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Members and allies of National People’s Action (NPA) from Detroit, MI, Chicago, IL and Buffalo, NY traveled to Pittsburgh, PA to give testimony at the first of four Environmental Protection Agency hearings on the Federal Implementation Plan proposed as part of the Clean Power Plan (CPP). The new rule sets the first ever limits on carbon pollution from power plants. While applauding the plan, NPA leaders are calling on the EPA to go even further to ensure equity for those most impacted by the dirty energy economy and the climate crisis by protecting low income communities and communities of color from pollution and expanding access to renewables and clean energy jobs for those communities

Impact100 Garden State, a Morristown- based women’s philanthropic organization, awarded over $200,000 in grants to the Head Start Community Program of Morris County and the New Jersey Community Development Corporation (NJCDC) to support programs that help the elderly poor, disenfranchised young adults, and pre-school children from low-income families. Impact 100’s 204 members voted to award each organization a $102,000 grant at its annual members meeting on November 4 at the Olde Mill Inn in Basking Ridge. The organizations were selected from over 75 nonprofit applicants.

The Atlanta Board of REALTORS® (ABR), the largest association of its kind in Georgia, released its October 2015 Market Brief on residential housing statistics for 11 area counties in metro-Atlanta. Market Brief, now compiled by First Multiple Listing Service (FMLS), provides the only regionally focused synopsis of monthly sales and home prices for single family residential properties.

The Apache Stronghold is a community association dedicated to ending the theft of native lands, specifically the theft of the sacred Oak Flat lands in Arizona. The Stronghold has been occupying the Oak Flat campground since February 2015. To hear more about their struggle and efforts please join us on November 21st and 22nd for the For the Community Festival!

A recent survey conducted by the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (NAEBA) shows that some real estate closings are already being affected by the new “Know Before You Owe/TRID” regulations that went into effect October 3. The survey went out to brokers across the United States and nearly 20% stated they are already seeing issues, mostly delays in closing.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced the results of its Supply Chain Optimization Working Group, a group that was chartered to develop implementation procedures within option 3 of the LEED v4 Materials & Resources credit (Building Disclosure and Optimization - Material Ingredients)

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) today announced nearly $12 million to 79 local public housing agencies across the country to provide a permanent home to veterans experiencing homelessness. The supportive housing assistance announced today is provided through the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program which combines rental assistance from HUD with case management and clinical services provided by VA

In an effort to safeguard important natural resources, scenic and recreational values in the face of renewable energy development, the BLM’s plan designates 3.8 million acres of lands as part of the National Landscape Conservation System, which contains some of the most fragile wildlife and iconic landscapes in the West. This designation assures that these lands, referred to as National Conservation Lands, are permanently protected from development, and their protection cannot be undone by future administrative action.

Having emerged last year from the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history, Detroit is still hindered in its recovery by structural flaws in its property tax system, according to a new report published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations, third quarter 2015 commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations were 12 percent higher than during the same period last year and three percent higher than the second quarter of 2015.

The National Center on Homelessness Among Veterans has released a research brief on Migration By Veterans Who Receive VA Homeless Services by Stephen Metraux, PhD. This brief contains initial findings from a study on migration among 113,400 veterans who initiated use of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) homeless services in 2011 or 2012, and follows them using VA administrative records for up to two years after this initial contact. The findings review the “how many” and the “where” of this phenomenon.

Recently the HOME Coalition released the Building HOME: The HOME Investment Partnerships Program's Impact on America's Families and Communties. The report is available here. This first-of-its-kind report analyzes the program’s economic impact in all 50 states and features over 100 HOME Success Stories from communities across the nation.

The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (Endowment) awarded a $1.5 million grant to the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to integrate forestry as a best management practice on farmland and reduce nutrient runoff into waterways in the Ohio River Basin. The project has important implications for water quality and drinking water in the Ohio River Basin and potentially across the country

MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. today announced that the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming granted a motion to dismiss a wrongful foreclosure suit, holding that use of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) as mortgagee of record does not split the mortgage from the promissory note or render the mortgage invalid and the note unsecured

Consumers Energy today highlighted nearly 70 years of service and looked ahead to continued commercial shipping for the Port of Muskegon as the final Great Lakes coal freighter arrived at the B.C. Cobb Plant

Consumers Energy is reminding hunters making plans to tag a deer on Michigan’s Nov. 15 firearm opener that hunting is not allowed on its property, with the exception of its hydro properties in the northern Lower Peninsula

See What it Takes to Close a Valve and Repair a Broken Water Main, Maintenance Trucks and Heavy Equipment Also on Display. Aging infrastructure plus cold weather equals an increase in water main breaks. That’s a fact, and that’s why WSSC is winter ready

Today, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) released awhite paper making a case for the recapitalization of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and continuing the reforms of the GSEs started with the passage of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA). The white paper, “Protecting Duties to Serve and Responsible Next Steps for Reforming the Secondary Mortgage Market,” follows a letter sent on October 27 to President Obama signed by NCRC, NAACP, and LULAC urging the Administration to rethink its position on the recapitalization of the GSEs.

Brannon Richart, owner of Intella Homes, is the recipient of Alaska Housing Finance Corporation’s (AHFC) inaugural “Builder of the Year” award

Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) President William C. Baker issued this statement after the American Farm Bureau Federation, other agriculture lobbying organizations, and the National Association of Homebuilders requested the Supreme Court to review their challenge to Chesapeake Bay clean-up efforts.