Housing & Development

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Remodelers named Greg Rehm, CGR, CAPS, CGP, owner of Liberty Hill Construction in Bedford, N.H., the 2015 NAHB Remodeler of the Year in recognition of his professional remodeling achievements. The announcement was made at the NAHB Remodelers’ awards presentation on Oct. 1 during the Remodeling Show in Chicago.

BRIDGE Housing is launching a new Community Development Initiative to integrate holistic community development practices into how it plans, implements and manages affordable housing.

First American Financial Corporation (NYSE: FAF), a leading provider of title insurance, settlement services and risk solutions for real estate transactions, today announced the newly expanded ability to license its comprehensive real estate data that spans 99.9 percent of U.S. housing stock and includes more than 5.5 billion recorded document images. Companies and organizations in real estate finance or other industries that require assessor, county recorder, property valuation, foreclosure and other derived data, can now license this data from First American.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making available the Illinois River Watershed Modeling Program which resulted from several years of collaboration with local stakeholders, states and tribes in both Ark. and Okla. The Modeling Program will assist in the development of water pollution controls needed to meet water quality standards throughout the watershed and relies on two highly specialized computer models

Authorization for the revenue stream for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) expired last night at the end of Fiscal Year 2015. That financing – diverted from a small portion of offshore drilling receipts – will no longer be deposited into a trust fund that Congress intended to protect America’s treasures when it established the program in 1964.

This evening, despite insistent calls to reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), Republicans in the Senate blocked last-minute legislation that would extend the authorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund by 60 days, preventing a lapse in the program. This short-term extension was proposed in an expedited procedural process and would have allowed for additional time to find an agreement on a long-term authorization of LWCF

Despite insistent calls from both sides of the aisle to reauthorize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), Republican leadership in the House and Senate will allow the program to expire at midnight tonight. U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) decried the fact that Congressional leadership allowed an important conservation program for New Hampshire to sunset.

Senator Ron Wyden today announced that Oregon has received a $3 million federal grant to reduce fire risks to more than 2,200 homes in parts of Crook, Deschutes and Klamath counties that are adjacent to forests.<

The National Institute of Building Sciences is still accepting written testimony for the Representative Hearing on Productivity and the Workforce, held this past Friday, September 25, at the Institute’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. A total of nine speakers representing a broad group of industry organizations testified at the hearing. Industry representatives and media also participated.

At this point, WSSC does not anticipate any impact on the quality of the water it draws from the Potomac River as the result of a synthetic latex spill into the North Branch of the river that occurred near Luke, Md., last Wednesday, September 23. The recent heavy rains are expected to dramatically dilute the chemical, as well as speed its travel down the river.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that in a first round of funding, USDA will commit $4 million to several states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to help agricultural landowners with accelerating stream and riverbank tree plantings that can reduce soil sedimentation, field and animal waste runoff, improving water quality.

AARP and J.P. Morgan Asset Management are announcing the formation of the AARP Innovation Fund, a first of its kind investment fund with approximately $40 million in assets that will provide capital to innovative companies focusing on improving the lives of people 50-plus. As the sole third party investor in this fund advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management, AARP will make direct investments in innovative companies that meet its mission and strategic goals.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today finalized a rule that will reduce the discharge of toxic pollutants into America’s waterways from steam electric power plants by 1.4 billion pounds annually, as well as reduce water withdrawal by 57 billion gallons per year, resulting in an estimated benefit of $463 million per year to Americans across the country. Toxic pollutants include mercury, arsenic, lead, and selenium, which can cause neurological damage in children, lead to cancer, and damage the circulatory system, kidneys, and liver.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a plan to use natural processes along with the continued use of a system that EPA had already installed to treat contaminated groundwater at the Corozal Well Superfund Site in Corozal, Puerto Rico.

Today, U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced that seven Virginia localities and organizations will receive nearly $7 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The funding will help local governments fight housing discrimination, improve economic conditions and increase access to affordable housing.

Rep. Donald Norcross (NJ-01) today welcomed action by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to clean up contaminated soil from approximately 33 residential properties at the Sherwin-Williams/Hilliards Creek Superfund site in parts of Gibbsboro and Voorhees.

Today, on the campus of the new, state-of-the-art Kingston Center of SUNY Ulster, Ulster County Executive Mike Hein delivered the 2016 Executive Budget.  Property taxpayer relief remains a constant in this year’s budget which carries a 1.1% property tax cut for Ulster County residents with no reduction in services or layoffs.

Home Forward is seeking proposals from developers and owners who wish to use the agency's project-based rent assistance (Section 8) vouchers in their affordable housing.  The agency hopes to make several awards for a total of up to 200 vouchers through the competitive request for proposals process

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this continuing resolution, which will allow us to avoid another completely unnecessary and potentially devastating government shutdown. My vote in favor of the CR does not mean I support the irresponsible sequestration-level budget resolution that has made it impossible to pass FY 2016 appropriations bills, much less the reckless manner in which the Republican majority continues to manage the budget process.

Congressman Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico’s Third District released the following statement today calling for the reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which expires today