Archives

Over the past year, global real estate firms have reduced energy consumption in buildings by the equivalent of almost 280,000 barrels of oil and cut carbon emissions by the equivalent of removing 25,000 cars from the road, according to a new report, Greenprint Performance Report: Volume 6, released by the ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) announced today that an additional nine bond loans, totaling $327 million, were guaranteed in fiscal year (FY) 2015, bringing the total guaranteed to date to $852 million. All of the bond proceeds, provided through the Community Development Financial Institutions Bond Guarantee Program (CDFI Bond Guarantee Program), will provide long-term, fixed rate capital for projects in low-income and underserved communities

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced today that the Bartlesville Redevelopment Trust Authority will receive a $500,000 grant to redevelop the former Washington County Memorial Hospital and build additional affordable housing units targeted to low-income residents. The grant is funded through HUD’s HOPE VI MainStreet Program.

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) Greenprint Center for Building Performance, a worldwide alliance of leading real estate owners, investors and financial institutions committed to improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions across the global property industry, has announced the addition of Solaria Corporation and Stem, Inc. as its newest innovation partners.

Volunteers came together in schools and communities across the globe on Saturday, September 26 for the Green Apple Day of Service, an initiative of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Students, teachers, parents, elected officials, organizations and companies participated in 4,682 projects across all 50 states and in 31 countries throughout the world to enhance the environments of their local schools

Under an agreement announced today by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice, the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (VIWAPA) will come into compliance with the federal Clean Air Act at its Krum Bay facility on St. Thomas and Cruz Bay facility on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. The settlement resolves numerous violations of the Clean Air Act, including VIWAPA’s failure to properly operate pollution control equipment to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter that can cause serious respiratory illness.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ranking Member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, who is still trying to increase the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) special capital improvement appropriation that has been cut by $25 million in the House for fiscal year 2016, released the following statement on the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) approval of WMATA’s Corrective Action Plan to address safety violations found earlier this year after FTA’s Safety Management Inspection (SMI).

Friday, Congresswoman Aumua Amata, announced the release of more than $7 million in grant funding to American Samoa through the Office of Insular Affairs’ (OIA) Capital Improvement Project (CIP) Program. The funds will be used to support priorities and much needed improvements to critical infrastructure in the territory

House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT) today issued the following statement on efforts to modernize the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Act of 1965. “Both Republicans and Democrats support the original intent of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, but the program has drifted far from the original intent.

Housing counselors across the country working with homeowners to find an alternative to foreclosure for thousands of homeowners cite improving communications with servicers, but note that more needs to be done, according to the latest report on the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program (NFMC). NFMC is a congressionally funded effort that has helped more than 1.9 million homeowners understand their foreclosure prevention options

On the second day of this year’s Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting, the focus of the opening plenary turned to helping Nepal “build back better” following the devastating earthquakes last spring. The plenary session featured a commitment by CGI members All Hands Volunteers and The Architects Foundation to reconstruct culturally appropriate, earthquake resilient permanent homes for displaced families in the Sindhupalchuk district of Nepal, a region in which approximately 90% of the housing stock was destroyed

On Monday, September 28 the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) will host a statewide summit in Baltimore on community reinvestment and neighborhood revitalization in Maryland. The Maryland Reinvestment Summit will feature keynote addresses by U.S. Congressman Elijah Cummings and Benjamin Jealous, Partner at Kapor Capital.

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) announced the first 10 winners of the Build Your Future Scholarship through ABC’s Trimmer Construction Education Foundation (TCEF). The scholarships are awarded to the top 10 students attending an NCCER-accredited program or a state/federally approved apprenticeship program in a merit-shop training facility. The scholarships are funded through a pledge of $100,000 from Build Your Future over the next five years.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julián Castro traveled to Atlanta, Georgia and Kansas City, Missouri today to announce that five communities will receive a combined $150 million to redevelop severely distressed public housing and revitalize the surrounding neighborhood. HUD is awarding Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Implementation Grants to city and housing authority partnerships in Atlanta, Georgia; Kansas City, Missouri; Memphis, Tennessee; Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Sacramento, California; in order to begin the process of transforming, rehabilitating and preserving public housing.

Sales of new single-family houses in August 2015 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 552,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Census Bureau. This is 5.7 percent (±16.2%)* above the revised July rate of 522,000 and is 21.6 percent (±18.7%) above the August 2014 estimate of 454,000.

Inclusionary housing, a policy by which developers provide for the construction of affordable housing, can be used effectively to reduce economic segregation at a time of rapid gentrification in neighborhoods across the United States, according to a report published today by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. And it can be deployed while avoiding the negative economic impacts and legal concerns often cited by critics, according to the report

Under an agreement announced today by the Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency, the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (VIWAPA) will come into compliance with the federal Clean Air Act at its Krum Bay facility on St. Thomas and Cruz Bay facility on St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. The settlement resolves numerous violations of the Clean Air Act, including VIWAPA’s failure to properly operate pollution control equipment to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter that can cause serious respiratory illness.

With 78 million baby boomers entering or on the verge of retirement, the U.S. needs a more strategic approach for linking health care and housing policies and programs, according to a new Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) paper being released today during an event with the Sabo Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the University of Minnesota

Marie Debor has been named Vice President of Development for BRIDGE Housing, a nationally recognized nonprofit developer, owner and manager of affordable housing. Ms. Debor previously spent 13 years at The Related Companies, most recently as Vice President of Development, where she was responsible for all aspects of the development process including financial analysis, acquisition, planning and design, entitlement processing and financing.

Carpinteria, Sept. 15, 2015 – Peoples’ Self-Help Housing will cut the ribbon on its 45th affordable project, Casas de las Flores, on Oct. 15 during a ceremony celebrating completion of the long-awaited, 43-unit complex at 4096 Via Real.