Northwest HUD Lines
August 2016

HUD e-Briefs from Alaska, Idaho, Oregon & Washington

Leland Jones, Editor, 206/220-5356 or Leland.jones@hud.gov

www.hud.gov/alaska	www.hud.gov/idaho
www.hud.gov/oregon	www.hud.gov/washington
http://twitter.com/hudnorthwest

DRAMATIC DECLINE
Stepping up our service to those who've served
The VA, HUD & the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness have reported a "dramatic decline," says VA Secretary McDonald, in the number of homeless veterans nationwide between the January 2010 and the January 2016 point-in-time counts of the homeless conducted by Continuums of Care across the country. The data "revealed a 17 percent decrease in veteran homelessness between January 2015 and January 2016and a 47 percent decrease since 2010. The January 2016 estimate found just over 13,000 unsheltered homeless veterans living on their streets, a 56 percent decrease since 2010. The "dramatic decline," said VA Secretary McDonald, "reflects the power of partnerships in solving complex national problems." For all the progress, HUD Secretary Castro added, "we still have work to do to make certain we answer the call of our veterans just as they answered the call of our nation."

LESSONS LEARNED
What works - and what doesn't - in loss mitigation
The Great Recession turned the lives and fortunes of millions of American homeowner's upside down * inside out. Though some are still struggling to recover from the tremendous losses they sustained, seven years later the vast majority are out-of-the-woods and back on firm ground thanks in many instances to foreclosure intervention and prevention programs established by the Department of Treasury, the Federal Housing Finance Agency & HUD. From April, 2009 through the end of May, 2016, the three agencies report,, some 10.5 million modification and mortgage assistance arrangements were completed through these programs. Come the end of this year, however, the authority creating most of those programs expire and "the mortgage servicing industry will shoulder more responsibility for assisting struggling homeowners through proprietary modifications and other programs." Informed by the 10.5 million homeowners they helped, on July 25th Treasury, FHFA & HUD have published a white paper - Guiding Principles for the Future of Loss Mitigation - that, they say, should serve as the "framework" for how the industry meets that responsibility.

RESTRUCTURIHG DEBT (collection)
Time to rein in too aggressive collection firms?
HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver recently demonstrated a novel way to offer relief to some of the 70 million consumers who have had the far from pleasant experience of getting a call - oftentimes many calls - from one of the nation's 6,000 debt collection firms. It's unlikely, though, the idea will be adopted industry-wide. Which is why it's good news that hoping to bring accountability to a market that desperately needs it," the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released an outline of a series of proposals it currently has under consideration to "overhaul" the nation's debt collection industry. The release is part of a process that the Bureau expects ultimately will lead - after consultation with the industry and the general public - to a formal rulemaking process. The proposals under review include requiring collectors to have more and better information about the debt before they collect, limit "excessive or disruptive" communications with consumers clearly disclose debt details, and make it easier to dispute the debt and would be prohibited from continuing to pursue debt without sufficient evidence. These requirements and restrictions would follow the debt if it were sold or transferred.

NEWS TO USE
HOME posts 2016 limits
HUD posts fiscal year 2016 income & rent limits for the National Housing Trust Fund. They're effective July 1st, 2016.

SMART-GAGES
FHA expands energy-efficiency efforts
Reflecting the Obama Administration's commitment to promoting energy-efficient housing, FHA has issued Mortgagee Letter 2016-11saying it will insure purchase & refinance mortgages in Oregon and some 25 other states with PACE - Property Assessed Clean Energy - assessments beginning with mortgages receiving FHA case numbers on or after 60 days from July 19th. Using PACE, says FHA's Ed Golding, Oregon "families will be able to make their homes more energy efficient and sustainable in the long run, while still keeping their costs affordable." While Oregon has a PACE program, Alaska, Idaho and Washington State currently do not.

GOT VIEW?
Revisiting the definition of pro rata need
HUD has set a September 23rd deadline to submit formatted comments to Regulations.gov on Continuum of Care (CoC) Program interim rule for further comment on the Preliminary Pro Rata Need (PPRN) formula. The PPRN formula is "the formula that HUD uses to establish a CoC's initial need amount, a part of determining a CoC's maximum award amount in a given fiscal year." The notice on which HUD is seeking comment on HUD's review of "existing formula factors and their relationship to homelessness in communities" and on HUD proposals on "some new factors for consideration that HUD believes are more closely correlated with homelessness than the factors in the existing formula." HUD also is providing estimates of the potential impact of each of the four proposed formulae on a Continuum of Care. Please note that the "Notice for which comment is being sought does not establish a new formula." The current formula "contained in the CoC Program interim rule is in effect until the CoC Program final rule is published. All of the proposed formula factors are presented only for consideration at this time." All comments submitted must be submitted in the manner described in the Notice to be considered by HUD. Again, deadline for comment is September 23rd.

BRIEF BRIEFS
Ocean-battered Alaskan native village of Shishmare to vote on August 16th, says the AP on staying on its island or relocating to safer ground on the mainland. . .Washington Supreme Court ruling may make, says Spokane Spokesman Review, Washington first state to say loan servicer practice of placing locks on houses before foreclosure is violation of a state law. . .NAYA Family & Youth Center in Portland, Oregon names Paul Lumley as its new executive director. .Yakima County, Washington wins $1.2 million HUD Lead Paint Based Hazard Control grant to abate 26 homes over next three years. . .Bend, Oregon City Council okays some $5 million generated by system development change exemptions, land sales & loans from affordable housing fund supported fees on building permits - Bend is only city in Oregon with such a fee - to support building of some 120 affordable housing units by, among others, HousingWorks, Central Oregon Veterans Outreach & Habitat for Humanity says Bulletin. . .Two major Idaho health care systems - St. Luke's & St. Alphonsus - pledge $100,000 each, says Boise Weekly, to support City's "Housing First effort to combat chronic homelessness"., Comcast plans to expend Internet Essentials broadband service from HUD-funded public housing to HUD-assisted private housing could close digital divide for more than 36,000 households in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon & Washington. . .Idaho Housing & Finance Association, the Housing Company, USDA, Optum Idaho & the City of McCall, Idaho celebrate the grand opening of The Springs II that, says Business Wire, " brings an additional 36 homes to the region, helping address a need for more affordable housing". . ."Tiny houses" seem a perfect solution to the affordable housing crisis everywhere, it seems, except Salem, Oregon says Statesman Journal. . .Mayor Ethan Berkowitz proposes ordinance establishing registry & imposing fees of up to $1,000 per year, says Alaska Dispatch, on owners of "empty, boarded-up," abandoned buildings in Anchorage, Alaska. . .Prineville, Oregon planning commission gives "go ahead" to Housing Works, says Bend Bulletin, to convert closed elementary school into 29 units of affordable housing. . .Juneau, Alaska planning commission okays conditional use permit, the first step in building 48 unit Trillium Landing s - 41 of them affordable - for the elderly, says The Empire. . .For the second time this year, Alaska Governor Bill & First Lady Donna Walker spend the night in a "cardboard city" to support community efforts to serve the homeless reports MatSu Frontiersman. . .On a sunny Thursday in Spokane, Washington, Volunteers of America celebrates the grand opening of The Marilee & Catholic Charities celebrates grand opening of Buder Haven, each providing 50 more units of affordable housing for the chronically-homeless, says Spokesman Review, each built for a cost of about $10 million using funds from state, city & county(P.S. - Watch Buder Haven "grow" from the ground up via time lapse photos!).

THE BESTEST
"Hey honey, call the movers"
So, where are the 100 best places to live in the good ol' U.S. of A. in 2016? Well, according to Livability, Bellevue's number 2, Ashland's 18, Olympia's 20, Kirkland's 25, Boise's 27, Corvallis's 3ith, Bend's 53rd, Richland's 64th, Renton's 66th, Bellingham's 72nd, Portland's 74th, Bothell's 80th, Pullman's 91st, Eugene's 94th & Issaquah's 95th. Congrats to all (and, no, we're not unhappy that the place we call home isn't listed. Sometimes "best" is best kept secret).

WISING UP
As Smokey might say, "only you can prevent wildland fires"
La Nina with its promise of a cooler, wetter weather pattern, is on her way. That's good news for the millions upon millions of parched acres in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon & Washington so at risk for devastating wildland fires. As much as La Nina might reduce that risk it won't eliminate it and millions of acres and the homes and businesses built on them will face a continuing threat. So what to do? Maybe take a tip from a neighborhood in Eagle, Idaho that could have been engulfed by wildland fire but wasn't thanks, no surprise, the courage of firefighting crews but also to the smarts employed before the firefighters were ever called and the community was built. Those smarts - FireWise - protected their homes, reports Boise State Public Radio. Rain or shine, they could protect yours.

A BEAUT!
Port Townsend home wins national award
Most of us tend to think of the places we call home as our castles, open with arms outstretched to family and friends but pretty much off-limits to strangers and, unless you're a celebrity on the make or a politician seeking higher office, to members of the press. Not so the 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,333 square-foot, home of Judi & Dave Connif in the Dundee Heights neighborhood of Port Townsend, Washington. When out-of-the-blue Northwest HUDLines called Mrs. Connif to ask if Patrick Sullivan, the editor of The Port Townsend Leader, could drop by for a visit and maybe a story, she didn't hesitate. "Of course," she said. "My husband and I both have disabilities and want to show the world that building an accessible home doesn't mean you can't build a beautiful home." Boy, has she got that right. "It's a lovely home, and you enter the home and you are focusing on the beauty and not necessarily the accessibility," Bruce Walters of FabCab, the Seattle firm that designed the house told The Leader. And both aspects caught the eye of the American Institute of Architects which, in July, named the Connif's home as one of just four winners of a 2016 HUD Secretary's Housing & Community Design Award that honors the memory of Alan I. Rothman and recognizes "exemplary projects that demonstrate excellence in improving housing accessibility for people with disabilities." And after looking at nearly 40 homes and deciding instead to build anew, it is, Mr. Connif told The Leader, "everything I could ask for." By ever standard, simply put, a winner.

PLACE-MAKING
There's goals in that there asphalt!
For five or six years rumors have swirled up and down a pretty "run-down stretch" of Spenard Road in Anchorage, Alaska about something big that's about to happen. And now, reports The Alaska Dispatch. On a sunny day in mid-July, it reports, "heavy equipment was rolling over what used to be an asphalt parking lot for the old PJs strip club," preparing the site for ground to be broken by the cook Inlet Housing Authority - the folks who brought us the transformation of the city's Mountain View area now described by many as America's most diverse neighborhood - to construct a $10 million, mixed-use building with plenty of room for new retail and 33 units of housing - both affordable & market-rate. Proof, Jed Smith of the neighborhood council tells The Dispatch, that "the potential is incredible," a sure sign Spenard is just right on the edge of new development all up and down that whole street." It's an example, the Authority notes, of something called "creative placemaking," driven in part by a $3 million Community Development Investment award - one of only six in the nation - it was awarded by ArtPlace of New York City incorporate arts and cultural strategies" in revitalizing neighborhoods like Spenard Road. The Authority has transformed an empty, unoccupied church into the focal point for that discussion, local residents gather and talk about what they'd like to see in the area. "We don't want to do anything to the neighborhood," resident Gerow-Hanson says. "We want the neighborhood to tell us what it sees" in its future.

BRIEF BRIEFS TOO
REACH CDC celebrates top-to-bottom renovation & grand reopening of 50-unit Bronaugh Apartments that was built in 1905 and, in 2013, was last downtown building purchased as part of City of Portland's 11X13 campaign to preserve the affordability of some 1,000 units that, because of gentrification, were at risk of becoming market-rate. . .Washington State Housing Commission okays $215 million in financing for nearly 900 units of affordable housing, mostly for the elderly, in Seattle, Kent, Monroe, Tacoma, Everett, Spokane & Airway Heights, Washington. . .The Housing Company celebrates grand opening of 60-unit Field Stream Apartments in and says, KMVT-TV, it's looking to build even more "much-needed" affordable housing in Twin Falls, Idaho. . .HUD awards more than $2.8 million to renew Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS/HIV funding for Our House of Portland & Oregon Department of Human Services & Downtown emergency Service Center in Seattle, Washington. . .Yakama Nation celebrates opening of 40-unit Pahto Village in Wapato, Washington, the first all-HUD/VASH housing for homeless or at-risk tribal veterans, says Yakima Herald. . .Hood River County, Oregon Commission, says The News, to "pursue" a "new tool" created by Oregon Legislature & Governor Brown that allows localities to "impose a construction excise tax on certain developments in order to fund affordable housing programs". . .Honored in 2015 by Urban Land Institute for its 88-unit affordable 12th Ave Arts in Seattle, Washington, Capitol Hill Housing shares the limelight with City of Seattle because, it tells Capitol Hill Blog, "we couldn't have done this project without their support". . .Hailey, Idaho City Council okays first steps to donate city-owned parked set-aside for a park to ARCH Community Housing Trust as site to build four affordable homes says Idaho Mountain Express. . .Thanks to CDBG funds from Washington Department of Commerce, City of Brewster breaks ground on new water storage facility. . .Congressman Denny Heck hosts HUD Deputy Secretary Nani Coloretti for town hall on affordable housing issues in Pierce & Thurston counties at Tacoma Housing Authority's New Salishan community. . .With low-interest land acquisition loan from Alaska Housing & Finance Corporation and $200,000 grant from Wightman Family Trust, Community Resources Inc. tells Peninsula Clarion that construction may start as early as this fall on HOPE intentional living facility for "a dozen residents who may have physical and intellectual disabilities, or a combination of both" in Sterling, Alaska.

NOFA-TUNITY
So much for summer
Just when you thought it was time to relax and enjoy the what's left of a beautiful summer, it's not. Thanks, of course, to HUD. ‘Cause HUD's just published the General Section of its 2017 Notice of Funding Availability. And you know what the means. HUD's fiscal year 2017 competition for billions in funding is right around the corner. So, get out of those trunks, forget about the sun screen and put on those reading glasses and get work, making you know everything there is to know about all the rules and requirements every application for HUD funds in the year ahead must meet. And once you've read ‘em once, just to be safe you may want to read a second time. Only we guarantee you is that some folks say reading the General Section of HUD's NOFA is almost as much fun as Pokemon-Go. Let the games begin at FR-6100-N-01.

NOFA-TWO—NITY
More VASH vouchers for vets on the way
HUD has set September 9th as a deadline for public housing authorities to apply for up to 150 HUD Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) project-based rental assistance vouchers each to assist them in providing permanent, affordable housing to veterans who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness. To be eligible, housing authorities must administer a HUD Housing Choice Voucher program or be in the process of establishing such a program. Authorities must submit a separate application for each project where it intends to utilize the VASH vouchers and may propose to use no more than 75 VASH vouchers at any one project. For more information, see PIH Notice 2016-11.

NOFA-THREE-NITY
Moving the needle - yet again - in Seattle
The City of Seattle's Office of Housing has set a September 13th deadline to apply for a total of $34 million in Housing Tax Levy, state, low-income housing tax credit and HUD funds "support the production and preservation of rental housing that will provide long-term affordability to Seattle residents," especially "those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless." "Typically," the Office notes, projects funded under its Rental Housing Program "employ a combination of 4% low-income housing tax credits and tax-exempt debt and serve income levels (typically 50% and 60% of area median income)." City subsidies for funded projects "should be as slim as possible" and, indeed, the City "particularly" invites projects that "substantially reduce" any City subsidy. For more information, contact Laurie Olson at (206) 615-0995 or laurie.olson@seattle.gov.

NO-FOUR-TUNITY
Expanding supply of housing for the mentally-ill
Oregon Housing & Community Services & the Oregon Health Authority have set an August 29th deadline to apply for some $22 million to provide supported rental housing statewide for "persons with addictions or mental disorders." Allocations have been designated for both metro- and non-metro projects as well as for housing for individuals with Serious Mental Illness and for those with Substance Use Disorders well as crisis respite housing. For questions, please see the Notice or contact MFNOFA@oregon.gov.

GOT PAPERS?
Looking for smarter ways to smarter consumption
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is hosting its second annual research conference this coming December. It has set an August 26th deadline for receipt of research submissions on a variety of topics that include, but aren't limited to "work on: the ways consumers and households make decisions about borrowing, saving, and financial risk-taking; how various forms of credit (mortgage, student loans, credit cards, installment loans, etc.) affect household well-being; the structure and functioning of consumer financial markets; distinct and underserved populations; and relevant innovations in modeling or data." Got questions or concerns? Contact Worthy.Cho@consumerfinance.gov at the Bureau.

BRIEF BRIEFS THREE
Reflecting its Central City No Let Loss Policy, City of Portland, Oregon purchases 68-room Joyce Hotel - "preserving one of the few remaining low-barrier, low-cost housing options" in the area" - to prevent scheduled eviction of, says Commissioner Dan Saltzman, "some of the most vulnerable people" and offering them "a safe place to go, rather than being out on the street". . .With up to 48 percent of its housing stock in rentals, Stayton, Oregon planning department urges City Council to adopt property maintenance code to regulate exterior appearance and interior habitability of units reports Statesman Journal. . .In "its most ambitious project yet," reports Yakima Herald, Yakima Valley Partners Habitat for Humanity start work on first two of up to 35 USDA mutual self-help houses that over next 5 years will comprise Ashbrooke Way Homes in Tieton, Washington and bring "a long-lasting economic impact just by adding property tax revenue" and "add consumers to the local shops, users to their new medical clinic and stable employees to the local fruit growers/employers". . .Rasmuson Foundation awards funding to Sitka Community Land Trust, Anchorage Community Land Trust & Juneau Housing First. . .Congrats to Michael Buonocore of Portland's Home Forward & Eric Harvey of Roseburg's NeighborWorks Umpqua on their selection for NeighgorWorks 2016 Achieving Excellence Program at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. . .With $1.7 million in state & Snohomish County, Washington resources, conversion proceeds of historic former Carnegie Library in Everett into 20 units of temporary housing & supportive services "for people released from jail for nonviolent crimes, or as an alternative to the county lockup" says The Herald. . .Oregon AFL-CIO says it will tear-down its Portland offices and, in its place, build 120 units of affordable housing. . .Now that the City Council has put it on the city's fall ballot, The Mercury asks what the proposed $258 million housing tax levy will - and will not - mean for affordable housing in Portland, Oregon. . .Cook Inlet Housing celebrates grand opening of Caswell Court, says Alaska Business Monthly, 38 units of fully-accessible & affordable housing for those 55 and older in Anchorage, Alaska.

BY THE NUMBERS
Washington state's housing market
"Housing growth" in Washington State "in 2016 increased by nearly 6 percent from the previous year. The state added 34,400 housing units, compared to a 32,400-unit increase in 2015. The level of housing growth remains below the prior decade average of 43,500 units per year. Statewide, half of all new housing units were associated with multifamily structures. Nearly 73 percent of all new housing is located in the five largest metropolitan counties. King County leads all counties with almost 13,400 new units, or 39 percent of the state's total housing increase." - Washington State Office of Financial Management, June 30, 2016 press release "Washington's population grows at fastest pace since 2007".

FHA-NTASTIC
Is the homeownership market recovering?
Through the first nine months of fiscal 2016, FHA has endorsed 44,763 mortgages in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon & Washington State. That puts FHA on pace to endorse 59,682 mortgages in the region by fiscal year 2016's end on September 30th. If it hits the number, FHA would have enjoyed the 6th best year in its 80-plus year history of offering Northwest homebuyers safe, smart & sound mortgages. Not bad, huh?

WORTH A LISTEN
Forterra's new focus
Think of the Seattle-based non-profit Forterra you probably think of it as a conservation or an environmental organization devoting most of its time an effort to saving open space, preserving our forests and our rivers and our range lands, protecting the earth against us for us and our children and grandchildren. And you'd not be far off-base. Except KPLU-FM reports, as much as Forterra and its staff love to hug trees they also love to hug affordable housing, especially in communities - like Seattle - where's not nearly enough of it to meet the demand right now or in the future. Hoodathunkit!

WORTH A LOOK
This time it's not gold they're after in Alaska
"Too often, we forget there's a correlation between places people want to live and high costs of living. Nearly all places that are desirable — Alaska, Hawaii, or cities like Seattle, Portland, or New York — have higher-than-average costs of living. That's no accident. An attractive place to live will have a tighter housing market and stronger demand for goods and services. While we should certainly take steps to reduce the cost of living in Alaska, we should also recognize that our costs are at least partly a byproduct of demand to live in our great state. When we consider Alaska's cost of living compared to other desirable places, many of our costs are similar. Housing and transportation costs in Anchorage are actually more affordable than in Honolulu, New York, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, or Los Angeles. Even accounting for the relatively high prices in Alaska's more remote communities, our state is a more affordable place to live than Hawaii, New York, or California. Keep in mind that costs of living may be low in other states, but that doesn't necessarily mean people want to live there" -- Commissioner Heidi Dwyer, Alaska Department of Labor, in an introduction to The Cost of Living in Alaska, the July, 2016 issue of Alaska Economic Trends.

WORTH A READ
Groovin' in the Grove may have made a convert
"To be honest, I had my doubts before visiting Hazelnut Grove. I expected the camp to be dingy and vaguely dangerous, but found it instead filled with brightly colored artwork: paintings, signs, banners and quilts stitched from strips of tarp." - Samantha Swindler, The Oregonian, July 27th, 2016, writing about accepting an invitation to visit a "tiny house" camp "on city property across from a rail yard in North Portland"

QUOTEWORTHY
Hitting the trail for housing
"I think one of the most rewarding aspects of seeing people in housing is to see somebody who has had these challenges actually be stabilized. . ."We are here primarily because we have a housing crisis, not just in the state of Washington but in the United States overall," Cantwell said. "We need to build more affordable housing. . .If you don't increase the tax credit,...it is not going to happen. We need to increase the tax credit." - U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington State, Kent Reporter, July 21, 2016, following a visit to the Birch Creek housing complex for a roundtable meeting with residents and the Mayors of Auburn Federal Way, Kent & Tukwila about her proposal to increase the federal low income housing tax credit. She made similar visits to affordable housing complexes in Longview & Vancouver.

QUOTE TO NOTE
Trying to make the numbers work in hot market
"It's a battle. And frankly, it's getting worse. We're just racking our brains over here to try to come up with creative solutions to this." - Scott Rohrer, executive director of Bend Habitat for Humanity, The Washington Times, July 29, 2016, on the challenge of building housing for people whose wages are stagnant or going down in a community where housing prices are "skyrocketing." 

JUST PUBLISHED
Documents & data drops of interest
HUD posts Webinar on the why's & how's of using Section 108 loan guarantees as a financing tool for economic & community development. . .In collaboration with SBA & BusinessUSA, HUD publishes The Small Contractors Initiative curriculum focuses on materials to help "small contractors achieve bondable status such that they can more readily pursue federal contracting opportunities as independent firms". . .FHA posts Mortgagee Letter 2016-10 on servicer fees, costs of third-party verification of tax payment & revised HECM Financial Assessment and Property Charge Guide for FHA reverse mortgages. . .Stay up-to-date with efforts by HUD &its partners t0 Affirmativelyurther Fair Housing via our newly-launched e-mail service. . .HUD publishes Renewable Energy Toolkit for Affordable Housing is to enable recipients of grants to integrate renewable energies into their affordable housing development programs under the HOME, CDBG, HOPWA, & ESG activities.

NOTES TO NOTE
Stay current by signing-up now for HUD's Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing e-mail list. . .Comments on HUD's proposed rule to revise Indian Housing Block Grant funding formula due August 1st. . .HUD sets August 1st deadline to submit comments on a proposed rule improving and clarifying current regulations governing the allocation formula for its Indian Housing Block Grant program. . .USDA sets August 1st to apply electronically & August 5th to apply by paper for $3 million in Socially Disadvantaged Groups Grant funds. . .EPA sets August 10th deadline to apply for Brownfields Area-Wide Planning Grants of up to $200,000 each. . .HUD sets August 15th deadline to submit comments on proposed Small Area Fair Market Rent rule. . Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sets August26th deadline to submit research on how consumers make decisions on spending, saving & taking risks for presentation at its winter 2017 Research Conference. . .Oregon Housing & Community Services & Oregon Health Authority set August 29th deadline to apply for $22 million to provide supported housing for persons with substance abuse or mental disorders. . .HUD sets September 9th as the deadline for public housing authorities that administer Housing Choice Voucher programs to each apply for up to 150 HUD Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Veterans project-based rental vouchers that have been set-aside under PIH Notice 2016-11. . .National Endowment for the Arts sets September 12th to apply for Our Town "creative placemaking" funds. . .City of Seattle Office of Housing sets September 13th deadline to apply for $34 million in Rental Housing Program funds to preserve existing or produce new affordable housing for City residents, particularly those who are or are at risk of being homeless. . .HUD sets September 14th as the deadline to apply for a total of $1.9 billion in Continuum of Care funding to support efforts to prevent & end homelessness. . .NeighborWorks Pocatello sets September 16th nominations for Fall 2016 Curb Appeal Awards recognizing Pocatello residents "who do a particularly great job with landscaping around their homes". . .HUD sets September 23rd deadline to comment on proposals to change factors that determine preliminary per capita need of Continuums of Care serving the homeless.

COMING UP
Oregon AHMA hosts Education Express A Four Topic Training in No Time at Al!, August 9th, Grants Pass, Oregon.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Region X hosts First Thursday Webinar-Planning for the Homeless in Disaster, August 4th, on-line. To participate, contact terri.giles@fema.dhs.gov

King County Office of Civil Rights hosts Fair Housing Basics for Maintenance Personnel Workshop, August 10th, Seattle, Washington.

Oregon AHMA hosts Education Express A Four Topic Training in No Time at All!, August 10th, Salem, Oregon

Oregon AHMA hosts Education Express-A Four Topic Training in No Time at All! August 12th, La Grande, Oregon.

Federal Communications Commission & Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians host a Tribal Broadband, Telecom & Broadcast workshop & consultation, August 15th to 17th, Bothell, Washington.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco hosts Tools for Building the City of Choice, a discussion with Spokane Mayor David Condon & representatives from HUD, Impact Capital, Spokane Housing Authority, Umpqua Bank & others on preserving and expanding affordable housing in Spokane, August 16th, Spokane, Washington.

Oregon AHMA hosts Trends & Hot topics in Fair Housing workshop, August 16th, Roseburg, Oregon.

Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz to address summer conference of Alaska Conference of Mayors on homelessness, August 17th, Wassila, Alaska.

Oregon AHMA hosts Trends & Hot topics in Fair Housing workshop, August 17th, Grants Pass, Oregon.

Washington Housing Finance Commission hosts Tax Credit Fundamentals workshop, August 19th, Moses Lake, Washington.

Washington State Housing Finance Commission hosts Tax Credit Fundamentals workshop, August 19th, Vancouver, Washington.

Oregon AHMA hosts Trends & Hot topics in Fair Housing workshop, August 30th, La Grande, Oregon.

HUD Oregon hosts Fair Labor Standards workshop for CDBG & HOME grantees and public and tribal housing authorities, September 12th, Springfield, Oregon.

Oregon Opportunity Network hosts Fall Industry Support Conference, September 13th, Portland, Oregon.

Alaska Association of Housing Authorities hosts Admission & Occupancy Workshop, September 13th to 15th, Fairbanks Alaska.

Alaska Association of REALTORS hosts annual convention, September 14th to 17th, Juneau, Alaska.

Oregon AHMA hosts Trends & Hot Topics in Fair Housing workshop, September 15th, Lincoln City, Oregon.

Oregon AHMA hosts Managing LIHTC with Other Programs workshop, September 16th, Salem, Oregon.

King County Office of Civil Rights hosts First Stepso-Best Practices to Promoting Fair Housing, September 21st, Seattle, Washington.

King County Office of Civil Rights hosts Advanced Fair Housing Workshop, September 21st, Seattle, Washington.

Idaho Non-Profit Center hosts 13th annual conference, September 22nd & 23rd, Boise, Idaho.

Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians host 63rd annual fall conference, September 26th to 29th, Tulalip, Washington.

Oregon Association of REALTORS hosts annual conference, September 27th to 30th, Sunriver, Oregon.

League of Oregon Cities hosts 91st annual conference, September 29th to October 1st, Salem, Oregon.

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