Northwest HUD Lines
December 2013

HUD e-Briefs from Alaska, Idaho, Oregon & Washington
Mary McBride, Region X Regional Director (206) 220-5356
Leland Jones, Editor

ON BOARD
Bill Block has been named HUD Regional Administrator for Region X, serving Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. He assumed his new duties on November 18th, succeeding Mary McBride who is now HUD's Assistant Deputy Secretary for Field Policy and Management. Bill Block was an attorney whose practice was focused on complex real estate transactions on behalf of both private and public entities. In 2005, then-King County Executive Ron Sims asked to serve as Director of the Committee to End Homelessness and he was responsible for working with 70 local government, non-profit and for-profit entities, faith-based communities, philanthropies and formerly homeless people in implementing the County's 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness in Seattle/King County. During his tenure some 5,000 housing units were funded for homeless and at-risk individuals and families in the County. He also has served Chair of the Seattle Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, President of AIDS Housing of Washington (now Building Changes), Chair of the Seattle Center Advisory Commission, Chair of the Low Income Housing Levy Oversight Committee and board member of the Downtown Emergency Service Center and the Workforce Development Council of Seattle/King County. For more, visit website.

NO RETREAT
In releasing HUD's 2013 Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, HUD Secretary Donovan said in November that HUD and its partners are "making real and significant progress to reduce homelessness in this country." Now, he added, "is not the time to retreat from doing what we know works." The report, based on data collected from one-night, point-of-time counts reported by some 3,000 communities across the country estimates that, from 2010 to 2013, nationally there was "a 24 percent drop in homelessness among Veterans and a 16 percent reduction among individuals experiencing long-term or chronic homelessness." In the Northwest, the report estimates a 4.4 percent increase in homelessness in Alaska but an almost 22.4 percent decline in Washington state, an almost 24.1 percent decline in Idaho and an almost 29.1 percent decline in Oregon over the period. "I understand these are tough budget times," Donovan noted, "but these are proven strategies that are making a real difference. We simply can't balance our budget on the backs of those living on the margins." For more, visit website.

KNOW MO'
The Dodd-Frank Consumer Protection & Wall Street Reform Act mandated a simplified, streamlined mortgage process and the Consumer Financial Protection Board has now issued a final rule requiring lenders, as of August 15, 2015, to use "easier-to-use mortgage disclosure forms that clearly lay out the terms of a mortgage for a homebuyer." The CFPB new "Know Before You Owe" form will replace the long-used, but often confusing, Truth-in-Lending and HUD-1 documents. The rule also sets forth "when the new forms are given to the consumer, and limits how the final deal can change from the original loan estimate." For more, visit website (www.consumerfinance.gov/newsroom/cfpb-finalizes-know-before-you-owe-mortgage-forms/).

! ! ! NEWS FLASH ! ! !
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today announced that the 2014 maximum conforming loan limits for mortgages acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will remain at $417,000 for one-unit properties in most areas of the country. More here (www.fhfa.gov/webfiles/25847/CLL2014112613Final.pdf).

CLOSE TO HOME
The true dollars-and-cents cost of living where you live is more than just the cost of your mortgage and the size of your utility bill. It's also about the time - and, yes, money - to get you to and from work, school, shopping or just plain getting away from those pesky things like bills. So, how do you figure out those costs? Well, HUD and the U.S. Department of Transportation has just launched an App that can tell you. It's called the Location Affordability Portal and allows you to estimate housing and transportation costs for neighborhoods across the country. You might want to sit down before you try it, though. You could be surprised how much transportation, like an always hungry teenager, eats away at your budget. For more, visit website.

BE WARNED, BEWARE
It's not unusual for an Attorney General like Lawrence Wasden to issue alerts warning consumers of scams to avoid. Not so usual, though, are scam alerts for non-profits. Like the scam alert he issued in November. "The scam works like this," he advised. "The thief uses a credit card or online payment account such as PayPal to make a large donation through the non-profit's online donation page," Wasden said. "He then contacts the organization and says the amount was a mistake. For example, a $5,000 donation was meant to be only a $500 donation. He asks the organization to refund the difference, typically to a different account than the one used to make the donation. Sometimes the scammer claims the original account had to be closed for security or other reasons." For more, see website (www.ag.idaho.gov/media/consumerAlerts/2013/ca_11212013.html).

BRIEF BRIEFS
Federal Housing Finance Agency reports that Washington state ranked 5th, Oregon 8th, Idaho 13th & Alaska 44th among 50 states in home price appreciation from 3rd quarter 2012 to 3rd quarter 2013. . .NeighborWorks Umpqua & UCAN celebrate grand opening of Eagle Landing, a 54-unit housing complex for veterans and their families on the campus of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Roseburg. . .Yakama Nation's use of HUD's Title VI program and Low Income Housing Tax Credits to build affordable housing in Wapato is front-page feature of October issue of Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits. . .Juneau Planning Commission gives "green light," reports The Empire, to Volunteers of America to build, starting in March, the first 40 of 75 affordable housing units on city's west side. . .Northwest Housing Alternatives celebrates grand opening of $9.5 million, 45-unit Alma Gardens in Oregon Station, the first affordable housing project, says Portland Tribune, in Washington County. . .Northwest Real Estate Capital completes substantial rehabilitation of 36-unit, 9 building High Valley Estates family housing in Klamath Falls, the 32nd affordable rental preservation project in NWREC's history. . .Washington Department of Commerce selects Craft3 and Puget Sound Cooperative Credit Union to manage $14.5 million Clean Energy Revolving Loan Fund created by Legislature to help individuals and companies finance residential and commercial building energy efficiency work and renewable energy technology installations. . .Proud Ground names former Multnomah County Commissioner Diane Linn as its executive director. . .Janeal Kohler takes helm as executive director of Housing Authority of Douglas County. . .Rasmuson Foundation awards $400,000 to Haines Assisted Living, Inc. to complete veterans housing complex. . .Community Partners for Affordable Housing complete $4.1 million renovation of Catholic Social 48-unit in Beaverton. . .City of Kingston celebrates grand opening of 35-unit Martha & Mary's Village Green Senior Apartments developed by Shelter Resources Inc. as part of its Village Green revitalization that also includes park, senior center, library & Boys & Girls Club. . .Catholic Social Services' Clare House shelter moves to new home in Spennard neighborhood of Anchorage providing shelter to 125 women and children, says KTVA-TV, up from 45 in its old facility. . .After 12 years with Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, Lona Hammer becomes executive director of Kennewick Housing Authority.

BOOSTER-NOMICS
Oregon Housing and Community Services has competitively awarded $22 million in 9 percent Low Income Tax Credit and HOME funding to 13 projects in 11 counties that will preserve or produce 561 units of affordable housing. Winning organizations included Columbia Cascade Housing Group, Sunset Housing Inc., St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County, Northeast Oregon Housing Authority, REACH CDC, Warm Springs Housing Authority, Northwest Housing Alternatives, Willamette Neighborhood Housing Service, Housing Authority of Jackson County, Human Solutions, Community Partners for Affordable Housing and Innovative Housing, Inc. 29 applications competed for the funds.

COMPROWISE?
When the Housing Authority of Jackson County first proposed to build Cherry Creek - 100 units of affordable housing on the south side of Medford - the reaction was fast and furious. Nearby residents opposed it. So too did the City Council. It seemed inevitable that it would take a long time and litigation for the project to ever break ground. But then the Authority took a step back and sought a compromise, offering to cut its development in half and to trade the land it no longer needed for a City-owned parcel downtown where it could build the units it had foregone at Cherry Creek. And now, reports Damian Mann in The Mail Tribune, Cherry Creek is nearing completion, "blossoming before neighbors' eyes." Even better, opposition seems to have cooled down. These days compromise seems as extinct as the dinosaurs. But when it's tried, it still seems it can work. For a closer look, visit website (www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20131024/NEWS/310240308&cid=sitesearch).

PRODUCTIVE SILENCE
Combat zones have a way of focusing a mind. That was certainly true for Avi Jacobson who has worked at the Washington State Housing Finance Commission senior sustainable energy coordinator since 2011. He decided on what he wanted to do for the rest of his life while on duty with the U.S. Air Force in Iraq. "The most disruptive sound on our secure compound was not mortar attacks or fighter jets," he recalls. "It was silence—the sudden quiet of our diesel generator shutting down. It showed me how energy management directly impacted our combat readiness." That silence led directly to what he's accomplished for the Commission - a Sustainable Energy Program which, says the Commission, "has grown into a clearinghouse of information and a source of innovative financing models for developers of green homes, energy-efficiency upgrades and clean-energy sources." And it has led to Jacobson's selection by The White House as one of its 2013 Champions of Change, veterans who have taken action to promote clean, renewable energy sources, encourage climate resilience and preparedness, and raise awareness surrounding climate change. He says it's "humbling." We say "congratulations" and "thanks."  

"HAND-UP & OUT"
In almost any city - large, small or somewhere in between - in America, the demand for affordable housing far exceeds the supply. Which means, the wait for those whose incomes qualify for public housing isn't getting any shorter. In fact, most places it's getting longer. "Families are staying in public housing much longer than they were a decade ago," says Bryan Butcher, chief executive officer and executive director of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation. We "have over 10,000 people on our waiting lists," the Corporation's Cathy Stone explained to KSKA Radio. "People are looking at 10 or 20 years of being on a waiting list. It's not an efficient or effective way to manage our program." Effective April 2014 that's going to change for able-bodied residents receiving rental subsidies from the Corporation will see their subsidy decreased and their contributions increase from year-to-year. At the end of five years they'll receive no subsidy at all and they'll be on their own. During the period, they also will "be required to attend a financial literacy course in the first year and will be encouraged to participate in an expanded statewide Family Self Sufficiency Program that provides caseworkers and resources to help them meet financial goals." They can continue to live in public housing, but without subsidy, and they also can re-apply for rental assistance. But they'll be put at the back of a very long line. Elderly and disabled residents will not be subject to the time limit and, in fact, will see their share of the rent actually decrease. The reforms have two basic purposes - to give those already receiving subsidies the incentives to get off the subsidies and, second, to give others who need and have waited a long time for subsidies the chance to get them. The Corporation "should be commended for beginning to fix a broken" public housing system, wrote The Ketchikan Daily News. "Its rent reforms will reemphasize that public assistance is not a way of life, but a hand up and out in a time of need."

$TRATEGIC MOVE
With help from Key Bank affiliate Key Government Finance, Inc., King County Housing Authority executive director Stephen Norman says the Authority has made a "strategic move" to take advantage of current low interest rates to refinance its debt. He called in a "strategic move" that will restructure its debt, protect its portfolio of 18 properties providing 1,936 housing units in 13 cities across the county, acquire three more properties, protect low-income residents against loss of housing subsidy and strengthen the Authority's cash flow against threats posed by Federal sequestration. Savings from the refinancing - about $6 million - will enable the Authority to purchase the 24-unit Northwood Square in Auburn, 66-unit Bellevue Manor, 44-unit Harris Manor in Redmond, all of which are approaching mortgage maturity and, with it, loss of HUD rent subsidy for the residents were they to return to market rate complexes. 

PORTLANDATA
What's the word on the street in Portland these days? You might find some interesting answers in City Auditor LaVone Griffin-Valade's just-released Portland Community Survey that solicited the views of some 9,800 randomly-selected households across the city. Citywide, it reports, "80 percent of residents felt positively about city livability and 88 percent felt positively about their neighborhood's livability." On the other hand, in 2013 only 50 percent of residents "rated City government's overall job as very good or good, compared to 62 percent of residents in 2009." Closer to home, though, "88 and 80 percent of residents felt positively about the livability of their neighborhood and the city, respectively. When asked to rate the City's job in making downtown a good place to shop, work, live and recreate, residents' positive ratings decreased from 65 percent in 2009 to 59 percent in 2013." This is the 23rd annual survey of Portland residents, an innovative and interesting way to find out what's working and what's not. For the full survey, visit website (www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?&a=468341&c=60923).

BRIEF BRIEFS TOO
Spokane Housing Authority names Pam Tietz, the executive director of the Peninsula Housing Authority for the last 19 years and currently vice-chair of the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, as its new executive director, succeeding Steve Cervantes. . .Paul G. Allen Family Foundation awards $1.8 million to City of Seattle to open Financial Empowerment Centers - the first on the West Coast - at New Holly, Jim Wiley Community Center in Greenbridge, YWCA Opportunity Place in downtown, Solid Ground at Sand Point and the North Seattle Community College. . Portland Development Commission awards $200,000 Community Livability grant to Hacienda CDC to build community kitchen as part of its Mercado initiative. . .South Central Community Action in Twin Falls , NeighborWorks Umpqua in Roseburg and HopeSource among almost 90 organizations to win USDA Housing Preservation Grants. . .Idaho Housing & Finance Association awards $1.4 million in HOME and Low Income Tax Credit funds to ARCH Community Housing Trust, says Idaho Mountain Express, for construction of 26-unit Quail Creek in Cold springs. . .Jeff Judd of Cook Inlet Housing and Martha McLennan of Northwest Housing Alternatives named to affordable housing advisory board of Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle. . .Thanks to funding from Washington Housing Trust Fund, City of Seattle & Rainier Valley Community Development, Urban Impact and Mercy Housing celebrate grand opening of 61-unit Emerald City Commons in Seattle. . .Portland's Housing Development Center celebrates 20th anniversary. . .Juneau Affordable Housing Commission unanimously okays two loan proposals - low-interest loans for down-payments on manufactured homes and loans to encourage owners to build accessory apartments on their parcels - intended, says Juneau Empire, "to  chisel away at the housing deficit in the capital city". . .Oregon Housing & Community Services awards Low Income Housing Tax Credits for Human Solutions' mixed-use Rosewood Building - including 26 units of renovated housing - in Gresham. . .HomeSight & King County Housing Authority break ground for 8 new affordable homes in Greenbridge community. . .Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs win $200,000 from Turkey's Agency for International Development to help cover costs of new water tower to help residents "meet their water needs for the next 10 years". . .Meyer Memorial Trust awards $484,000 replace obsolete trailers and mobile homes with Energy Star manufactured homes. . .Eugene City Council members, says Register Guard, have "indicated a willingness to consider imposing temporary building restrictions in the three neighborhoods around the University of Oregon" that have seen influx of student housing. . .Wells Fargo employees in Portland-Vancouver metro pledge more than $1.2 million to support non-profits. . .Department of Energy awards $2 million to Washington Department of Commerce to make it faster, easier and cheaper for residents to install rooftop solar panels.

RENEWED & REFRESHED
In a November blog, the Meyer Memorial Trust's Candy Solovjovs announced that the Trust has renewed its commitment to its Affordable Housing Initiative with a commitment of "approximately $11 million" over the next five years. She also noted that the Initiative has, in her words, been refreshed with a new framework that will "leverage" the Trust's "resources and influence to strengthen and protect the affordable housing resources we have in place, while transforming the field by sparking innovations to address key barriers and spurring systems change. It also prioritizes funds toward the most under-resourced Oregon communities and populations." The first request-for-proposals under the new framework, she added, will be issue in "late spring or early summer of 2014." To read the full blog, visit website (www.mmt.org/blog/affordable-housing-initiative-next-five-years).

NOFA--TUNITY
HUD has set a February 3rd deadline for Continuums of Care to submit applications for an estimated $1.7 billion in fiscal year 2014 funds to provide permanent and transitional housing to homeless persons as well as services including job training, health care, mental health counseling, substance abuse treatment and child care to homeless individuals and families. In announcing the Notice of Funding Availability competition, HUD did note that due to a record number of existing programs requesting funds to continue operating, flat funding from Congress and sequestration, this amount represents a 5% cut to existing programs and risks halting or even reversing recent reductions of homelessness in communities across the country. "In recent years we have made great progress in reducing homelessness, especially among veterans and people who are chronically homeless," said HUD Secretary Donovan. "We shouldn't be cutting our budget on the backs of the most vulnerable in our society." For more, visit website (www.grants.gov/search-grants.html?agencies%3DHUD%7CDepartment%20of%20Housing%20and%20Urban%20Development).

NOFA-TWO-NITY
The Environmental Protection Agency has set a February 18th deadline for grants of up to $120,000 under its Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving (EJCPS) Cooperative Agreement Program. The program supports projects addressing "local environmental and/or public health issues within an affected community" and is intended to "help communities understand and address exposure to multiple environmental harms and risks." For more, visit website (www.grants.gov/search-grants.html?agencies%3DEPA%7CEnvironmental%20Protection%20Agency).

NOFA-THREE-NITY
The Environmental Protection Agency has set a January 22nd deadline to apply for $40 million in Brownfields Assessment grants, $14 million in Brownfields Clean-Up grants and $10 million in Brownfields Revolving Loan funds. The Assessment and Clean-Up grants have a ceiling of $200,000 and the Revolving Loan Fund of $1 million to capitalize a revolving fund to make loans for Brownfields clean-up projects. Funds awarded through the competition "empower states, communities, tribes, and nonprofits to prevent, inventory, assess, clean up, and reuse brownfield sites." For more, visit website (www.grants.gov/search-grants.html?agencies%3DEPA%7CEnvironmental%20Protection%20Agency).

NO-FOUR-TUNITY
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has set January 31st deadlines for qualified non-profits to submit applications for an estimated $17 million in Technical Assistance & Training Grant Utilities programs. The winning organizations will to identify and evaluate solutions to water and waste disposal problems in rural areas, assist applicants in preparing applications for water and waste grants made at the State level offices, and improve operation and maintenance of existing water and waste disposal facilities in rural areas. Winning grants are expected to be no more than $1 million. For more, visit website (www.grants.gov/search-grants.html?agencies%3DUSDA%7CDepartment%20of%20Agriculture).

GET SMART
Grow Smart America is inviting units of local governments, tribes or regional governments to apply by December 6th for technical assistance workshops on any one of 12 topics - from Implementing Smart Growth 101 to Regional Planning for Small Communities, Walkability to Transit-Oriented Development - in 2014. For more, visit website (www.smartgrowthamerica.org/2013/11/01/applications-now-being-accepted-for-smart-growth-americas-2014-free-technical-assistance-workshops/).

BRIEF BRIEFS THREE
Telling Twin Falls Times-News that international companies considering relocation to Burley "like the community" but think its downtown is "shabby," economic development director Doug Manning says it should consider joining Nampa, Lewiston and Driggs as an Idaho Main Street community. . .HUD Secretary Donovan presents award in New Orleans to Oregon Housing & Community Services for her agency's work on the 2013 Physical Inspection Alignment Pilot in which HUD, USDA Rural Development and Treasury are streamline all physical inspections of motif-family properties that have joint funding at a federal level. . .Vancouver Housing Authority, reports The Columbian, "will pursue building" Lincoln Place, "will pursue building a 30-unit apartment building for chronically homeless". . .USDA awards $27.7 million to improve water & wastewater systems in Kwethluk, Seldovia, Hooper Bay, Lower Kalskag, Quinhagak, Adak, Golovin, Akiachak and Eek and to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium to provide technical assistance to the benefiting native villages. . .Northwest Housing Alternatives celebrates grand re-opening of Hollyfield Village, 30 units of affordable housing for the elderly in Lake Oswego. . .Mason County Habitat for Humanity breaks ground for 23rd home and, says Kitsap Sun, first-ever in Belfair. . .Oregon Housing & Community Services and Neighborhood Partnerships award total of $1.2 million to support Oregon Individual Development Account Initiative. . .King County Office of Civil Rights receives almost $110,000 from HUD's Fair Housing Partnership Fund for education, outreach and support of its 28th annual fair housing conference next spring. . .Portland Housing Bureau says City Council has okayed Commission Dan Saltzman's proposal to add $1.7 million in funding to help an additional 200 adults & 100 families experiencing homelessness. . .Oregon Housing & Community Services' Rebuilding American Homeownership Pilot is now available to help underwater homeowners in Clackamas & Washington counties. . .Mark Putnam, a director with Building Changes, named as project director of the King County Committee to End Homelessness. . .Bainbridge Senior Living, says Daily Journal of Commerce, begins moving-in residents of $14.5 million, FHA-insured Madrona House, a senior care facility on Bainbridge Island for people with dementia. . .Michael Mirra names Kathy McCormick of San Antonio as Tacoma Housing Authority's new director of real estate development.

FAC-TASTIC
In 2009 HUD used funds from the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act to launch a green retrofit program for multifamily properties. A year later, Mercy Housing Northwest signed-up seven of its properties in Washington state. Has it paid off? Big time, reports Mercy Housing. In the seven properties, Green Retrofit has "saved an amazing 24 percent in common space electricity consumption and 18 percent in total water use and tenants saved 10% on their electric consumption. Assuming cost savings are commensurate with consumption reductions, collectively, these properties are saving about $62,000 per year as a result of the Mercy Housing paid energy and water bills." For more, see website (http://mercyhousingblog.org/2013/11/05/hud-green-retrofit-program-in-northwest-proves-to-be-a-huge-success-in-reducing-energy-and-water-consumption/).

NOT-SO-FAC-TASTIC
"For every dollar put towards financial education," reports the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, "$25 is spent on financial marketing, which can make it difficult for consumers to find objective information." For more, visit website (www.consumerfinance.gov/newsroom/the-cfpb-finds-financial-education-programs-are-significantly-outspent-by-financial-marketing/).

QUOTE WORTHY
"What home means to me is that Mum always saves the day" - 14-year-old Renton Housing Authority resident Hawa Mohamed , one of 12 winners nationwide of NAHRO's What Home Means to Me poster contest. See the poster in the newsletter here.

WORTH A READ
The following is excerpted from an Op Ed written for the Seattle Times by our new Regional Administrator, Bill Block, as he left his position as project director of the Committee to End Homelessness. For the full op-ed, visit website (http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2019291356_guestbillblockxml.html) - -"Seven years ago I joined the Committee to End Homelessness in King County, an extraordinary community effort taking on the issues of homelessness as never before. As I prepare to step down as project director this week, I am proud of all that we have accomplished. At the same time, I am haunted by the faces of the thousands of people who are still suffering through homelessness. Their faces remind me that, as successful as we have been, our homeless programs cannot alone end homelessness. . .People become homeless when medical costs and the lack of insurance drive them into bankruptcy; when the lack of mental-health treatment leads to a helpless spiral and into jail; when, for many, the only affordable housing on minimum wage is the back seat of the car. . .We live in a community that has repeatedly demonstrated its compassion for the most vulnerable. Together, we have changed the lives of thousands of our neighbors. We have proved that stable housing can break the cycle of jail, emergency rooms and detox centers for single adults struggling with mental illness and addiction. We have shown that stable housing means children do better in school, improving their lifelong prospects. We have learned that addressing the needs of homeless youth prevents them from becoming chronically homeless adults. Yet we must do more. Our community safety net is more fragile than ever. Despite achieving several small drops in our annual one-night homeless count, we still estimate that more than 5,000 people live in emergency shelter or on the streets. . .Moving forward, we need stronger partnerships and renewed efforts within and across our service systems. We must increase the education and employment services that lead to living-wage jobs. We must divert young men from the criminal-justice system into counseling, treatment and a chance for a better life. We need a return to federal housing subsidies for those unable to afford housing. In constant dollars the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development budget is less than half of what it was in 1978. . .We must restore the social-safety net that has been left shredded by too many cuts over the past several years. That work has begun, but many much remains to be done. . .Homelessness is the bellwether for the rest of our society. Although a generation has grown up with massive homelessness, those of us who are older know that homelessness is not normal. . .We know what to do for those who are homeless or on the edge of homelessness. We also know how to keep them from falling off the edge. We need to do both."

NOTE WORTHY
What's it worth to have a house in a "walkable" community, a place where you can walk to work or school or to a part or shopping? 'Bout 42 percent more, says the Sonoran Institute. "Our analysis of data from more than 40,000 house resales in Boise from 2000 to 2011," writes the Institute's Randy Carpenter in The Idaho Business Review, "showed that homes in compact, walkable places sold for an average of 42 percent more per square foot than those in conventional developments." For more, visit website (http://idahobusinessreview.com/2013/11/25/homebuyers-are-voting-with-their-feet/).

NOTES TO NOTE
Smart Growth America sets December 6th deadline for local governments and tribes to apply for 2014 technical assistance workshops. . .Capitol Hill Housing of Seattle sets December 17th deadline to submit applications for Chief Operating Officer position. . .Treasury sets December 23rd deadline to apply for $144 million for CDFI Program awards, $35 million for Healthy Food Financing Initiative Financial Assistance awards and $12 million for NACA Program awards. . .Treasury sets December 30th deadline to submit public comments on CDFI's Bank Enterprise Award program. . .Funders' Network sets January 8th deadline to submit proposals for its Local Sustainability Matching Fund. . .USDA Forest Service sets January 15th deadline to apply for $4 million in Community Forest & Open Space Program which assists tribes, local governments and non-profits in fee simple acquisition of private forest land from a willing seller. . .HUD sets February 3rd deadline to apply for up to $1.7 billion in  Continuum of Care funds though indicating funding may "not be adequate" to "fund all existing projects" due to Sequestration. . .EPA sets February 14th deadline for non-profits & tribal organizations to apply for grants of up to $120,000 under Environmental Justice Collaborative Justice Problem-Solving Cooperative Program. . .EPA sets January 22nd deadline to apply for $40 million in Brownfields Assessment grants, $14 million in Brownfields Clean-Up grants and $10 million in Brownfields Revolving Loan funds. . .USDA sets January 31st deadline for eligible non-profits to apply for $17 million under Training and Technical Assistance grants to help rural communities address water and waste management issuers. . .City off Seattle Office of Housing sets June 2014 deadline to submit applications under Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Loan Program.

COMING UP
Treasury hosts Webinar for all applicants for CDFI & NACA funding competition, December 2nd on-line. Visit www.cdfifund.gov/cdfi and www.cdfifund.gov/native. 

Washington Low Income Housing Alliance holds annual meeting, December 4th, Seattle. Visit http://wliha.org/blog/save-date-december.

FHA hosts Webinar on Overview HUD Early Delinquency Activities and Loss Mitigation Program, December 4th, on-line. Visit https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/391646640.

Spokane Low Income Housing Consortium holds annual meeting, December 5th, Spokane. For more, contact Cindy Algeo at cindy@slihc.org.

Oregon Housing & Community Services hosts LIHTC/HOME Notice of Funding Availability Partner Workshop, Salem, December 5th. Contact Kim.Travis@hcs.state.or.us.

Puget Sound Regional Council hosts People + Place: Action for a Sustainable Future conference, December 10th, Seattle. Visit www.psrc.org/growth/growing-transit-communities/people-place-action-for-a-sustainable-future-event-information/.

Idaho Housing & Finance and Idaho AHMA host Section 8 training workshop, Boise, December 11th. Visit www.idahoahma.org/training-credentials/ihfa-winter-trainings.

FHA hosts Webinar on HUD Loss Mitigation - Home Retention Options, December 11th, on-line. Visit http://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/519349800.

Idaho Housing & Finance and Idaho AHMA host HOME Investment Partnership training, Boise, December 12th. Visit www.idahoahma.org/training-credentials/ihfa-winter-trainings.

Portland Housing Center, NeighborWorks America & Wells Fargo host Portland NeighborhoodLIFT to help potential homebuyers learn about homeownership, Portland, December 13th & 14th. Visit https://portlandhousingcenter.org/lift.

HUD Northwest hosts on-line Basics of the Fair Housing Webinar, December 18th, on-line.

FHA hosts Webinar on HUD Loss Mitigation: Home Disposition Options, January 8th, on-line. Visit https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/687057177.

Oregon Housing & Community Services hosts LIHTC/HOME Notice of Funding Availability Partner Workshop, Salem, January 10th. Contact Kim.Travis@hcs.state.or.us.

HUD's Alaska Office of Native American Programs offers HUD Environmental Review Training, Anchorage, January 14th to 16th.

FHA hosts Webinar on Neighborhood Watch Systems-Service Tools, January 15th, on-line. Visit https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/500780480.

Oregon Housing & Community Services hosts LIHTC/HOME Notice of Funding Availability Partner Workshop, Salem, January 17th. Contact Kim.Travis@hcs.state.or.us.

King County Office of Civil Rights hosts Introduction to Fair Housing Workshop, Seattle, January 22nd. Visit www.kingcounty.gov/exec/CivilRights/FH/FHWorkshops.aspx.

King County Office of Civil Rights hosts Advanced Fair Housing Workshop, Seattle, January 22nd. Visit, www.kingcounty.gov/exec/CivilRights/FH/FHWorkshops.aspx.

Portland Commissioner Dan Saltzman & Portland Housing Bureau director Traci Manning host Public Forum, Portland, January 30th. Visit www.google.com/calendar/event?eid=OGNyYnZpN2I4cG1yOHMyNXY1NzJwcHJqcmMgZXZlbnRzQG9yZWdvbm9uLm
9yZw&ctz=America/Los_Angeles.

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