed by end of FY 2016 and estimates that 50% to 75% of staff will accept buyouts in lieu of directed reassignments.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

131 Staff Currently in Offices HUD Wants to Close.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 14:04:00 +0000

In public inspection FR Thursday HUD has provided summary of cost savings for those 16 offices it wants to close; it says $11 to $14.9 million annual savings. Look for formal publication in tomorrow's Federal Register.

Using HUD locator data I estimate 131 HUD employees in these offices will lose their jobs via buyouts or be transferred through directed reassignments to other HUD Offices. Includes 5 staff in Spokane.

HUD estimates 25-50% will transfer.

Pic with current employees in each office is pasted below:

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Updated : HUD MF Reorg: MY WAG--Loss of 850 MF Jobs In Offices Being Discontinued ?

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 04:36:00 +0000

Update: By Field Office, table pasted below showing 853 staff with HM Codes in non HUB/Satellite offices: Note that nearly 10%/84 jobs in one state/Ohio.

I downloaded a listing of 9,200 HUD staff by field office from the HUD locator. Extracting all existing staff with a HM correspondence code (which I think is the proper MF coding) I come up with a count of 440 MF staff currently in the 5 new hubs and the 5 new satellites.

HUD's PR says that MF staff are now located in 50 offices, but I count 51 additional offices with staff with HM codes, for a total of 61 total offices with staff with HM codes. This may be because some MF staff are outstationed in offices that are not formal program centers or hubs (or HM code may be capturing employees who are not MF staff).

Table pasted below shows my counts of HM codes:

IF my quickie analysis/WAG is correct as many as 853 current MF employees could lose their jobs in their current locations with some of those then moving to the 5 HUB's and 5 satellite offices. If both Seattle and Portland lose their current MF jobs my estimate is that will mean a loss of 41 jobs.

Keep in mind this will occur over at least two different fiscal years and will be subject to Congressional scrutiny. It is also possible that my use of the HM correspondence code significantly overstates the current number of MF staff AND the number of offices since my total count of MF offices is 61 compared to the 50 in HUD's PR.

HUD can help clarify/correct this by providing a total count of HUD MF staff by field office, whether outstationed or not and the projected total count of staff in each of the 5 HUBS and 5 satellite offices. (I'm happy to acknowledge that my WAG may be off, but will need to see actual counts before I can do so).

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

HUD Reorg Will Wipe Out Spokane Office, and MF Staff in Seattle and Portland.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:57:00 +0000

HUD PR is HERE, more to follow I am sure.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

March 2013: Cumulative Rate of Oregon Hardest Hit Housing Fund TARP Draw Downs Is Double National Average.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:29:00 +0000

A new SIGTARP report as of March 31st has been published HERE.

In prior post HERE, I provided a Dec 2012 summary of Hardest Hit Housing Fund spending by state, including an Excel worksheet. That same worksheet is included in the updated Excel file HERE, and embedded below, but the initially visible worksheet is a new one focusing on draw downs as of March 31st.

Some Observations on March 2013 Spending:

Oregon's cumulative drawn down rate of 58% was more than double the national average rate of 27%.
Oregon drew down $20.5 million in the first quarter of 2013, vs a total draw down of $48 million in CY 2012.
While Oregon's cumulative draw down ranking slipped from 2nd to 3rd, the areas with higher drawn down rates (Rhode Island and DC) had substantially smaller amounts to spend.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

OHCS Presentation on Reorg and Human Services and Housing Connections.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 23:08:00 +0000

PDF of presentation before Joint Ways and Means Committee is HERE. Web page for hearing is HERE (also includes background material for bill to fund veterans housing via additional document recording fee; that portion of hearing is not in the video).

Video of presentation and questioning is HERE and embedded below.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Oregon HUD/FHA MF FY 2013 Lending Includes $35 Million NC Project in the Pearl, and $56 Million Hillsboro Refi.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:24:00 +0000

Excel table HERE and embedded below has FY 2013 FHA MF endorsed loans in Oregon. Total of 1,232 units/ $138 million since October 1st.

Only 1 new construction loan, The Parker in the Portland Pearl district, 177 units/$35.6 million. (Readers may recall that FHA also recently insured another new construction Pearl area project, Freedom Center Apartments).

One notable refinance was of Standard Dairy in SE Portland. Suburban refinance loans closed included projects in Beaverton, Hillsboro, and West Linn. Hillsboro project was $56 million, 496 unit The Commons at Verandas in Tanasbourne.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Examples of Goodies from HUD Congressional Budget Justification Documents.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 18:53:00 +0000

Every year HUD posts detailed congressional justifications by program. FY 2014 justifications are HERE.

From the Public Housing Tenant Based Rental Assistance FY 2014 congressional justification document HERE, some examples of the goodies that can be discovered for those willing to comb through the CJ details:

HUD says

That 107 PHA's have opted out of the voucher program since 2009 because of funding problems, including 13 opting out so far this FY; 6 PHA's have declined VASH vouchers because of funding problems.
It anticipates saving $235 million annually via proposed changes to income targeting , the increase in the medical expense exclusion threshold from 3 to 10 percent, and a change in how utility allowances are determined in the case of families who rent units that are larger than the bedroom size of the voucher for which they qualify under the PHA subsidy standards.
It wants to eliminate the annual PHA plan requirement

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

California's Bridge Housing Comes to Portland With PHB Funded Rental Project in the Pearl.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:02:00 +0000

Affordable Housing Finance story is HERE; website for Bridge is HERE.

Portland Housing Bureau PR on NOFA results is HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Federal Tax Expenditures for Housing Total $1.6 Trillion from 2014-2018, Annual Mortgage Interest Deduction Costs Projected to Grow by $55 Billion.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The 2014 Budget includes a tax expenditure worksheet HERE.

I pulled out housing related tax expenditures (broken out for corporations and individuals) and did some calculations in a 3 page legal sized worksheet on my SkyDrive HERE and embedded below.

My worksheet starts with graph comparing growth in mortgage interest and LIHTC costs from 2012-2018, a table with all housing related tax expenditure costs begins in row 24; note that $$ in table are in millions so add 6 zeroes to a $100,000 entry =$100 billion.

Some observations:

Total housing tax expenditures for 5 years 2014-2018 are estimated at $1.6 Trillion, a growth of $106 billion annually/ 38%.
Mortgage interest tax expenditures are expected to grow by $55 billion annually from 2014-2018, reaching nearly $157 billion annually in 2018, a growth of 55%.
LIHTC expenditures are expected to grow by 9%/$770 million during the same period, reaching $9 billion annually in 2018.
Not included in tables, HUD's annual rental assistance cost is projected at $37.4 billion in the 2014 budget. (Except for LIHTC and SF and MF bonds, housing tax expenditures are not income targeted while HUD rental assistance is highly income targeted).

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Lake Oswego City Council Looking to Gut Comprehensive Plan Revisions, Including Affordable Housing Provisions?

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 11:18:00 +0000

I was alerted to changes in Lake Oswego Review letter to editor HERE.

A staff report in the City Council agenda packet from April 2nd meeting says this about comp plan provisions, including affordable housing and fair housing:

A good portion of the proposed Comprehensive Plan statements may have unintended consequences. These statements raise concerns about what should be the City’s role in implementing them. A concern could be that interest groups and individuals would point to these policies and statements as being ones the City should back up with actions. ...There are other statements throughout the plan that should be evaluated, such as the following...
Set broad ten- and twenty-year goals for the identification and production of affordable housing units in Lake Oswego along with specific five-year targets based on near-term conditions and resources
availability. (Proposed Policy C – 1, Housing Affordability)
Provide fair access to housing that does not restrict housing choice or the availability of housing
choice because of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or source of income, in addition to any other protected status under state, federal or local law. (Proposed Policy C-2, Housing Affordability)

Staff then suggests how Lake Oswego can "accomodate" affordable housing and fair housing with less "specific" comp plan statements:

For example, the above very specific statements regarding affordable housing and fair access to housing may not be appropriate for a City that has no housing program. It could just as well be accommodated by a general statement that the City will support/observe state and federal law to the extent that it engages in providing housing opportunities in conjunction with affordable housing providers.

Council is to consider a motion on this at their April 16th meeting that would

Direct Staff to accomplish the following in the preparation of final revisions to the Comprehensive Plan before they are presented to the Planning Commission and the City Council for public hearings and final adoption:
1. Remove subject matter, goals and policies that are unrelated to land use;.........
3. Remove policies that direct the City to increase residential densities and to add mixed uses in neighborhood residential zones;
4. Remove policies that may obligate the City to future actions that would have budgetary impacts;

The Planning Commission is currently scheduled to hold a April 22nd hearing on comp plan revisions, including housing provisions. If the subject City Council motion passes at the April 16th meeting, apparently staff would strip out revised comp plan provisions that meet the criteria identified in the motion prior to the public hearing.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Home Forward Board Packet Has Information on Sequestration Related Rent Reforms and Demographics of New Wait List.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:09:00 +0000

April 16th board packet has been added to Home Forward YTD Board Packages link in right pane.

It includes information on the impacts on specific demographic groups of the proposed sequestration related rent reforms and also information on the demographics of 21,149 wait list applicants, including the 3,000 applicants selected by lottery that constitute the new wait list.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Need Feedback on My Estimate: LIHTC Proposal in President's Budget Could Increase Oregon LIHTC by 18+%.

housepdx@gmail.com (Tom Cusack) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 00:32:00 +0000

The 2014 proposed budget has a number of LIHTC proposals; search "LIHTC" in THIS budget document posted on the Novogradac web site for details.

One of proposals is to allow states to cash in some of their volume cap to use for additional LIHTC with a ceiling of 7% of cap that can be transferred for LIHTC use.

Using my understanding of the formula in the budget document I project that Oregon could gain another $1.654 million in LIHTC by cashing in $25.93 million in volume cap. (This seems highly doable as little of the cap is now being used).

This would amount to up to an 18.7% boost in LIHTC for Oregon, using a projected current LIHTC allocation of $8.83 million.

My calculations are pasted in as image below; would VERY much appreciate any feedback OR correction of my assumptions:

Originally created or posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.