HUD Participates in 15th Annual Southeast Mortgagee Advisory Council Conference

SMAC Conference attentively listening to Regional Administrator Jennings remarks.

Regional Administrator Jennings addressing the SMAC Conference.

The 15th Annual Southeast Mortgage Advisory Council (SMAC) Conference recently convened in Atlanta to address the ever changing landscape of Multifamily Housing now and into the future. HUD Regional Administrator Ed Jennings, Jr. provided insightful information during his remarks before over 200 SMAC members and affiliates. Jennings brought attention to the ongoing need to insure that properties be in good condition and that the HUD multifamily housing transformation is meeting the demands of an every increasingly dynamic business environment with improved customer service and accountability.

Briefly touching on Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) as a vehicle of opportunity for the preservation of affordable housing Jennings gave an update concerning the program to include the financial and tenant related benefits.

Throughout the first day attendees covered such topics as architectural and cost changes, updates on Multifamily of the Tomorrow, Mortgage Credit and 2530, Valuation and Market, environmental assessments. The second day conference covered such topics as Southeast Region Transformation in which Dan Sullivan, HUD Deputy Director, Office of Multifamily Production - Headquarters, Office Ruben Brooks, Multifamily SE Regional Center Director, Marcia Ringo, HUD Production Division Director.

The Rental Assistance Demonstration was created in order to give public housing authorities (PHAs) a powerful tool to preserve and improve public housing properties and address the $26 billion dollar nationwide backlog of deferred maintenance. RAD also gives owners of three HUD "legacy" program (Rent Supplement, Rental Assistance Payment, and Section 8 Moderate Rehabilitation) the opportunity to enter into long-term contracts that facilitate the financing of improvements.

The Southeast Mortgagee Advisory Council (www.smaconline.net/) is established to provide constructive advice and support to HUD's Multifamily Hub office leadership and staff, to improve the effective delivery of the FHA multifamily insurance program in the Atlanta, Greensboro and Jacksonville Multifamily Housing Hubs.

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