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Enter NAHMA’s Vanguard Awards Program


The deadline for submissions for the National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA) 2016 Affordable Housing Vanguard Award is April 4. The award celebrates success in the multifamily affordable housing industry by recognizing and benchmarking newly developed or significantly rehabbed affordable multifamily housing communities that showcase high-quality design and resourceful financing. For more details on the awards program, click the link below.
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Asset Management


"High Demand for Affordable Rental Units Pays Off for Banks"

Congress


"Congress Makes Rents More Affordable"

State and Local Activities


"The Growing Trend of Affordable Housing Impact Statements"
"In Illinois, Low-Income Housing Presents Unique Efficiency Challenge"

Green Building


"Green Building in the Cheap Energy Era"

Management and Compliance


"Using Surveillance to Protect Thousands of Low-Income Properties"

Industry Trends


"Novogradac Releases LIHTC Report"

Association News


Early Bird Registration Deadline for March Meeting Approaching
NAHMA Launches Free Urban Farming Resources Webpage
HUD Issues Final FMRs
Purchase a One-Of-A-Kind Gift
NAHMA Releases 2015 Affordable 100 List
Become a Specialist in Housing Credit Management® (SHCM®) Company!
Upcoming Events


Asset Management


High Demand for Affordable Rental Units Pays Off for Banks
National Mortgage News (01/08/16) Collins, Brian

Strong demand for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs) by banks and other investors is causing investment returns to shrink as their riskiness declines, according to a new report by CohnReznick. The report says the sale of LIHTCs raised $12.5 billion in capital in 2014, and existing eligible properties are essentially full with a 97.5 percent occupancy rate. Normally, there is a gap of several percentage points between the occupancy rate and percent of tenants actually paying their rent on time. But that gap narrowed to 96 basis points in 2014, the report found. This shows how safe these investments are for banks, and why some of the returns have fallen. CohnReznick surveyed more than 20,000 apartment properties nationwide representing $83 billion in housing tax credits during 2013 and 2014 for its report on the 30th anniversary of the LIHTC program. Fred Copeman, principal and leader of CohnReznick's tax credit investment services practice, says tenants do not want to take the risk of being evicted because it would be very hard to find comparable affordable units, so they are paying their rent. Moreover, rent hikes cannot exceed the growth in area median income, so if wages go up 1 percent a year, rents also can only go up 1 percent. After-tax returns on LIHTC investments averaged 7 percent over the past few years, but have fallen to 5 percent at present. There are currently 2.8 million affordable housing units funded by the program.
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Congress


Congress Makes Rents More Affordable
Washington Post (12/22/15) Ho, Catherine

The tax bill cleared by Congress in December and signed into law by President Obama made the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit more generous in hopes of making it easier to finance the construction of affordable rental housing. Expanding the credit was a major priority for real estate developers, lenders, investors, and affordable housing advocates. The rate used to calculate the credit amount an investor can collect from investing in a housing property will increase from about 7.5 percent to at least 9 percent. The Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition worked with affordable housing advocates, including the Affordable Rental Housing ACTION (A Call To Invest in our Neighborhoods) campaign, an umbrella organization that compiled data on the impacts of the credit on preserving affordable housing, creating jobs and improving local economies for all 435 congressional districts. ACTION is co-chaired by the National Council of State Housing Agencies and Enterprise Community Partners.
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State and Local Activities


The Growing Trend of Affordable Housing Impact Statements
CityLab (01/08/16) Mock, Brentin

City council members in New Orleans introduced a bill in December requiring "affordable-housing impact statements" for any proposed ordinances or applications for new zoning or land use changes. The statements would force developers and government officials to first consider how new development might affect the availability of housing for low-income families. The city has also released a 10-year strategy to create 5,000 affordable units by 2021, and using affordable-housing impact statements is one of the recommendations listed. More than 70 percent of all households in New Orleans spend more than a third of their income on housing, and many residents have not been able to absorb the 50 percent increase in renting costs in the city since 2000. The affordable-housing impact statement requirement would make developers and legislators think about these things upfront. At the federal level, a 1994 executive order from the Clinton administration called for federal agencies to consider the effects on low-income families before issuing building permits. Enforcement of that has been unsteady, but the bulk of most permitting happens at the state and local government levels.
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In Illinois, Low-Income Housing Presents Unique Efficiency Challenge
Midwest Energy News (01/04/16) Lydersen, Kari

There is a strong feeling among Illinois' low-income residents that initiatives set up to save them energy and money are out of their reach. To remedy this, the Illinois Science & Energy Innovation Foundation (ISEIF) and the grantees it funds are doing outreach and education to help people across the state leverage the energy savings and conservation potential opened up by Illinois' grid modernization, smart meter, and energy efficiency programs. The effort is underwritten by utilities under Illinois' smart grid law. ISEIF's Mind the Gaps event in October had participants identify and discuss obstacles and possible solutions for senior citizens, public housing residents, low-income people, renters, and others in accessing these technologies. Key hindrances include the fact that smart and energy-efficient technology is often hard to install and use, a lack of Internet access, and little awareness of the environmental benefits of energy conservation. Electricity use can be particularly high in buildings housing seniors, while many public housing and subsidized dwellings are older structures that lack energy efficiency. A proposal in a bipartisan transportation bill would permit U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development demonstration programs where housing authorities could raise private capital for energy efficiency upgrades and then keep the savings after paying back those shareholders. "We have our grantees taking a very community-related, very relational approach," notes ISEIF program director Clare Butterfield. "People know they can be trusted, that they're not trying to sell them anything."
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Green Building


Green Building in the Cheap Energy Era
GreenBuildingAdvisor.com (01/05/16) Holladay, Martin

A decline in energy prices has ramifications that green builders cannot afford to ignore, including the fact that declining interest in green building is a direct result of the price plunge. A glut of oil and natural gas in the U.S. due to fracking and new drilling technologies also is contributing to lower energy prices. Other trends include increasing bankruptcies in the U.S. coal sector, which carry environmental benefits, while the photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy industries are thriving as their installed cost continues to drop and they establish a surprisingly low cap for electricity prices. Meanwhile, the falling cost of batteries and PVs is building momentum for off-grid residential energy installations. Solar-friendly electric utilities that see distributed generation as unavoidable and adopt such technologies are better poised to prevail than solar-hostile utilities, which face widespread obsolescence due to the spread of PVs and more affordable batteries. The Paris climate change accord may point to a permanent shift of international attitudes toward reducing carbon emissions, and the upturn in Saudi Arabia's international oil sales may be a sign the regime has begun to realize the fossil fuel era is on its way out. Finally, green builders need to promote issues and incentives beyond low energy bills, such as residential comfort and residents' well-being.
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Management and Compliance


Using Surveillance to Protect Thousands of Low-Income Properties
Security Magazine (12/01/15) Vol. 52, No. 12, P. 35

The Allegheny County Housing Authority’s (ACHA) surveillance system was outdated and ineffective before Chief of Police Michael J. Vogel took steps to transform it, with the help of systems integrator PSX Inc. Federally-funded ACHA seeks to provide local low-income families and senior citizens in Pennsylvania with safe and decent housing, and operates about 3,300 low-income public housing units as well as roughly 5,800 additional low-income properties. The housing authority had such a poor surveillance system that some analog cameras installed at ACHA property Dumplin Hall did not function at all; and cameras connected to DVRs had been programmed incorrectly, causing them to shut down at times and leave the site unmonitored. PSX was initially hired to fix the ACHA's police force's many networking problems, but Chief Vogel asked the integrator to get the ACHA and police force on a path toward high-resolution video as well. PSX determined many areas such as entrances and parking lots required higher-quality video coverage, and installed a variety of software including Samsung Security Manager (SSM) that allows monitoring of live or recorded video by authorized users from anywhere on the network. The Samsung cameras have already led to a number of arrests and convictions, including arrests for burglary, vandalism, assault and more. “The cameras are a major tool to fight crime in our communities,” says Chief Vogel.
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Industry Trends


Novogradac Releases LIHTC Report
Apartment Finance Today (01/15/16) Kimura, Donna

Novogradac and Co. has released a report highlighting the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) as the federal program enters its 30th year. "For 30 years, the LIHTC has helped America’s less-fortunate citizens find quality, safe, affordable housing and this report highlights why and how it works," says Michael Novogradac, managing partner in Novogradac’s San Francisco office. "As one developer says, the LIHTC is the 'sun that all the other affordable housing programs revolve around.' This report shows how that happens—and it also highlights the benefits to the nation as a whole." The program has helped develop 2.71 million homes through 2012 and finances approximately 95,000 affordable apartments each year, according to the report. It also creates approximately 96,000 jobs a year.
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Association News


Early Bird Registration Deadline for March Meeting Approaching

Join the National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA) as the organization hosts its annual winter meeting focusing on federal affairs issues, March 6-8. The three-day event features educational panels, networking opportunities, industry awards, Communities of Quality (COQ) Awards luncheon and keynote speaker Danny Vargas, political activist and candidate for the Virginia legislature. The event concludes with prearranged Capitol Hill meetings with congressional representatives and their staff. Time is running out to receive the early bird room block discount. So register online today. After Feb. 1, prices increase by $50.
The Federal Affairs Issues winter meeting takes place at the Fairmont Washington, 2401 M St. NW, Washington, DC 20037. The NAHMA room block single/double rate is $315 and expires Feb. 12. The discounted rooms are available on a first-come first-serve basis. Reserve your room online, www.nahma.org/meetings.
Event registration includes admission to the COQ luncheon, Monday, March 7. To see the full agenda, visit the Meetings page on the NAHMA website or click the link provided below.
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NAHMA Launches Free Urban Farming Resources Webpage

NAHMA has launched its Urban Farming Information & Resources webpage. Urban farming is not just an emerging trend in multifamily communities; the homegrown products provide health benefits to residents. Besides providing fresh food, the garden can become a social hub for the community.
In an effort to help promote healthy living at multifamily affordable housing communities, NAHMA has created a public resource webpage under the Members Only tab on its website, www.nahma.org. Visitors to the site will find federal and state resources as well as general information about creating and maintaining a community garden or urban farm.
The easy-to-navigate page contains information not only from federal agencies, but also from universities, think tanks and individual communities. NAHMA also encourages visitors to share their favorite resources, experiences and pictures of their own community gardens and farms.
For more information, contact Scott McMillen, manager of government affairs, 703-683-8630, ext. 116 or scott.mcmillen@nahma.org.
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HUD Issues Final FMRs

HUD issued the final Fair Market Rents (FMRs) for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program and the Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy Program for Fiscal Year 2016 in December. The primary uses of FMRs are to determine payment standards for the HCV program; to determine initial renewal rents for some expiring project-based Section 8 contracts; to determine initial rents for housing assistance payment contracts in the Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy program; and, to serve as rent ceilings for rental assistance units in the HOME Investment Partnerships program. To view the final FY 2016 FMRs, click the Web Link.
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Purchase a One-Of-A-Kind Gift

Order the 2016 National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA) Drug-Free Kids Calendar now by clicking on the Web Link below. Don’t wait—the 2015 edition sold out.
The calendars feature outstanding original artwork by children, seniors and adults with special needs living in affordable multifamily housing. This year’s contest celebrated community spirit with its theme and subtheme, Our Hands Are United: Reach Out and Be a Good Neighbor.
The cost is $5.50 per calendar, which is a HUD and U.S. Department of Agriculture allowable project expense.
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NAHMA Releases 2015 Affordable 100 List

The National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA) announces its 2015 Affordable 100—a list of the 100 largest affordable multifamily property management companies ranked by affordable unit counts—is available on its website, click Web Link below, as well as in the June issues of Affordable Housing Finance magazine and Units magazine. The NAHMA website version expands the list to the top 120 largest multifamily property management companies. In addition, the online version presents two specialty lists: the 25 largest housing credit (LIHTC) property management companies and the 25 largest Rural Development program property management companies.
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Become a Specialist in Housing Credit Management® (SHCM®) Company!

The three national associations sponsoring the Specialist in Housing Credit Management® certification program invite your company to become a Specialist in Housing Credit Management® (SHCM®) Company, a corporate designation created specifically to honor management companies that successfully maintain a significant portion of their properties and staff to the high standards of the SHCM certification program.
The SHCM program, developed especially for management companies involved with properties developed and operated under the Low Income Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, is sponsored by the National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA), the National Apartment Association Education Institute (NAAEI), and LeadingAge (formerly AAHSA, the American Association of Housing and Services for the Aging).
Earning the SHCM Company designation publicly demonstrates that a company is among the finest managers of LIHTC housing in the industry.
For more details on how to become a SHCM Company, click on the Web Link below.
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Upcoming Events

NAA Student Housing Conference & Exposition
February 16-17, 2016
More info

NAHMA Federal Affairs Issues Meeting
March 6-8, 2016
More info

NAHMA Public Policies Forum
June 15, 2016
More info

NAA Education Conference & Exposition
June 15-18, 2016
More info

NAHMA Regulatory Issues Meeting
October 23-25, 2016
More info
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January 2016