Yearly Archives: 2016

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julian Castro today announced that Mortgage Insurance Premiums (MIPs) will be reduced for FHA loans on multifamily affordable and energy efficient properties. David H. Stevens, CMB, President and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) offered the following statement

George Smart, through his tireless efforts with North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH), has created a fresh awareness of modern architecture in the minds of the public. NCMH’s impact has grown from the local level, to state, and now national through a wealth of programs and initiatives for a growing range of people. The Collaborative Achievement Award recognizes and encourages distinguished achievements of allied professionals, clients, organizations, architect teams, knowledge communities, and others who have had a beneficial influence on or advanced the architectural profession.

The Snyder administration quietly trucked in water to state buildings in January of 2015 – ten months prior to Governor Snyder publicly admitting there was reason for concern in Flint, according to a document obtained by Progress Michigan

Statement from the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and National Apartment Association (NAA) released in response to the Federal Housing Administration’s decision to cut multifamily mortgage insurance rates and increase affordable housing

The Baltimore Housing Roundtable today released the report Community + Land + Trust: Tools for Development Without Displacement. The report details how Baltimore’s development policies have failed to create affordable housing and good paying jobs for low-income residents and offers an alternative vision that prioritizes human rights and human needs. The Public Justice Center is a member of the Roundtable.

Hans Butzer, AIA, is being recognized with the 2016 AIA Thomas Jefferson Award for his work advancing the caliber of public building in Oklahoma City. The Thomas Jefferson Award recognizes excellence in architectural advocacy and achievement. Butzer will be honored at the 2016 AIA National Convention in Philadelphia.

National award-winning firm KTGY Architecture + Planning is pleased to announce that four KTGY-designed 55+ communities have garnered seven top honors in the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) 55+ Housing Council’s Best of 55+ Housing Awards competition. The communities that were recognized include a luxury single-family detached residential community, two apartment communities and a contemporary-styled urban village that targets adults 55+.

Consumers Energy announced today that its charitable foundation will contribute up to $50,000 to support the children of Flint through the Community Foundation of Greater Flint.

Nonprofit BRIDGE Housing's “A+” issuer credit rating has been renewed by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, a leading provider of independent credit risk research and benchmarks. BRIDGE is a top developer, owner and manager of affordable housing on the U.S. West Coast.

Mortgage applications increased 8.8 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 22, 2016. This week's results include an adjustment to account for the Martin Luther King holiday

Sales of newly built, single-family homes rose 14.5 percent to 501,000 units in 2015, the highest level since 2007, according to newly released data from HUD and the U.S. Census Bureau. Meanwhile, sales in December increased 10.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 544,000 from an upwardly revised November reading.

In the years during and since the Financial Crisis and Great Recession, new household formation slowed dramatically as young adults remained living with parents and fewer people immigrated into the U.S. From 2008 through 2010, only 509 thousand net new households were formed on average, but from 2011 on that figure increased to nearly 1.2 million households per year – the long-run average going back to 1990.

Planet Home Living will unveil a collection of 15 contemporary-style homes at PRISM in Eagle Rock on Saturday, February 13th. These homes offer a unique opportunity for distinguished couples and/or families looking for a modern new home in an established, amenity-rich area

Today, the ConsensusDocs Coalition is publishing the ConsensusDocs 842 Owner and Energy Consultant Agreement. As sustainable building continues to rise, this new agreement provides a standard contractual base for owners to retain an energy consultant. Rather than use a contract form that favors the owner or consultant, this new standard agreement was created with broad industry input to create a fair contract for all parties involved

The Boulder Group, a net leased investment brokerage firm, has completed the sale of a single tenant net leased CVS property located at 4037 Glenwood Road in Decatur, Georgia for $3,600,000. The 10,125 square foot CVS is located in the Atlanta MSA and was originally constructed in 1999. The property is located just off of the heavily trafficked signalized intersection of Glenwood Road and Columbia Drive.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu was joined by Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards and City, State and Federal officials to celebrate the City of New Orleans award of $141.3 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC). HUD’s competition is designed to help state and local communities recover from past disasters while improving their ability to withstand future extreme events through strategic community investments.

The Community Foundation of Central Georgia today announced the launch of the Downtown Challenge, a new, three-year program that will fund community-driven ideas to transform downtown Macon, the city’s urban core. The challenge is offering $3 million to fund the community’s best ideas for downtown Macon

USGBC announced its annual Top 10 States for LEED, the world’s most widely used and recognized green building rating system. The per capita list highlights states throughout the country that are making significant strides in sustainable building design, construction and transformation.

The $1 billion in National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC) grants recently awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is a critical step in helping states and communities across the nation become more resilient to the impacts of climate change, according to the Urban Land Institute (ULI). In addition, the grant proposals and winning applications have highlighted the important connections between urban design and development and improving community resilience.

The United States Supreme Court issued an order Monday that will have far-reaching and positive impacts on the modernization of U.S. energy markets. The Supreme Court found that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) had the authority to regulate demand response programs under the Federal Power Act (FPA), and “engaged in reasoned decision-making” when setting the wholesale rate for demand response compensation.