In Case You Missed It: A Look at Recent National Housing Policy News

HUD Issues Proposed State Fair Housing Assessment Tool; Announces Fair Housing Pilot Program in Collaboration with NCSHA 

HUD published for public comment an updated version of its proposed Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Assessment Tool for States and an accompanying Federal Register notice. NCSHA is currently evaluating the state assessment tool and will submit comments by HUD's October 28 deadline. HFAs should provide feedback to NCSHA's Jennifer Schwartz by Friday, October 14 to inform NCSHA's comments. The notice says that based on the extensive comments HUD received after it released the first proposed state assessment tool last March, HUD has decided to extend the comment process by adding a second 30-day comment period to provide further opportunity for the public to provide feedback to HUD. Publication of the notice starts the first 30-day comment period for the assessment tool, after which HUD will consider comments and then release an updated version of the assessment tool and provide a second 30-day comment period.

FHA Proposes New Condominium Loan Requirements

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) released a proposed rule that would revise the requirements that condominium projects must meet for their single-family units to be eligible for FHA mortgage insurance.
The proposal contains several provisions that could allow FHA to insure more condominium mortgages. These include:

• Adjusting Owner-Occupancy Standards 
• Amending Limits on Commercial and Nonresidential Space 
• Insuring Individual Condominium Loans 

Senators Introduce Bill to Classify Municipal Bonds as High-Quality Liquid Assets 

A bipartisan group of Senators introduced legislation (S. 3404) that would allow large banks to count some of their municipal bond investments as high-quality liquid assets under federal bank liquidity standards. The bill is sponsored by Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD), who introduced it with Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY). All three are members of the Senate Banking Committee. Other cosponsors include Jon Tester (D-MT), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Tim Scott (R-SC), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Jerry Moran (R-KS), and David Vitter (R-LA). NCSHA joined several organizations, including the National Governors Association, Government Finance Officers Association, and National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers, to co-sponsor this bill. S. 3404 would modify a regulation promulgated by the Federal Reserve, the Department of Treasury, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The regulation, set to take effect in January 2017, would ensure that large banks hold enough liquid assets to continue making payments during periods of financial stress. Under the rule, banks with at least $250 billion in assets (or $10 billion in foreign exposure on their balance sheet) must maintain a minimum liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) comprised of certain financial investments that are considered "High-Quality Liquid Assets" (HQLAs).