Northwest HUD Lines
July 2012

!!!HAVE A HAPPY 236th!!!

DE-STRESS
Despite "momentum" in the housing market "we haven't seen since before the crisis," HUD Secretary Donovan told the recent Clinton Global America Meeting that "there are still thousands of FHA borrowers who are severely delinquent today - who have exhausted their options and could lose their homes in a matter of months" and that he has ordered the expansion of a pilot HUD launched in 2010- the Distressed Asset Stabilization Program - that "allows private investors to purchase pools of mortgages headed for foreclosure and charges them with helping to bring the loan out of default." For a mortgage to be placed in a pool, the borrower must be at least six months delinquent on their mortgage but not in bankruptcy and the servicer must have exhausted all steps in the FHA loss mitigation process and initiated foreclosure proceedings. Pooled mortgages will be sold competitively at a "market-determined price generally below the outstanding principal balance." Once a note is purchased, is delayed for a minimum of six more months as the borrower gets direct help from their servicer to find a solution to avoid foreclosure modifying their loan terms or helping them through a short sale,. The first sale under the expanded Distressed Asset Stabilization program is scheduled in September. Since its launch in 2010, the program has resulted in the purchase of some 2,100 homes. For more about the Distressed Asset Stabilization program, visit HUD's website.

COUNSELOR U.
Starting July 9th, HUD's Denver and Santa Ana Homeownership Centers and the Rural Community Assistance Corporation will conduct six, two-hour refresher Webinars on the how's, what's and why's of complying with the requirements of being a HUD-approved housing counseling. The six sessions - July 9th, July 13th, July 20th, July 27th, August 3rd, August 24th - will start at 1 p.m. Pacific. Links will be sent once you've registered for the Webinars. For more information and to register, please visit the website.

FHA-REE PASS?
Does holding title to an FHA-insured mortgage exempt you from state and local laws? The answer's short and the answer's sweet - NO! For more, see FHA Mortgagee Letter 12-12 online.

P.S.
Nor, for that matter, can you convey title to an FHA-insured property if there are unpaid taxes, utility bills or condo fees. See FHA Mortgage Letter 12-11 also online.

DE-NASTY-FICATION.
There's been lots in the news lately, unfortunately, about the sexual abuse of children. Never pleasant reading. Nasty stuff. But it does create an opportunity to remind ourselves of our obligations as providers of affordable housing. Obligations like, for example, enforcing the statutory and regulatory prohibition against admitting individuals subject to a lifetime registration requirement under a State sex offender registration program to some 15 HUD-assisted, affordable housing programs - from Section 202 and 811 complexes to privately-owned, project-based housing to public housing. If you haven't read the policy recently, it's probably worth taking a look at a reiteration HUD issued on June 12th. You'll find it online.

BRIEF BRIEFS
Richard "Dick" Bauer, HUD Regional Administrator from 1990 to 1993, passes away. . .Community Frameworks of Bremerton & Spokane wins $1,905,750 in HUD "sweat equity" funds to Community to produce at least 102 additional units of affordable, energy-efficient self-help housing in Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. . .Metropolitan Affordable Housing Corporation celebrates grand opening of 56-unit Willakenzie Crossing Apartments in Eugene. . .Idaho Business Review says Mercy Housing Northwest is "on track" to complete 53 units of affordable housing for seniors in downtown Boise "in mid-July". . .Capitol Hill Housing acquires 30-unit Haines Apartments in Seattle with plans to renovate and maintain as affordable housing. . .Clackamas County Housing Authority and Home Forward of Portland agreed to a pilot mobility project under which more than 7,500 holders of Housing Choice Vouchers may utilize them in either jurisdiction. . .Washington State Housing Finance Commission says it's completed financing for 395-unit Urban Center Apartments in Lynnwood. and the 165-unit North City Apartments in Shoreline. . .Bailey-Boushay House of Seattle, one of the nation's first residential care facilities for people with AIDS, turns 20. . .EPA imposes $24,000 penalty on Klamath Falls landlord for failing to notify tenants of potential lead paint risks in housing. . .Housing Kitsap named Regional Builder of the Year by Northwest Energy Star Homes. . .Small Business Development Center at the University of Alaska Anchorage, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, the Lower Elwha K'lallam and the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians win USDA Rural Business Enterprise grants "to support small business and job creation opportunities and train workers". . .The World says Wenatchee celebrates grand opening of Hospitality House to provide housing to four homeless families. . .With help from Oregon Housing & Community Services, NOAH, Meyer Memorial Trust & Enterprise Community Partners, says Siuslaw News, Northwest Housing Alternatives able to keep 45-unit Siuslaw Dunes complex in Florence in affordable housing inventory. . .Daily News says first-ever Longview Housing Authority "supply drive" raises more than $5,000 in cash and materials for homeless veterans. . .King County Council okays increase in number of affordable housing units in major development planned for site of the former King Dome. . .Sitka wins $350,000 grant to re-open Sheldon Jackson College campus - closed in 2007 - and transform it, says Rasmusson Foundation, into "an arts destination for the Southeast Alaska". . .Governor Gregoire names Ellensburg, Redmond, Renton, Sequim, Shoreline & Skagit, & Snohomish counties as 2012 Smart Communities.

VA-ROOOOOOOOOM!
There's a new site to see for the 7 million motorists who annually traverse Interstate 5 through downtown Tacoma. And HUD helped put it there. It looks like a 165,000 square-foot, upside-down, shiny silver hot dog bun and is called The LeMay Museum of the American Car, the new home to what The Guinness Book of World Records says is the largest privately-owned collection of vintage automobiles in the world. The collection - some 3,500 vehicles strong - was the pride and joy of the late Tacoma businessman Harold LeMay who said he'd donate it to the City if it would built a facility to house it. A HUD Section 108 loan guarantee was one of the critical pieces in financing it. With its opening on June 2nd, said HUD Northwest Regional Administrator Mary McBride, the LeMay Museum joined "the Space Needle, Mt. Rainier and the Orcas in Puget Sound on the "must-see" list when people visit western Washington." Visit the LeMay online (http://www.lemaymuseum.org/).

HOME ECO-NOMICS
Students in the College of Idaho's environmental stewardship program probably learn as much from living in a house as taking notes in a classroom. That's because as part of the curriculum teams of two students each move out of the dorms - "hooray!," they say - to live for a while in an Eco-House owned by the College just south of its Caldwell campus. There they tend the College's organic garden, raise seven chickens and chase seven rabbits and, day in and day out, try to get as "off the grid" as they can get, reports Kristin Rodine of The Idaho Statesman. They also "organize programs for Van Buren Elementary School students in the fall, put on Earth Day events and bring produce to the Caldwell Farmers Market." Some of the students are studying art, others history, still others engineering. But they all, said Jen Nelson, the College's residential life director, "tend to be students that composted in their dorm room anyway. It's very hard work and you're very dependent on the weather and the temperature. You learn to respect the land and the things growing on it." Read the full story online (http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/06/25/2167398/student-stewards-get-back-to-earthy.html).

PAY BACK
Apparently, Nate McCoy of the Portland Housing Bureau has always had a thing for nice places. He grew up in a single-parent household, often strapped for cash and forced to live in rundown apartments in Portland. "I always wondered why we couldn't live in nicer apartments," he recently told Molly Hottle of The Oregonian. And it's why, early on, he decided to become an architect, something made possible in part because, in 2003, he won the mark O. Hatfield Architecture Award which included a scholarship which allowed him to pursue his dream at the University of Oregon. It's probably no surprise, then, that he jumped at the chance to serve as the development manager for the $2.5 rehabilitation of the Mark O. Hatfield Building, a 106-unit apartment building at Burnside and Broadway in downtown Portland. In any other city, Portland City, Commissioner Nick Fish told Hottle, "would probably either be high-end condos or the most desirable office space in the city." Not Portland. Funded by the City, Central City Concern, Multnomah County, Energy Trust of Oregon, Enterprise Community Partners and the Network for Oregon Affordable Housing, it's provides affordable housing to the formerly homeless, many of them with histories of serious substance abuse. "I know people who live in these places still today, so to be able to work in the projects that help the community, to me, have so much more value than working on projects with people with deep pockets. It all comes back to the same goal of just giving those in need most an opportunity." Read the full story online (http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/06/renovation_of_mark_o_hatfield.html).

BOOK IT
Almost 500 families live in the Birch Creek, Valli Kee and Cascade Apartments housing complexes in Kent run by the King County Housing Authorities. Living on an average income of just $18,500 a year but facing all the demands on their wallet that any family does, you probably wouldn't find many books were you to visit their apartments. For most, books are a luxury. But that's about to change, thanks to a grant and a donation of some 1,350 books from the First Book Book Bank. All told, some 400 kids up to the age of 8 will get books, says the Authority, "to call their own," everything from Eric Carle to Roald Dahl, Richard Scarry to Dr. Seuss. And from there, who knows the places these youngsters will go!

BRIEF BRIEFS TOO
Alaska Legal Services, says Arctic Sounder, opens Barrow office, the Corporation's 11th office statewide. . .Forty elementary, middle and high schools, reports Solid Ground, collect $50,496.27 to support service organizations in Puget Sound area. . .Idaho Department of Commerce says it will launch statewide Main Street program to support existing programs in Nampa, Pocatello, Idaho Falls and Sandpoint and "to support smaller, rural communities that may not have the resources to implement the" downtown revitalization program "on their own". . .St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County starts construction of $10 million, 54-unit Stellar Apartments in Eugene. . .Kitsap Sun says Daryl Daugs, most recently with Walla Walla County Department of Social Services, named executive director of Kitsap Habitat for Humanity. . .Telling KTVZ it's a "big win," Housing Works' Cyndy Cook says eligible families in LaPine and Redmond can now qualify for up to $30,000 in down-payment assistance under Oregon Housing & Community Services program funded by Recovery Act. . .Washington state's Department of Health & Social Services and Portland State University among four winners nationwide of HUD grants to help gauge the program's overall success of HUD's Choice Neighborhood community revitalization program and cultivate the most promising approaches to maximizing its impact. . .Daily Journal of Commerce says Innovate Housing now accepting applications for affordable units in 107-year-old Rich Building - formerly a railroad hotel - now under renovation in Old Town. . .The Small Business Development Center at the University of Alaska Anchorage, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, the Lower Elwha K'lallam and the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians win USDA Rural Business Enterprise grants "to support small business and job creation opportunities and train workers". . .Easter Seals Oregon wins one of 64 Department of Labor grants nationwide to provide homeless veterans with job training to help them succeed in civilian careers. . .USDA-funded construction of $3.5 million housing complex for 75 seasonal farm workers is underway in Granger says Yakima Herald. . .Union Gospel Mission and its partner Mississippi Valley Company win $700,000 Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco grant to build 41-unit center for women & children in Coeur d'Alene. . .Oregon Community Foundation awards $20,000 to NEDCO for business incubator for Lane County entrepreneurs.

NOFA-TUNITY
The U.S. Economic Development Administration has set July 23rd as the deadline to apply for Strong Cities, Strong Communities Visioning Challenge grants of up to $1 million each in order assist cities in chronic economic distress to leverage innovative ideas and approaches "to create and adopt actionable economic development proposals and plans." Winning cities will "hold challenge competitions that incentivize teams of professionals from various fields related to economic development" to submit proposals "that outline how cutting-edge concepts" can address "the persistent economic development challenges faced by the city." Cities of 100,000 or more residents are eligible to apply as long as they have one or more of the following characteristics - an unemployment rate that, for the most recent 24-month period for which data are available, is at least one percentage point greater than the national average unemployment rate; has a per capita income that is, for the most recent period for which data are available, 80 percent or less of the national average per capita income and/or has a "Special Need," as determined by EDA pursuant to 13 C.F.R. § 301.3(a)(1)(iii). For more, visit the website (http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=
pdR2PyHL43ZSXCyjLMQvphJTTzSJ59PKGRGl7kvRnSX0D2t4NZTB!1020059110?oppId=176893&mode=VIEW).

NOFA-TWO-NITY
Health and Human Services has set August 6th as the deadline to apply for nearly 60 Street Outreach Program grants of up to $200,000 to "provide street-based services to runaway, homeless, and street youth who have been subjected to, or are at risk" of sexual abuse. Local governments, housing authorities, tribes, non-profits and others may apply. For more, visit the website (http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=178893).

WADDAYAGOT?
Has your organization got accomplishments, projects, awards or, even, hidden treasures you've discovered or mean and green dragons you've slain that you'd like to brag about to the rest of us? Feel free by sharing with Northwest HUD Lines at Leland.jones@hud.gov. Thanks.

BRIEF BRIEFS THREE
Oregon Legislature okays $7.5 million in mortgage servicing settlement funds to Oregon Housing & Community Services to implement state's foreclosure mediation program. . .Happy 40th to the Spokane Housing Authority. . .Washington Housing Finance Commission says tax-exempt bond and low-income housing tax credits will permit new owners of The Downtowner in Seattle to renovate the 100-year-old building and provide 252 units of housing affordable to the low-income for the next 40 years. . .Proud Ground sets July 25th grand opening of 12-unit Svaboda Court in southeast Portland. . .NAYA executive director Nicole Maher says she is accepting new position as President of Northwest Health Foundation. . .Using a U.S. Economic Development Administration grant, Kittitas and Yakima counties join forces, says KNDO, to "draw up a plan to boost the economy in central Washington". . .Joined by Congressman Norm Dicks, reports KMAS-AM of Shelton, Skokomish Tribe breaks ground for new Potlach waste water treatment plant. . .Thanks to Portland Housing Bureau grant, Native American Youth & Family Center breaks ground for 9 units of affordable housing in Lents neighborhood. . .Mainstream Housing moves to new offices at 325 A Street in Springfield. . .Tedd Kelleher & John LaRocque of Washington Department of Commerce among 20 state employees to win Governor's Leadership in Management Award s. . .Habitat for Humanity Portland/East Metro dedicates, then "hands over" the keys to 14 brand-new Victoria Cottages homeownership units in Gresham. . .LIHI executive director Sharon Lee delivers commencement address and receives honorary doctorate at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania. . .Retiring State Representative Bill Hinkle of Cle Elum named executive director of Rental Housing Association of Puget Sound. . .For the third time Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities join a Habitat for Humanity "blitz build" and, says Tri-City Herald, for the third time the house is built in less than a week. . .HUD okays $1 million recapitalization of City of Yakima's Section 108-backed economic & community development loan fund. . .Tenants Union of Washington among 15 nonprofit organizations nationwide competitively awarded $5 million in HUD Tenant Resource Network funds to help Section 8 project-based tenants at risk of being priced-out of the rental market. . .Astoria awarded one of 9 EPA hazardous substance grants nationwide to "assess and clean up" Heritage Square brownfields site for conversion to community gathering place with amphitheater, market and boardwalk. . .Review says work will begin soon on 81-bed, FHA-insured assisted living and dementia care facility on Bainbridge Island. . .Portland Community Reinvestment & Oregon Tradeswomen launch Big 11 project to renovate 11 PCRI houses by year's end.

NEAR & FAR
There's a new neighborhood being born in a "quiet pocket of unincorporated Washington County," reports Casey Parks of The Oregonian, and it may be the first of its kind in the Portland area. The $5 million Aloha Project will be comprised of 10 houses to be built by The Edwards Center and Creative Housing Solutions for adults with disabilities - and have enough room for their families. Their dream "is to keep families together," said one supporter, adding "that's not offered anywhere." Which, in turn, will save money since residents "won't require full-time nurses" but instead "pool their resources and share one nurse," Parks says. "They'll have their families and neighbors looking out for them too." It's a big step for The Edwards Center which, now operates 18 group homes. "This will be the dream," notes the 72-year-old mother of one of the neighborhood's future residents, "being as close as we can be but still giving her independence." Read Parks' full story online (http://www.oregonlive.com/aloha/index.ssf/2012/05/edwards_center_in_aloha_rebuil.html).

FACT-TASTIC
"It was April 2011 when the Salishan 7 mixed-use development in Tacoma scored platinum and hit a big milestone," Pat Jeffries noted recently in The Oregonian. "The project," she added, "contained the 10,000th residential unit to be LEED-certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. Thirteen months later, the Council reports, there are now 20,000 LEED-certified homes in the U.S. Better still, almost 80,000 more LEED units are 'in the pipeline.'"

WORTH A READ
Still not sold on the value of housing counseling and homeownership education? Well, you may want to talk to Washington Housing Finance Commission executive director Kim Herman. "Since 1991," he writes in his introduction to the April 2012 edition of My View, " more than 150,000 people have participated in the Commission's free Homebuyer Education Seminars, investing five hours of their time to learn how to be successful in what, for many, is the most significant financial commitment of their lives." And he tells the stories of nine people - a banker in Kennewick, a homeowner in Spokane, a lender in Spokane - and what the program's meant to them. Like Christine Robinson of Eagle Mortgage in Vancouver. "We tell borrowers the truth in these seminars," she explained. " What's going on in the marketplace. What to expect. What goes on at closing. Why you need to read that title work, why you need to read your contract. People miss things. We try to be upbeat, but they also need to know what not to do. And sometimes, in your situation you might not be able to get a mortgage today. But that doesn't mean you can't get one tomorrow." As always, Kim's My View is well worth a read online (http://www.wshfc.org/newsletter/index.htm#robison).

QUOTE TO NOTE
"Knowing the remoteness and isolation of some of our rural communities, it can be very difficult to keep professionals on the job for the long-term in these key fields. This bill allows for some financial support for new housing construction, or renovation and repair of housing units. We need quality educators, public safety professionals and medical folks in our communities. Having stable housing can make the difference for someone deciding whether to accept or stay in a job." - U.S. Senator Mark Begich, June 13th, on introduction of a bill - the Rural Education & American Community Housing Act - supported by the Tanana Chiefs and the Association of Village Council Presidents that would authorize USDA to distribute $50 million in loans and grants to support housing for teachers, public safety personnel and medical providers in rural communities.

DITTO
"The ARRA stimulus funding made a positive contribution to both the lives of low-income households and the Central Oregon economy. It infused our region when the economy was down, gave contractors job, made homes healthier and safer and reduced energy bills." Laura Fritz, Housing Director at NeighborImpact., reporting to KTVZ on the organization's completion of the third and final year of a Department of Energy program that enabled NeighborImpact to weatherize 304 units, solarize 84 units received solar panels and install ductless heat pumps in 40 units in central Oregon.

NOTES TO NOTE
HUD's Office of Housing issues notices - PIH 2012-28 & H 2012-11 - reiterating statutory and regulatory bars to admission of "lifetime" sex offenders to Federally-assisted housing. . .HHS Administration for Children & Families sets July 30th deadline to apply for Partnerships to Demonstrate the Effectiveness of Supportive Housing for Families in the Child Welfare System grants of up to $1 million. . .HUD sets July 31st deadline to apply for grants of up to $12 million under Project Rental Assistance Demonstration Program. . .USDA begins implementing measures - including low-interest loans and waiver of matching fund requirements - for individuals in Substantially Underserved Trust Areas to obtain USDA funding for sewer and water treatment, broadband and electric infrastructure. . .Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle sets August 1st deadline to apply for $5.3 million in Affordable Housing Program funds and $4 million in down payment assistance under its Home$tart program. . .HHS sets August 6th deadline to apply for Street Outreach Program grants to serve runaway or homeless kids. . .U.S. Green Building Council & Bank of America sets August 10th deadline to apply for Affordable Green Neighborhood grants of up to $25,000 to organizations that wish to pursue to pursue LEED 2009 for Neighborhood Development certification. . .American Planning Association's Idaho Chapter sets August 20th deadline to submit nominations for its 2012 awards competition. . .Seattle Housing Authority sets August 31st deadline for organizations wishing to serve as master developer of its Yesler Terrace revitalization to respond to requests for qualifications

COMING UP
HUD's National Servicing Center hosts Webinar on its Neighborhood Watch program, July 11th, on-line. (https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/898586809)

Oregon & Idaho Bankers Associations hold annual conference, July 8th to 12th, Coeur d'Alene. (https://www.oregonbankers.com/events/3565/)

HUD Anchorage hosts Fair Labor Standards Workshop for Contractors, Tribes & Housing Authorities, July 12th, Anchorage.

National Health Care for the Homeless offers Northwest regional training, July 12th & 13th, Tukwila. (http://www.nhchc.org/2012/03/seattle-regional-training)

Association of Manufactured Home Owners hosts Symposium on Senior-Friendly Housing, July 13th, Spokane. For more, contact ishbel@mhoaa.us

HUD's National Servicing Center hosts Webinar on FHA & Short Sales, July 18th, online.

HUD's National Servicing Center hosts Webinar on FHA Pre-foreclosure Sales Program Training For Real Estate Professionals in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon & Washington state, July 19th. (https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/199140953)

Idaho Department of Commerce hosts workshop on Urban Renewal Principles & Practices: Guidance for a Viable Future, July 18th, Boise.

HUD Oregon hosts free Basics of Fair Housing workshop, July 18th, Portland.

HUD Northwest hosts Basics of Fair Housing Webinar, July 19th, online.

Oregon AHMA hosts Fair Housing Jeopardy Game, July 20th, Lincoln City.

HUD Anchorage hosts State & Federal Labor Standards Workshop for Contractors, July 26th, Anchorage.

HUD Portland hosts Going Green Energy Conference for public housing authorities in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon & Washington, August 2nd, Portland. For more, contact daniel.m.esterling@hud.gov

Lamar Associates hosts free workshop on Tribal Prescription Drug Abuse & Drug Endangered Children, August 8th & 9th, Portland.

Anchorage NeighborWorks holds Community Leadership Workshop Series: Community Engagement, August 18th, Anchorage. (http://www.nwanchorage.org/news-calendar-events/calendar/2012/community-leadership-workshop-series-community-engagement)

HUD Idaho & Federal Reserve Bank of Seattle host Foreclosure Intervention Workshop, August 22nd, Boise.

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